I work at Automattic, a remote-first company. That means the vast majority of employees work in an array of spaces: from home, cafes, co-working spaces, and more. Also, we are spread all over the world, so many nationalities, languages, and time zones are represented.
This mode of work has many benefits. I can set up my space exactly the way I want it, carry my laptop anywhere with an internet connection, and adjust my working hours depending on my activities. Several times a year, I travel internationally to meet up with my team, division, or even the entire company (and include time for travel sketching!).
It’s not for everyone. If you’re someone who loves separation between work and home, you may need to use a little more effort and discipline to set up an office space outside of home. If you thrive on regular in-person social interactions with colleagues, you’re out of luck. And if you live in a time zone far apart from others on your team (like I do), you may not even have many synchronous video calls.
For me, the benefits far outweigh the downsides. I thrive in this remote, async environment, and it has an energising effect on my creativity. I’m also passionate about leading remote creative teams.
Because I get to control when and where I work, I can more easily fit other activities around work time: exercise, family time, and nourishing creative time.
Also, because I need to do most of my work asynchronously to the rest of my time, I operate with a high degree of autonomy on projects. Since there is not always someone online at the same time as me to brainstorm ideas, check on progress, or give me feedback, I need to make progress on my own.
That means thinking out loud, shipping thoughts before they’re fully formed, and being prepared to be wrong and have my ideas shot down overnight. I need to pick up a request from a colleague, often with very little information, and makes as much progress as I can on it during my day.
I’m often spinning up a Google doc with stream-of-consciousness notes, peppered with comments and questions for teammates I’ll hand the baton to. This feels vulnerable, because it’s not just a casual coffee chat with a colleague. It requires humility and flexibility, which are also essential qualities to practice in creative expression. You’re working out in the open, exposing your thought processes and impulses to your colleagues, which requires a lot of trust.
I feel so lucky that I get to work (and thrive) in this environment. In a world of return to office, remote async work is worth fighting for.
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