REVIEW: “Remote. Office is optional”, Jason Fraid, David Heinemeier Hensson

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-13 00:26

The book “Remote. Office is not required”is dedicated to the peculiarities of remote work. If you still work in the office from 9:00 to 17:00, but want to make your life freer and work the way you like, then this book is for you. But even for those who have already freed themselves from the shackles of the office, it will be extremely useful.

You've probably read or at least heard about from 37 signals founders Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hensson, which has become a real bestseller. In it, two successful entrepreneurs share their secrets of doing business without prejudice, which have helped make work easier and more enjoyable for thousands of people around the world. The new book “Remote. Office is not required”is no worse.

So, remote work in modern conditions is a business that seems to be quite common and familiar to many. I've been working remotely for about a year and a half and got involved instantly - as they say, you quickly get used to good things. But I worked on a regular job with a schedule from 9:00 to 17:00 every day, and therefore I perfectly understand the relevance of this book.

Millions of workers and thousands of companies are already enjoying the benefits of telecommuting. The volume of tasks performed remotely is growing steadily from year to year, and this is true for businesses of all sizes and for almost all industries. Although they do not switch to remote work as massively as they did to fax communication in their time. And it's not as easy as it might seem.

As the authors themselves write, the purpose of this book is to provide an upgrade to the human brain and way of thinking, to show the benefits of remote work and to show all the archaism of working as usual. I will focus on some of the illustrative points of the book that I especially liked.

Magic Zone of Maximum Efficiency

The book methodically and truthfully examines the peculiarities of remote work and those leaps in the thinking of managers who resist progress and force their employees to sit for years in an office chair. It is interesting, for example, what the leaders of ordinary companies in which remote work is not encouraged, say this:

In fact, being alone with your thoughts is one of the main benefits of working remotely. Working on your own, away from the buzzing office swarm, you stay in your maximum efficiency zone. And you really achieve the result, the very one that you vainly expected from yourself at work!

I am sure that a huge part of employees will agree with these words, especially those who consider themselves introverted. The office simply cannot provide optimal working conditions for everyone - after all, everyone is different, and everyone has their own zone of maximum efficiency. For me personally, the office has never been the perfect place to work. I love working in solitude or in a small group of people, in such an environment I work more productively than anywhere else.

You, of course, may not be such a lover of peace and quiet, but no one bothers you to work in a coworking space or in any other noisy place, right?:)

Working time structure

Another argument in favor of remote work concerns how the working hours are allocated and filled:

When the working day is roughly cut into working minutes, doing something meaningful is incredibly difficult.

I think any sane person would agree that working without any breaks, except for lunch from noon to noon, cannot be enjoyable, and even more so - give the opportunity to consciously work on something.

When I worked in a regular job, the working hours lasted endlessly. You are so opposed to a tough schedule that you start deliberately being late for work, leaving 15 minutes earlier, and in general, you begin to find any excuses in favor of sucking, just to be in this office, tired of you, as little as possible. Can such a pastime be called work? I don't think so.

Gathered here are adults and responsible people

One of the main arguments of the bosses, which does not allow employees to work remotely, is that if you do not follow the work of a person with their own eyes, he begins to be lazy and, in general, works extremely ineffectively. Of course, now I, as the head of a small team of our dear edition of MacRadar, all of whose employees work remotely, understand that this is complete nonsense and nonsense. But before I thought differently, something like this:

Will subordinates work hard if I don't keep an eye on them all the time? Who will guarantee that, left unattended, they will not start to shirk from work and surf the Internet all day and play shooters?

But this position is more than wrong. If employees want to sit on VKontakte or hack World of Tanks at their workplace, they will find an opportunity for this, believe me. The point is not that the employee must constantly be under the formidable gaze of the boss. It's about trusting your team:

If you treat them like adults, responsible people striving to achieve the maximum, even if you are not standing behind them, they, in turn, try to please you.

Another important issue raised here is motivation to work. Why do people really work? Is it really all about money and material goods? Of course, this is not the case:

Most people want to work because it tones them up and gives them satisfaction.

To put it more precisely, I think, is rather difficult. If you want to get results, then treat your employees accordingly.

The manager's job is not to graze his bees, but to lead the work and control its execution.

For those who have already freed themselves

As I said above, Remote is not only a book about archaic prejudices about work, and it is aimed not only at those who are still working the old fashioned way. The book also contains many tips for those who already work remotely. Repetition is said to be the mother of learning. And indeed it is.

Here are just a few excerpts:

• The main function of the chat is team building
• It is useful to separate not only work on the computer for work and personal purposes, but also clothes for work and leisure.
• I can get great talent from Kansas, and I can make them feel valuable and highly paid if I pay them New York salaries.
• Meetings are like salt, it is only lightly seasoned with salt, not eaten with spoons

Naturally, this is only a small part of what is written about in "Remote". But I think that by these individual points you have already been able to understand all the usefulness and coolness of this book:-). I recommend it to absolutely everyone, regardless of which side of the barricades you are on. You will receive pleasure and benefit in any case.