This week heralds in another ass when it comes to building remote work cultures. Or really any sense of consistency at the workplace. Everyone says it: remote culture isn't as easy as portrayed in books! Ok, what makes it so damn hard then? What drives companies to seemingly reign in employees after years of remote work? Or perhaps, what allows companies to accelerate at building remote culture over others?
To most people's surprise, there is only one thing that is required for a successful remote environment. It's actually so easy many of us do it every day without even breaking a sweat. At the water cooler, while we are taking snapchats on the john, and especially when we are consoling our loved ones out of their third pair of Yeezys.
It's communication.
That's it. Seriously! Simple and concise, thoughtful and empathic, non biased and poignant... Communication.
Successful remote teams generate reams and reams of documentation. Most of this is generated in a manner that's easily searched by new and returning members. The documentation isn't filled with spelling errors or grammatical mistakes, it's in a language that is prevalent throughout or commonly agreed upon, and all in a space that everyone wants to curate
The thing that makes all of this super tricky though? Yep, it's us. Programmers (not all but, many) found themselves in this trade because they were better at speaking to computers over humans. If teams or individuals want to find themselves in a culture that values remote work then they have a clear path forward:
Put down the fucking JavaScript kata and level up your communication skills