| At Envoy (https://envoy.com/) we have roughly 33% of our engineering team working out of their homes so I can speak to both what we look for and what we've found that works: (1) High I/O. Communication between folks on and offsite can be lower bandwidth due to tech, not always face to face or synchronous, and fewer serendipitous interactions. You need folks who love hearing from and reaching out to people, such that they have a bias to compensate for these limitations. (2) Overlapping time zones. Related to above. (3) Fully formed, mature human beings. Related to above. (4) Evidence they've been effective doing it. Not everyone can self-manage and motivate. I, for one, suck at it. (5) Working experience. It's harder to have less-experienced folks tether to teams in other locations, because by nature they need much more communication both ways. As a bonus, here's what you should look out for when seeking your next team: (a) The same stuff as above :) (b) Unintentional biases. Ask when the meetings are scheduled. What tech they use to "dial in" folks. Unclear differentiation in comp, benefits, etc. (it may be different by location, but there should be a methodology behind it) Even clues like heavy use of the word "remote" (which sounds 2nd class) vs something like "distributed". (shameless plug, we're hiring. https://envoy.com/jobs/) |