El principal problema de treballar a una oficina és que no pots controlar l'ambient de treball.
The basic problem with working in an office is you're just not in control of your work environment.
[Com treballem]
[The Way We Work]
Hola, sóc el Matt, el CEO d'Automattic, l'empresa darrera de WordPress.com, Jetpack i WooCommerce. Tenim uns 800 empleats que viuen arreu del món: Califòrnia, Alabama, Mississippi, inclús Texas, on visc jo. També en uns altres 67 països: Canadà, Mèxic, la Índia, Nova Zelanda. Alguns inclús escullen no assentar-se, són nòmades. Ja sigui en una casa rodant o mitjançant Airbnb, estan en llocs diferentes cada dia, setmana o mes. Mentre aconsegueixin bon wifi, no ens importa a on siguin.
Howdy, my name is Matt, and I'm the CEO of Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com, Jetpack and WooCommerce. We're coming up on over 800 employees, and they live everywhere, from California to Alabama, Mississippi, to where I live in Texas. They're also in 67 countries. Canada, Mexico, India, New Zealand. Some of them choose not even to have a home base, they're nomads. Whether they are in RVs or traveling through Airbnbs, they are in new places every day, week or month. As long as they can find good Wi-Fi, we don't care where they are.
La nostra elecció de feina distribuïda no va passar per accident, va ser una elecció deliberada des del començament. Notareu que no utilitzo la paraula "remot" ja que suggereix que algunes persones són essencials i d'altres no. Utilitzo la paraula "distribuït" on tothom esta a la mateixa posició. Crec que la feina distribuïda és la forma més efectiva de muntar una empresa. La clau és que sigui deliberat. Quan vam començar WordPress, a la majoria dels empleats no els coneixia en persona, però havíem treballat junts en línia, a vegades, anys. Mentre l'empresa creixia, vaig voler continuar així per una senzilla raó: crec que el talent i la intel·ligència estan igualment distribuïts arreu del món, però les oportunitats no.
Our focus on distributed work didn't happen accidentally. It was a conscious choice from the very beginning. Notice I don't use the word "remote," because it sets up the expectation, that some people are essential and some aren't. I use the word "distributed" to describe what we do, where everyone is on an equal playing field. I think a distributed workforce is the most effective way to build a company. The key is you have to approach it consciously. When we started WordPress, many of the first 20 hires were people I'd never met in person. But we'd collaborated online, sometimes for years. I wanted to continue that for one simple reason. I believe that talent and intelligence are equally distributed throughout the world. But opportunity is not.
A Silicon Valley les empreses tecnològiques pesquen pràcticament a la mateixa petita llacuna. Amb la feina distribuïda podem pescar a tot l'oceà. En lloc de contratar algú del Japó que ara viu a Califòrnia, es pot contractar a persones que viuen, treballen, s'aixequen i s'en van a dormir a qualsevol part del món. Porten un enteniment diferent de la cultura, una experiència de vida diferent.
In Silicon Valley, the big tech companies fish from essentially the same small pond or bay. A distributed company can fish from the entire ocean. Instead of hiring someone who grew up in Japan but lives in California, you can gain someone who lives, works, wakes up and goes to sleep wherever they are in the world. They bring a different understanding of that culture and a different lived experience.
Darrera de l'elecció de feina distribuïda està el desig d'atorgar a les persones autonomía a la feina. A no ser que la teva funció demani hores específiques del dia, pots fer el teu horari. Tots poden tenir la seva pròpia oficina, finestres, el menjar que prefereixin, poden escollir treballar amb música o en silenci, poden escollir la temperatura de l'habitació, estalviar el temps que perden traslladant-se i invertir-lo en coses importants per a ells.
At the base of the decision to go distributed, there's a desire to give people autonomy over how they do their work. Unless you're in a role where specific hours are important, you can make your own schedule. Everyone can have a corner office, their windows, the food they want to eat, you can choose when there's music and when there's silence. You can choose what temperature the room should be. You can save the time you'd spend commuting and put it into things that are important to you.
El personal distribuït és ideal per les empreses tecnològiques. Però sempre em pregunten: "Això us funciona a vosaltres, però i a la resta?" Si ja teniu una oficina hi ha uns passos a seguir per possibilitar la feina distribuïda.
A distributed workforce is ideal for a technology company. But people often ask me, "This works great for y'all, but what about everyone else?" If you have an office, you can do a few things to build distributed capability.
Primer: documentar-ho tot. A l'oficina és fàcil prendre decisions al moment, a la cuina o al passadís. Però si es treballa des de casa i alguns membres de l'equip estan tenint converses a les que no hi tenen accés, veuran com es prenen decisions però no entendran el perquè. Registreu sempre on ereu i quines coses pensàveu. Això permet que altres continuïn el que vosaltres vareu començar. Així, els que viuen a diferents zones horàries poden parlar. També serveix per pensar com evoluciona l'organització, qui s'en va i qui es suma.
First: document everything. In an office, it's easy to make decisions in the moment, in the kitchen, in the hall. But if people work remotely and some members of the team are having those conversations they don't have access to, they'll see these decisions being made without understanding the why. Always leave a trail of where you were and what you were thinking about. This allows others to pick up where you left off. It allows people in different time zones to interact, it's also great to think about as an organization evolves, people leaving and people joining.
Intenteu mantenir tanta comunicació en línia com sigui possible. Si es comparteix tot de forma pública, els nous poden posar-se al dia ràpid. Seleccioneu les eines adequades. Existeixen tantes aplicacions i serveis per la comunicació diària: videoconferències, gestió de projectes, etc. El que afecta a la forma de treballar probablement ja no són els objectes, sino a què accediu des de l'ordinador. Experimenteu amb diferents eines col·laboratives, mireu quina funciona millor.
Try to have as much communication as possible online. When everything's shared and public, it allows new people to catch up quickly. You also need to find the right tools. There are so many apps and services that help with day-to-day communication, video conferencing, project management. The things that changed how you work probably aren't objects anymore. They're things you access through your computer. So experiment with different tools that enable collaboration, see what works.
Creeu temps productiu cara a cara. A una oficina tradicional, passeu 48 setmanes a l'any al mateix lloc i potser 3 o 4 setmanes en que no esteu junts. Intentem invertir això i fer reunions breus. Un cop l'any en fem una per tots els empleats que dura una setmana. Meitat feina, meitat distensió. El que cal és connectar amb la gent. Volem assegurar-nos que anem tots pel mateix camí i que els empleats es relacionen entre si. I quan treballin junts la resta de l'any comptaran amb aquest enteniment i empatia.
Create productive, face-to-face time. In a traditional office, you're in the same place 48 weeks out of the year and you might have three or four weeks apart. We try to flip that: we come together for short, intense bursts. Once a year we do a grand meet-up where the entire company comes together for a week. It's half-work, half-play. The primary goal is connecting people. We want to make sure everyone's aligned and on the same page, and they have a deeper connection with their colleagues. When they work together the rest of the year,
I per últim: permeteu als empleats crear el seu propi entorn de feina. Tots a Automattic tenen un salari de co-treball que poden invertir en un espai de co-treball o per comprar cafè perquè no els facin fora de la cafeteria. Un grup a Seattle va decidir ajuntar aquests diners i llogar una oficina en un moll de pesca. Cada empleat nou rep un salari per la seva oficina a casa. Es tracta de diners que poden utilitzar per comprar cadires, un monitor, escriptori, per així organitzar l'entorn en que siguin més productius.
they can bring together that understanding and empathy. And the final practice: give people the flexibility to make their own work environment. Every person at Automattic has a co-working stipend that they can put towards a co-working space or just to buy coffee, so they don't get kicked out of the coffee shop. One group in Seattle decided to pool their stipends together and rented a workspace on a fishing pier. Each person who joins the company gets a home-office stipend. This is money they can invest in getting the right chair, monitor, the right desk setup, so they can have the most productive environment for them.
Avui en dia hi ha molt poques empreses amb personal distribuït. Però en una o dues dècades, estimo que el 90% de les empreses que canviaran el món funcionaran d'aquesta manera. Evolucionaran i adoptaran personal distribuït o seran reemplaçades per qui ho faci així.
Today, there are just a few companies that are distributed first. In a decade or two, I predict that 90 percent of companies that are going to be changing the course of the world are going to function this way. They will evolve to be distributed first, or they'll be replaced by those that are.
Mentre analitzeu què construireu, considereu com aconseguir talent a nivell global i donar autonomia a les persones per viure i treballar on vulguin i tot i així poder participar activament en allò que esteu creant junts.
As you think about what you're going to build next, consider how you can tap into global talent, give people autonomy to live and work where they feel they should and still participate fully in whatever it is that you're creating together.