In January, for our first experiment of the year, we’ve decided to test asynchronous textual stand-ups on the whole team, and see how it would go for us.
We all loved the asynchronous stand-ups, for various reasons.
It quickly showed that everyone in the company loved the new asynchronous/textual way of doing stand-ups. So much in fact, that from mid-January, we all knew it would be something we will stick with.
It allowed us to offer more flexibility on the start time and the end time of the day for each person in the team.
We ditched our basic Google Doc morning stand-up and tested a lot of remote stand-up tools. Most of them felt like they were product team focused, and not agency team focused. Being good developers, we’ve built our very own tool, and after a few hiccups, it’s now starting to become promising.
The asynchronous stand-up also meant that there was less time wasted in the morning, where half of the team (the early risers) would wait for the other half, then do the stand-up and the coffee ritual and then, finally, getting their head down.
Some people in the team discovered the real benefit of writing down a plan for the day, and striking things off their list as they happen, which is a powerful productivity tool!
And finally, our weekly retrospective seemed to be more focused since we don’t chat so much every morning.
All in all, it was a positive experiment, and one that we will continue to do.
For February, our experiment title is ‘Leave the office more often’
In February, we want to put our “remote first approach” under stress by encouraging everyone in the company to work from an unusual location (not the office, their shared office, or home) at least once a week.
What we want to get from that, is to discover the effect it could have on everyone’s productivity, happiness and how the communication flows with the company on these days.
We also want to monitor if, by changing our environment, new ideas will emerge.
Interestingly, I’ve started to read ‘Deep work, rules for focused success in a distracted world’ recently, and it seems to align with my idea that shielding yourself from the office distractions time to time can only be a good thing!
If you are in Bristol, and you are willing to offer one of our fantastic Bristol crew a desk, send me an email and I will dispatch the offers.
