Who would’ve thought the transition to remote work would carry over the nuisance of daily meetings? Well, thanks to VoIP and video conferencing tools, our love-hate relationship with daily (weekly, monthly…) scrums continue. Luckily, quick sync-up meetings are here to save the day. In a now-famous email to Tesla employees, Elon Musk shared his formula for effective meetings. According to Musk, they should be small, short, and scarce. Teams should…
Continue ReadingTerry Crews doesn’t check his email before hitting the gym, but it’s a safe bet that everyone else does. Over the course of almost 50 years (!), email has become a staple in our professional lives. Now that the modern workplace pivots to remote, it’s about time we challenged the status quo: Does @mailto belong in remote workflows? 🤔 If you’re like most knowledge workers, chances are you have a…
Continue ReadingWritten communication is going through a renaissance of sorts. With the rise of remote work, the ability to express thoughts in a clear and organized manner is in high demand. But while asynchronous communication these days is mostly about chat, emails and texts, there’s another writing skill you should master — how to write a memo. Memos (memorandums for short) aren’t only a domain of high-profile CEOs. They’re a great,…
Continue ReadingRemember the 1992 Glengarry Glen Ross scene where Alec Baldwin’s character schools the sales team on the principles of Always Be Closing (ABC)? That’s some A-level mentoring right there. Wouldn’t it be cool if fully distributed teams could get a *similar* learning experience through remote mentoring sessions? 🤝 What’s Remote Mentoring? 📘 Mentoring: employee training system under which a senior or more experienced individual (the mentor) is assigned to act…
Continue ReadingThese days, synchronous (real-time) communication is almost too easy. There are dozens of tools that let teams chat, video conference and get work done. Some, like Taskade, combine all that functionality together, in one unified workspace. But back in the early Internet days, there was only one communication king, and its name was Internet Relay Chat (IRC). 👑 For over 30 years (!), the IRC protocol has enabled millions of…
Continue ReadingWhat’s the difference between synchronous and asynchronous communication? Which is better for your team? There’s no better time to find answers to these questions than during a global work-from-home (WFH) experiment. In this article, we explore the differences between real-time and async comms. Oh, and while we’re at it, we also settle a debate: Which of the two belongs in the workplace of the future? 🤔 Sync vs. Async: What’s…
Continue ReadingWorkplace camaraderie among distributed teams… An urban legend? A mythical creature? Building a culture of companionship and solidarity is a dream come true for leaders in distributed organizations. In this article, we set out on a quest to answer these questions. You’ll learn how workplace camaraderie can make employees happier, more engaged and satisfied with their work. You’ll also see what happens when companionship wanes or, worse still, never develops. …
Continue ReadingPostpone and wait or adapt and move forward? Companies and organizations across the globe have been facing some hard decisions in the last few weeks. COVID-19 took the world by storm, and only a few, including Y Combinator, were prepared to ride the wave of crisis. Thanks to preparedness and willingness to embrace remote work tools, some businesses were able to quickly move from: 👉 Office work to telecommuting👉 In-person…
Continue ReadingThe game is on. Businesses around the world are joining the “remote culture” to embrace the benefits of distributed teams. According to estimates, as much as 50% of the global workforce may go fully remote by 2020. 🙊 Not so long ago, we published the article “Reverse-Engineering Productivity for Remote Teams. Do More With Less” that detailed how already established remote teams can overcome common productivity problems (be sure to…
Continue ReadingIs your remote team missing a productivity boost? We’re having a look at what you really need to do to take the boring out of recurring workflows right away.
Read ArticleThomas Edison once said, “There’s a way to do it better with AI — find it.” Okay, he didn’t actually mention AI, but if he could see us now, he probably would. Let’s skip the usual fanfare about progress and dive right into practicality. AI is transforming how teams work and collaborate, so we did the heavy lifting to find the best AI productivity tools for teams you should check…
Continue ReadingIn 2019, the digital note-taking landscape witnessed a shift. Roam Research burst onto the scene, introducing a novel way to visualize and connect thoughts. Fast forward four years, the ecosystem is shifting, with many new Roam Research Alternatives pushing the boundaries. In today’s article, we compare some of the best alternatives to Roam Research, each with its unique flair and set of features. Whether you’re a productivity ninja or just…
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The Art of Quick Sync-Ups for Remote Teams (Updated 2024) 
Email in Remote Workflows: A Complicated Relationship 
How to Write a Memo: Effective Business Communication 101 
Onboarding and Mentoring Remote Employees 
Internet Relay Chat (IRC): How It All Started 
Synchronous vs Asynchronous Communication for Collaboration, That Is the Question 
How to Foster Remote Workplace Camaraderie 
Y Combinator Fieldnotes: How to Grow and Thrive During a Crisis 
Why Distributed Teams Are the Future of Workforce ✨ 
The Re-Birth Of Remote Team Productivity 
11 Best AI Productivity Tools for Teams in 2024 
The Best 7 Roam Research Alternatives in 2024