Half of our employees work remotely. Tell us how we do it.
In Puzzle English, the work is organized in such a way that almost all tasks can be performed remotely. Approximately half of the employees work this way: we have people from Belarus, Ukraine, Ireland, France, Montenegro, and Thailand. Someone initially lives in another country, others moved in the process. A few more people in Russia, but not in Moscow. Today we will tell you how we organize processes so that the quality and efficiency of work are at a high level, no matter what.
The office employs about 20 people, and it is not necessary to be there every day from 9 am to 6 pm: if there is a need, you can work from home by prior arrangement. And at the very beginning of the development, the company had no office at all: both the general director, and all the developers and creators of the content worked from home computers. The office was needed when the staff passed over 20 people and it was necessary to organize a video studio for regular video tutorials - they form the basis of the sections “Grammar” and “Tycher Method” .
For communication, we used to use Skype , now - Slack . There are several chats by department: for editors, about PR, smm, bugs, mobile applications, general and random - for communication on non-working topics. In Slak, you can write private messages, and in order not to clutter up general chats, you can respond to a specific message by opening the “thread” - then all the answers will be hidden under the cat.
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We use the free version, it is enough for a staff of 40 people, and we save all important files and correspondence separately, if necessary (after some time all correspondence is erased, storage is only on a paid account).
Another convenient feature of Slak is that you can mute chat rooms if the information from them is not a priority, but you need to monitor the whole process. Notifications are not distracting, and if you need to call someone specific, you just need to mention it through @, there will be one in front of the chat. You can also set a quiet mode for a while, so that only the number of unread messages appears, and the notifications themselves do not pop up - for example, if you need to make a screen recording or when you are talking on Skype.
For setting tasks, tracking processes and working with bugs, use Jira . It used to be Basecamp , but Jira is more convenient and provides more features: you can compose releases, arrange urgent tasks and so on. Even for project management, some employees use Trello : there, for example, work is underway on partner postings and tracking tasks on our main Youtube channel , and in general it is optimal for personal use: set yourself tasks for the day and celebrate their implementation.
To make it easier to share screenshots, we use Monosnap : images are uploaded to the server, you can instantly get a short link like take.ms/… or embed code, you can make notes on the screenshot - select image fragments with a brush or frame, add text, set arrows. By the way, Monosnap also provides the ability to record a screencast of the screen along with the sound, and the video is written directly to the file, and even if you accidentally close the recording window without clicking “Save”, the video will not be lost.
If there are problems that are difficult to describe in words, connect TeamViewer . It also helps if you want to reproduce a bug that is caught on only one device.
For the layout there is Zeplin , which integrates with Slack. All the layouts loaded into it appear in a separate chat, they are seen only by those who are subscribed to this chat. For joint development we use BitBucket .
Technical support is used by Zendesk : you can make a bot in it that will respond by itself if the specified conditions are met, there is API support, accepting applications via the phone, keeping feedback and analyzing it. There are still priority groups, several channels, from where all feedback from the site and mobile applications flows, triggers, many macros; Feedback from Google Play can also be received into it. Working with Zendesk is a topic for a separate article, and we will write about this later.
Plans, reports, publication schedule, general lists of tasks are maintained in Google Docs . It's quick and convenient: you can give access to commenting or editing, everything is available in real time. Files for general use are stored in Google Drive , the editors of Tichera Method use Dropbox .
These are all technical issues, but what about discipline? We initially recruit people who can and want to work remotely and are able or willing to learn it. There is a rule: from 12 to 18 h Moscow time you need to be online, the rest of the time you distribute yourself. You can work at night or early in the morning, the main thing is to do your work. Technical support is more difficult - you need to respond quickly, but those who are responsible for the content have a little more leeway. Anton and Nastya, who are recording videos for our Puzzle English Live channel, somehow worked from Cyprus for a couple of weeks, and they themselves are from Ivanovo.
Every Monday, in a general chat, the CEO throws up the work plan for the upcoming week: a task list in google with links to Jira and a list of artists. This is a preliminary plan, it may change along the way - we are flexible and stand up for the quality of work, so if we need more time, then we simply transfer the task to the next week.
We have a list of employees and their phone numbers in case they permanently disappeared from the network. Naturally, pages on social networks are also known to everyone, you can write there. We don’t penalize the first disappearance from radar, but no one will allow it on a regular basis. In general, we try to warn in the general chat if there is a possibility of a lack of a network or some other problems. Additionally, we write in status in Slack, when we are absent and when we return, including before going on vacation.
With weekends, hospital vacations and vacations, by the way, everything is also flexible: if a person does not want to lie on the sofa and can work, this is only a plus. In this case, you don’t need to take a sick-list - it’s convenient if you don’t want to burden your body with a trip to the subway, and you have a desire to continue working.
Everything is simple with motivation: as a rule, if a person does not like work, he leaves it, because without desire and love for his work at a remote place it is almost impossible to force yourself to work. Another issue is self-discipline. But when there is a clear time, when you have to be online, and also a very specific list of tasks for the day / week, a certain schedule is formed very quickly. In freelance everything is different: there is no certain time frame other than the deadline, so the schedule is set in a completely different way.
Detachment from the team is not felt at all. Here's what content marketing expert Mile Kotlyarova says:
“I have been working in the Puzzle remotely since its inception. It was never a problem to call Sasha (CEO) or other employees, to discuss current tasks and plans. Chat is always open, if I leave the store or I am on the road - I live in Montenegro now - I work from the phone. There are no “advantages” for office workers - all decisions, discussions and pressing issues are duplicated in Slack, even if they were discussed in detail at the meeting before. When I find myself in Moscow and have time, I go to the office, communicate with colleagues.
I don’t know if I would be just as effective if I didn’t work remotely - for six years I spent a total of two weeks in the office and realized that this was not mine. The most exhausting road, these 2-3 hours is better to spend on work or personal projects. There are no problems with self-organization for a long time - I have developed for myself a few rules and life hacks, which help to focus on work and not be distracted. Now, by the way, I share them in my Remote & Freelance channel. For example, help timers like TomatoTimer and TMetric , a clear setting of tasks for the day and the separation of work and rest . ”
We have a horizontal management system, so initially the main requirements for each employee are self-organization, initiative and the ability to take responsibility. All are equal, can offer their ideas and take on those tasks that are interesting to them. The editor can be engaged in SMM management, tester development, and so on. This is the way growth in a company: when a person is ready to learn new things and take on new tasks, he can move to another department to a new position or get more responsibility on his own.
In the following articles we will describe in more detail how we work with the listed services, and in the previous one we wrote how a small staff makes content, measured in hundreds of hours of video and audio material.
Readers of the blog give a coupon for 500 rubles for the purchase of a subscription, which includes 8 types of training and weekly newsletters about English grammar and vocabulary.
And for unlimited and perpetual access to all features of the site there is an “All Inclusive” tariff (the discount does not apply).
The office employs about 20 people, and it is not necessary to be there every day from 9 am to 6 pm: if there is a need, you can work from home by prior arrangement. And at the very beginning of the development, the company had no office at all: both the general director, and all the developers and creators of the content worked from home computers. The office was needed when the staff passed over 20 people and it was necessary to organize a video studio for regular video tutorials - they form the basis of the sections “Grammar” and “Tycher Method” .
What services for the work we use
For communication, we used to use Skype , now - Slack . There are several chats by department: for editors, about PR, smm, bugs, mobile applications, general and random - for communication on non-working topics. In Slak, you can write private messages, and in order not to clutter up general chats, you can respond to a specific message by opening the “thread” - then all the answers will be hidden under the cat.
')
We use the free version, it is enough for a staff of 40 people, and we save all important files and correspondence separately, if necessary (after some time all correspondence is erased, storage is only on a paid account).
Another convenient feature of Slak is that you can mute chat rooms if the information from them is not a priority, but you need to monitor the whole process. Notifications are not distracting, and if you need to call someone specific, you just need to mention it through @, there will be one in front of the chat. You can also set a quiet mode for a while, so that only the number of unread messages appears, and the notifications themselves do not pop up - for example, if you need to make a screen recording or when you are talking on Skype.
For setting tasks, tracking processes and working with bugs, use Jira . It used to be Basecamp , but Jira is more convenient and provides more features: you can compose releases, arrange urgent tasks and so on. Even for project management, some employees use Trello : there, for example, work is underway on partner postings and tracking tasks on our main Youtube channel , and in general it is optimal for personal use: set yourself tasks for the day and celebrate their implementation.
To make it easier to share screenshots, we use Monosnap : images are uploaded to the server, you can instantly get a short link like take.ms/… or embed code, you can make notes on the screenshot - select image fragments with a brush or frame, add text, set arrows. By the way, Monosnap also provides the ability to record a screencast of the screen along with the sound, and the video is written directly to the file, and even if you accidentally close the recording window without clicking “Save”, the video will not be lost.
If there are problems that are difficult to describe in words, connect TeamViewer . It also helps if you want to reproduce a bug that is caught on only one device.
For the layout there is Zeplin , which integrates with Slack. All the layouts loaded into it appear in a separate chat, they are seen only by those who are subscribed to this chat. For joint development we use BitBucket .
Technical support is used by Zendesk : you can make a bot in it that will respond by itself if the specified conditions are met, there is API support, accepting applications via the phone, keeping feedback and analyzing it. There are still priority groups, several channels, from where all feedback from the site and mobile applications flows, triggers, many macros; Feedback from Google Play can also be received into it. Working with Zendesk is a topic for a separate article, and we will write about this later.
Plans, reports, publication schedule, general lists of tasks are maintained in Google Docs . It's quick and convenient: you can give access to commenting or editing, everything is available in real time. Files for general use are stored in Google Drive , the editors of Tichera Method use Dropbox .
Discipline and motivation
These are all technical issues, but what about discipline? We initially recruit people who can and want to work remotely and are able or willing to learn it. There is a rule: from 12 to 18 h Moscow time you need to be online, the rest of the time you distribute yourself. You can work at night or early in the morning, the main thing is to do your work. Technical support is more difficult - you need to respond quickly, but those who are responsible for the content have a little more leeway. Anton and Nastya, who are recording videos for our Puzzle English Live channel, somehow worked from Cyprus for a couple of weeks, and they themselves are from Ivanovo.
Every Monday, in a general chat, the CEO throws up the work plan for the upcoming week: a task list in google with links to Jira and a list of artists. This is a preliminary plan, it may change along the way - we are flexible and stand up for the quality of work, so if we need more time, then we simply transfer the task to the next week.
We have a list of employees and their phone numbers in case they permanently disappeared from the network. Naturally, pages on social networks are also known to everyone, you can write there. We don’t penalize the first disappearance from radar, but no one will allow it on a regular basis. In general, we try to warn in the general chat if there is a possibility of a lack of a network or some other problems. Additionally, we write in status in Slack, when we are absent and when we return, including before going on vacation.
With weekends, hospital vacations and vacations, by the way, everything is also flexible: if a person does not want to lie on the sofa and can work, this is only a plus. In this case, you don’t need to take a sick-list - it’s convenient if you don’t want to burden your body with a trip to the subway, and you have a desire to continue working.
Everything is simple with motivation: as a rule, if a person does not like work, he leaves it, because without desire and love for his work at a remote place it is almost impossible to force yourself to work. Another issue is self-discipline. But when there is a clear time, when you have to be online, and also a very specific list of tasks for the day / week, a certain schedule is formed very quickly. In freelance everything is different: there is no certain time frame other than the deadline, so the schedule is set in a completely different way.
Teamwork and career development
Detachment from the team is not felt at all. Here's what content marketing expert Mile Kotlyarova says:
“I have been working in the Puzzle remotely since its inception. It was never a problem to call Sasha (CEO) or other employees, to discuss current tasks and plans. Chat is always open, if I leave the store or I am on the road - I live in Montenegro now - I work from the phone. There are no “advantages” for office workers - all decisions, discussions and pressing issues are duplicated in Slack, even if they were discussed in detail at the meeting before. When I find myself in Moscow and have time, I go to the office, communicate with colleagues.
I don’t know if I would be just as effective if I didn’t work remotely - for six years I spent a total of two weeks in the office and realized that this was not mine. The most exhausting road, these 2-3 hours is better to spend on work or personal projects. There are no problems with self-organization for a long time - I have developed for myself a few rules and life hacks, which help to focus on work and not be distracted. Now, by the way, I share them in my Remote & Freelance channel. For example, help timers like TomatoTimer and TMetric , a clear setting of tasks for the day and the separation of work and rest . ”
We have a horizontal management system, so initially the main requirements for each employee are self-organization, initiative and the ability to take responsibility. All are equal, can offer their ideas and take on those tasks that are interesting to them. The editor can be engaged in SMM management, tester development, and so on. This is the way growth in a company: when a person is ready to learn new things and take on new tasks, he can move to another department to a new position or get more responsibility on his own.
In the following articles we will describe in more detail how we work with the listed services, and in the previous one we wrote how a small staff makes content, measured in hundreds of hours of video and audio material.
If you want to upgrade English, come to us
Readers of the blog give a coupon for 500 rubles for the purchase of a subscription, which includes 8 types of training and weekly newsletters about English grammar and vocabulary.
And for unlimited and perpetual access to all features of the site there is an “All Inclusive” tariff (the discount does not apply).
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/349206/
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