Thread by @mipsytipsy

I wrote about some of our fumbles and false starts with distributed teams, as well as why it's important (and why you should do it too). 🌷🌈

angel.co/blog/on-messin…

"It turns out that when you make the workplace safe for remote workers, it’s better for *everyone*. Once you have decoupled “doing work” from “being in a set place at a set time,” everybody gets more flexibility"

...and this translates into more productivity and happiness.

"It also forces managers to be more outcome oriented when evaluating employees’ productivity"

Not using "I can see them at their desk" as a proxy for impact has a million cascading ripple effects, and all of them are good.

You don't have to do distributed perfectly in order to go distributed. You just need to commit to dogged, continuous, incremental improvement.

People will complain. Boy, will they complain. This is good. This means it matters.

And finally... If you are a startup, going distributed will push you to grow up a bit faster. Distributed folks cannot run on the fumes of informalities and laissez-faire social cues. They need some structure and process to function.

This is a gift, even if you detest it.

It may be annoying for people with lots of clout in these situations, but forcing you to make implicit things explicit and create repeatable processes is generally a relief to everyone else.

It is a civilizing, democratizing process. Most companies resist it far too long.

And conversely! for big, sclerotic, established companies, going distributed can be an amazing injection of life and renewed vigor.

It's a chance to start fresh, to revisit every cultural choice and renew your vows to the ones that really matter.

Just to be clear: I walk to the office every day, seven days a week--Five. I mean five. 😬

I do not work from home. It is not a happy or healthy lifestyle choice for me. But I do prefer -- vastly, overwhelmingly prefer -- to work at a company with distributed teams.

And I am not alone. I have been surprised just what a recruiting asset it has been for us. Even local candidates light up to hear it.

If recruiting or retaining top-tier talent is a concern for you: go distributed. It's good for you. 💕