You’re reading an excerpt of The Holloway Guide to Remote Work, a book by Katie Wilde, Juan Pablo Buriticá, and over 50 other contributors. It is the most comprehensive resource on building, managing, and adapting to working with distributed teams. Purchase the book to support the author and the ad-free Holloway reading experience. You get instant digital access, 800 links and references, a library of tools for remote-friendly work, commentary and future updates, and a high-quality PDF download.
This guide covers material of interest to anyone involved with remote work, including:
Full-time employees at companies where not everyone works in the same office. This includes both companies with all remote employees, and companies with a mix of remote and on-site employees; people who go into an office every day but work with people who are remote will benefit from this material just as much as their remote colleagues.
Managers of teams at remote companies.
Executives or founders of companies with remote workers, or who are evaluating whether to adopt remote work.
HR, legal, and business operations roles.
Remote work advice is often based on individual or anecdotal experience, or presents the perspective of a single specific company. Much of this advice is also hyperbolic and lacks nuance around the complexities and challenges for both individuals and companies. We see a need for a consolidated and shared resource written by and for people involved in all aspects of remote work—including managers, founders, and employees; including HR, legal, and operational staff; and including those at beginner levels and the more experienced alike.
Every company and remote employee is unique, and this Guide is not perfect; but it aims nonetheless to be the most inclusive and practical resource available on the subject. Whether you’re a remote worker or anyone else involved with distributed teams, we want to supply you with both the principles and the tools to empower you to flourish in a remote environment.
dangerWhen thinking about remote work, both startups and larger companies often look to other, often famous, companies for inspiration. But you are (probably) not GitLab or Basecamp, and “just use the GitLab handbook” can be inappropriate advice. The approach to remote work that you want is not necessarily the same. Each company’s size, growth, philosophies, and financial outlook may be very different from those of other companies. And if you’re an employee, one company’s handbook or philosophy won’t necessarily help you succeed elsewhere. We can learn a lot from seemingly successful remote companies, but we shouldn’t blindly copy them.