A shift in perspective on remote work
A few months back, I was a firm believer in the benefits that come along with the default work setting most of us grew up with: an office. This view contrasted sharply with my co-founder Nicholas Bransby-Williams, who I teamed up with more than a year ago on GitLive — a communication tool specifically designed for software developers. Nicholas founded GitLive early on (pre-covid) with the vision to set up the company as a remote distributed team of developers. Needless to say, this didn’t align with my work philosophy at all. It took a pandemic and a forced six months of “WFH”, for me to change my mind. I now realize that the software development workflow, unlike most other disciplines, is asynchronous by nature. Conducting it remotely gives you critical competitive advantages if you use the right tools!
Let me tell you why:
- Software development necessitates a specific focus.
Software developers are most productive when they reach a state of highest concentration with a micro view on the task they work on. Getting into the “zone”, a form of deep engagement, can take up to an hour but getting pulled out of it takes a minute. There is a consensus among our developers that this state takes less time to reach and persists for a longer time when not being physically surrounded by your colleagues!
2. Git is the core of every software development workflow and is asynchronous by nature.
No matter which code hosting services you use, every software development team’s workflow is centered around the git source control system. Given git’s transactional design, the communication flow is meant to be conducted in different places at different times.
3. Daily stand-ups are useless.
For the most part, daily stand-ups exist to update management on what one is working on. In practice, they resemble a lip service exercise, and most developers would argue that they are a waste of time. Claiming that they only take 10–20 minutes is wrong. They take developers out of a state of deep focus (discussed above). At GitLive, we realized this early on and were convinced that this could be improved with the right software. Instead of pulling everyone out of their work once a day, we introduced a feature called “enhanced visibility” to the GitLive platform, providing visibility on checked-out repositories, issues, and real-time progress without interrupting the developer in question. Thereby management can plan and organize, and developers are left in peace!
4. Challenge the synchronous status quo and use the right tools for things that are difficult to handle asynchronously
The agile manifesto states, “Individuals and interactions over processes and tools” which I vigorously challenge. Although I strongly believe in human interactions to build up a sense of belonging and company culture, most discussions around software development are better handled asynchronously, given you use the right tools. Software development discussions are unique in that they need reflection time, often considering multiple complex factors, before finally being able to give the optimal response. On the other hand, problem-solving needs to be synchronous. That is why GitLive offers multiple features to facilitate real-time troubleshooting, such as editing your teammate’s file within reach of a mouse click. Furthermore, social activities should remain synchronous and do a better job of building company culture and loyalty. At GitLive, we have replaced daily standups with weekly visual demonstrations of accomplishments. Every team member stays in the loop about exciting new product features and doesn’t have to listen to some pointless lip service exercise through this procedure. Additionally, we organize off sites making the time we spend physically together purely fun!
5. Saving time for your employees
The average developer at GitLive saves 1h20 minutes a day, not commuting relative to their previous job!
6. Facilitating recruitment
Software developers are expensive, and finding the right skill set for your niche software stack is a costly and time-consuming endeavor. Being able to hire remotely has facilitated the dilemma tremendously.
7. Going 100% remote or nothing!
Going half remote is problematic as it leads some team members to miss out on key conversations. It also shifts your focus from setting up the right procedures and using the right tools for a seamless remote workflow. Besides, specifically, when it comes to code, conversations should be archived relevant PR or issues to be referred to when needed in the future. This best practice happens less when sitting next to each other.
Conclusion
To sum up, I think software development is mostly asynchronous, and the parts that need to be synchronous require the right tools. GitLive adds a real-time layer by streaming file changes in real-time, facilitating synchronous remote problem solving — hence the name.
I would love to get challenged on these views and get your perspective on managing your software development teams. Are there any other challenges you face with your software development colleagues you would like to see solved by GitLive? Reach out to me!
