Although WFH is now the new normal because of COVID, managing a remote startup presents unique challenges. As first-time founders of a fully-distributed team, this is the advice and playbook we wish we read when we started out on this journey. We made the decision to be remote-friendly right from the beginning when we started . Although we decided to set our HQ in San Francisco, we knew that there was a deep talent pool beyond the Bay Area that we could tap into. Shuffle Coming from larger organizations like Coinbase and Google, it took some time to learn best practices for running a remote startup team. Today, we have a small and elite team living across 6 cities, from San Francisco, to Utah, to Canada, and Singapore, and we’ve built a system that keeps the team on-track and connected. Here’s how we did it. 1. Set up good collaboration tools As a remote team, you need a system to collaborate effectively. Here’s what we use: : Notion is our operating system. All our documentation — from meeting notes, to PRDs, to Engineering Tickets — is stored here. They give for startups. Notion $1000 free credits : What we use for real-time communication. Slack Equipment: As a manager, ask and make sure your team has everything they need to be successful working from home. We’ve invested in better wi-fi, standing desk converters, and even had to buy a desk for a team member! 2. Meetings are the pulse of the organization If a company is an organism, meetings are its pulse. It’s important to keep meetings short, lean and with a clear objective. At Shuffle, we have 3 types of team meetings: : We start the week with a team sprint, where we share our team goals for the week, make important announcements, and choose the tickets we’re focusing on. Team Sprint Meetings : Do a quick check-in with the team to update them what you’ve completed and where you’re blocked. Mid-week check-in We end the week by showing off demos, celebrating what went well, and reflecting on what we could’ve done better. Retro & Demo: 3. Be deliberate about team bonding One of the biggest downsides about not having an office is not being able to bond in-person. You don’t want work interactions to end up feeling transactional. We’re constantly experimenting with new tools to build authentic connection: : For all the random things that you would say if you bumped into your colleague in a watercooler #Watercooler slack channel Our favorite slack channel where we highlighting our personal and team victories, big and small! #Team_wins slack channel: We livestreamed the SpaceX launch yesterday, and shoot the shit. Weekly remote lunches: : This is a fun tool to bond by pairing us up 1-to-1, and providing interesting prompts (example: What’s one thing you’re grateful for last week?) that make it easy to share and connect. It’s free and fun to do over happy hour. Icebreaker.video : A bot sends prompts to our team every Monday asking what the highlights of our weekend were, or asking them to share an interesting article. Icebreaker slack bot There’s a ton of team online games out there like , , , etc. Happy hour games: Jackbox.tv Codenames Skribbl COVID-19 put our first team offsite plans on hold, but I think this is incredibly important to do twice a year. We’re inspired by pictures of Notion’s retreats. ;) Team offsites: In a remote team, building a culture of closeness isn’t going to just happen, so be deliberate in creating time and space for people to bond. The most important thing as a manager here is to . Having tried a WFH system for the last 5 months, I’d say the benefits are incredible and can lead to an even more happy and productive team. Here’s . experiment and find what works for your team Matt Mullenweg explaining why remote work leads to happier workers We hope these practical tips help other startup founders just embarking on the journey. Feel free to reach out to me on Twitter ( @adayeoyh ) if you have more tips and tricks! If you want more content like this, check out the Shuffle app for the best 1-minute highlights daily from top startup thinkers and VCs. Surfacing the best ideas and stories found in podcasts Previously published at https://medium.com/getshuffleapp/an-inside-look-into-one-startups-remote-work-playbook-b1b00dc10edf/
