Laurel Farrer on The Global WFH Experiment & The Long-Term Promise Of Remote Work
· 2 min read
Laurel and I decided to jump on a video call to talk about the world emerging work-from-home experiment amid the evolving Covid-19 pandemic. We wanted to talk about some of the deeper principles & opportunities that remote work offers and talk about how companies might think about it in the next month and over the next few years. We talk about:
- The short-term mindset companies should take in the next few weeks (hint: don’t overdo the tools right now)
- What the broader opportunity is for remote work over the next 10 years
- The role of trust in remote work and what happens when it breaks down
- How to think about meetings and how to design your day and re-think productivity
- Examples of companies who have been innovating in this space for 10+ years
- Experience from Laurel’s 10+ years as a remote team leader
- 1:58 – Why remote work is more than wearing sweatpants on video calls and impacts communities, diversity, families and relationships
- 7:50 – Remote work is one branch of the future of work, but it is really about all that humans are and machines are not
- 10:30 – The skillsets of remote employees is very different and is one of the most important things
- 13:40 – How to make the problems visible in your first weeks of remote work
- 14:00 – The dangers in working from home and potential pitfalls
- 20:20 – Thinking about tools, the dangers of slack and how to think about remote work policies
- 23:19 – What happens when trust breaks down
- 28:13 – How to change your expectations around remote work and the short-term challenges of the Covid-19 work from home experiments
- 29:48 – Challenges of motivation and working when you are independent and remote
- 33:25 – One opportunity of remote work is about creating more space for people to actually work & a reflection on meetings and their role
- 38:45 – Shifting from using meetings for decision making rather than thinking
- 41:42 – Practical advice & conversations from Laurel on dealing with a rapid transition to remote work amid the coronavirus pandemic
- 44:13 – Humility around the future of remote work and realizing we are only at the beginning
- 47:55 – Learn more about Laurel
Links Mentioned:
- Evernote guide to communication
- Github guide to communication & meetings
Find Laurel Here:
