“The condition of man… is a condition of war of everyone against everyone.” —
Thomas Hobbes
This is a list that I compiled during my time as a reluctant work at home coder and manager. I was working at an Ad Agency at the time and really wanted to be at the office. That was where the power to get ahead was; that was where all the invites to awesome parties later in the evening could be obtained. I was forced to work at home during the recession as part of a cost saving and political maneuver. Here are my 10 commandments for what I learned to keep my team together and in the groove for getting projects done and done well.
- Always have an IM status of when you will be available in 5 minutes or less, e.g. “Out to lunch until 1400 PST”.
- IMs have to be answered in 5 minutes or less.
- Use military time with a timezone.
- Use flowdock to track when items get finished and as a secondary back channel. Devops / Back-end people, anybody involved with 24/7 support should use IRC.
- Use basecamp or pivotal (depending on the complexity) for project management.
- Have a daily meeting, no exceptions. I picked noon when working with West Coast and East Coast teams.
- Do punish folks for missing meetings or being unavailable. This can be as simple as pointing it out. Or, in my case, as harsh as 3 strikes you’re out, but I don’t think this works as it did during the recession.
- Do not punish anybody for over-communicating. This is the worst mistake ever. I’ve seen hotheads punish folks for over-communicating, and these hotheads spend the rest of their careers saying, “Why are you telling me this now the day of the deadline?”
- Reward on-site visits lavishly. I used 2 hour lunches, long coffee breaks, and playing with the latest “toys.”
- Meet for meals or drinks in person weekly. This is a really good gauge for if they love you or hate you, or don’t care.
I found this keeps everybody on point.