Remote in Russian. New book from 37signals

If the names “Rework” and “37signals” are familiar to you, then a small holiday has come on your street - recently their new book “Remote: Office Not Required” was published in Russian (in the Russian edition - “Remote: Office is not required”) . The book is available both in print and in electronic version.

37signals is the creator of the Ruby on Rails framework, several project management tools (of which Basecamp is best known) and several best-selling books ( Rework and Getting Real) dedicated to building a successful development company. A year ago, their new book was announced, dedicated to the advantages and organization of remote work - its announcement slipped on Habré. Remote appeared on the shelves of Western stores in the fall, so many have already read it in the original language - including the founder of Habrahabr Denis Kryuchkov, who gave her a brief positive assessment .

Since then, 37signals have renamed Basecamp (in order to increase the company's awareness, they named themselves by the name of their most successful product), and this week “Remote: The Office is Not Required” has finally gone on sale in Russian. I didn’t have time for the original, so, waiting for a sunny morning on Saturday, I went to the bookstore, and after a couple of hours I plunged into reading in the electric train. There were no fears about the Russian edition: the business literature publishing house Mann-Ivanov-Ferber again took on the matter, releasing our previous bestseller 37signals - Rework . On my bookshelf, this book has long occupied an honorable place; The story was repeated with Remote - the original design of the book was completely preserved, wonderful illustrations were again in place, a high-quality translation is attached - however, it was not expected of the MYTH.

“ The future has already come, it’s just unevenly distributed ”
William Gibson

This wonderful epigraph of the famous American science fiction writer set the tone for the whole action. The creators of Remote from the first pages set themselves a difficult task - to prove that remote work is beneficial for both the employer and the employee, revealing the practical side of the case itself. And the further you immerse yourself in their new work, the more you catch yourself thinking that the book is the first step to a new, still unexplored territory in the field of the theory of the organization of labor of IT specialists, where only McConnell had ever ventured to go. Their task is doubly more difficult because in order to do this they have to overcome the collective negative burden of experience with freelancers and outsourcers; the authors immediately distance themselves from them, arguing that properly organized distant work is completely, completely different.
')
The book begins with a description of the benefits of remote work on daily visits to the office (to its credit, 37signals, warning remarks about the possible shortcomings of each of these advantages are also present). Having finished with a description of the paradises of the new life of the book, the book is truly devilish laughing, trying to tear to shreds each of the popular arguments of the authorities against remote work. How much of her evidence is applicable in real life? .. I find it difficult to answer; here, you still need to make a discount on the mentality - after all, remote work implies willpower and responsibility, but from my own experience I know for sure that many comrades, for various reasons, cannot literally get anything without a “whip” - but they are doing real miracles, often exceeding their ideas about their own abilities.

But on the theory of authors linger not for long; next they move on to practical issues of the organization of remote work. The principles of proper organization of work are explained to us: remote work does not exist without “overlapping time” - several hours, when staff and remote employees work at the same time and are in touch with each other; without sharing files, which are also better kept in the "cloud"; without additional entertainment chat with colleagues, which will replace the talk for the life of a cooler. Such ambiguous issues as control and evaluation of work are raised, but in a few words I’ll be unable to talk about them.

A significant place is occupied by a section on the problems of organizing your own labor. It is not a secret for anyone that the “remote” leaves fewer opportunities to communicate with colleagues on professional and work topics, leading to some isolation; it can also have a negative effect on the motivation, which - as the authors note, and I completely agree with them - “it’s impossible to artificially increase it with the help of the right tricks”. Excellent advice is given on the fact that different computers should be used for entertaining and working at home — the tablet can play the role of one of them; but, of course, everything is not limited to this recommendation.

The authors did not forget about such an important moment as hiring remote employees - here they have to dispel prejudices like the fact that the personal qualities of a person whom you will almost never see live, are not that important. Managers will find here including reflections on the topic of when (and whether) they transfer their office or startup to remote work and how to effectively regulate its work. Freelance is also being rehabilitated here as the best school of life for those who want to work remotely in the future.

Due to its proximity to the realities of today's day, Remote, unlike most classic books dealing with the problems of programmers' labor, does not look like a guest from the 90s; From time to time I had the feeling that I was not reading a book, but talking to my colleagues. However, I didn’t really discuss many of the issues raised here with friends, so they are far from being taken from the ceiling.

Of course, not everyone will like the book; in the end, after all, many have blamed Rework for everything they can - from the “poster” style of communication with the reader and the superficiality right up to the harmfulness of the advice. In the latter case, the case is most likely in the 37signals itself - after all, even Paul Graham suspected that the company's unique device at that time was the exception rather than the rule. However, since 2006, a lot of time has passed, freelance has flourished with wild color, but the question of where it is better to set up a startup - in the thick of a big city or in the peace and quiet of distant work - is still open. In any case, you can evaluate it for yourself using the first chapter of the book and other reviews , which contain many passages and ideas from it. I myself am one of those to whom the advice of Rework once brought good luck, so I can recommend to all fans of the last book to at least try to get acquainted with the new one.

Nevertheless, Remote is the first more or less serious attempt to bring together, systematize and justify the principles of remote work, and therefore for some, most of its advice will be familiar for a long time. But the latter does not negate their correctness and practical use.