For organizations looking to adopt remote strategies, there are a few key requirements. We'll get into detail throughout the course, but from a high level, here are the essential things you should start working to put into place. A remote transition plan. The goal of this course is to help you create a transition plan. That's because the process will be different for every team based on factors like: company size, quantity of offices, percentage of employees who already work remotely, existing tools and technology infrastructure for operating remotely, existing culture surrounding communication and career mapping, and much more. Start by understanding where you're at now, and where your organization wants to be in one year, five years, ten years. Establish a remote leadership team. Shifting an entire division or company to remote triggers a shock wave of change. Evaluate current managers and rally a team of experts who have remote work experience and who are able to communicate nuances and to serve as resources to those who will inevitably have questions. A core part of this team's role will be to document challenges in real-time, transparently prioritize those challenges, and assign directly responsible individuals to find solutions. Executive Assistants may also take on a more significant role in the transition, functioning as a documentarian in meetings and aiding with internal communications cascaded to the rest of the organization. The quickest way to send the clearest signal that remote is the future is to start at the top of the organizational chart. We recommend making the executive team remote as soon as possible. Establish a remote infrastructure. Companies considering a transition to fully remote should ask themselves if they could function if every team member chose to work from their home tomorrow. To get an idea of what needs to be in place from a tools and technology standpoint, consider the following questions in light of the aforesaid scenario. What voids would become apparent? What areas of communication would falter? What confusion would emerge? What tools do we use today that we could continue to use as a fully remote team? What tools that empower fully remote teams should we consider? Companies that rely on in-office meetings will likely need to embrace a new paradigm, leveraging video meetings and cloud calendaring. Consider the current adoption rate of these tools within your team. Is everyone using them? Are they being used in the same ways? If you aren't sure, start auditing these systems now. Enabling access to systems and files across a fully remote company can be very different, and may require a new approach to security. Consult with your security team and consider an in-depth audit of your systems and tools to avoid common security flaws. Establish a handbook. This will be rudimentary to start, but start it anyway. Consider your handbook a living document which will serve as a single source of truth for more pressing questions. Share the handbook company-wide, and update it continually. This can start as a single company web page or wiki, and it will grow to serve you well as long as it's kept current. GitLab uses GitLab to build, sustain, and evolve its company handbook. It's certainly a good idea to implement a tool that has a version tracking and other features that were developed to allow many people to work on a single piece of documentation. Empower your team to contribute to your handbook, and it will grow more quickly and stay more up-to-date. One of the most sizable challenges when going remote is keeping everyone informed. We will discuss this in detail later in the course. We urge you to take documentation seriously from the start. Establish a communication plan. Documentation doesn't cover the more time-sensitive or high impact communications you'll want to share throughout your remote transition. Get your communications and HR teams involved early, to discuss how to message any major changes. Whatever your current view on transparency, leaders should not hold back during this time. It's vital to maintain perspective through this shift and leaders should prioritize communication. Everyone reacts to remote work differently. This can and likely will feel jarring and team members will expect frequent updates as leaders iterate on their communication plan in real-time. For a fast boot on this front, consider replicating GitLab's public communication guide. During the transition, depending on your team size, consider an always on video conference room for each team where team members can linger or come and go as they please. This simulation helps acclimation, enabling team members to embrace the shift to remote in a less jarring way. It also shows intentionality around informal communication, an important element that occurs spontaneously in an office and needs an immediate replacement in a remote setting. Drive change. Humans are naturally resistant to change, particularly change that is forced during times of uncertainty or crisis. Leaders will have to meet this reality head-on an all hands approach to recognizing the new reality is advised, and it's vital to empowering everyone to contribute to the success of a remote model. Particularly for companies with a strong in-office experience, it's vital for leadership to recognize that the remote transition is a process, not a binary switch to be flipped. Leaders are responsible for embracing iteration, being open about what is and is not working, and messaging this to all employees. Managing a remote company is much like managing any company. It comes down to trust, communication, and company wide support of shared goals. In future lessons, we'll share more detail on essential practices including: communication, project management, a results mindset, evaluation, career development, and leadership.
