5 lessons learned from becoming a remote-first startup

Yet another blog post about remote work? Even though there are many online, this one is from a personal point of view of becoming remote-first one year on.

From occasional to full remote work

At GitBook, working from home, working remotely, working from anywhere has never been an issue. We had an office that everyone came to work at each day. We had an office life: coffee in the morning, lunch, tea or snack breaks, meetings face to face, testing food (when folks came back from vacation or just wanted to share with the team), celebrations, casual chats, internal events… little things that make the office full of positive energy.

We‘d been using communication and collaboration tools since the very beginning. And most importantly, we were working with trust and accountability.

March 2020 rang in a new chapter, the beginning of a new era, something unknown which slowed down the whole world. We didn’t yet know that it would turn our lives upside down. The whole GitBook Team was based in France at that moment (Lyon and Marseille). The lockdown in France required us to stay home and work from home. Just as we used to do, we kept working even though we needed to adapt to this new way of collaboration.

Becoming a remote first startup

In September 2020, we decided to leave the office completely and become a full remote company with a team spread across Europe (and in the USA and in India in 2021). It was a new start, but for the better. This is my personal perception. Even though we still need to improve, nothing can be taken for granted. Here are 5 lessons I’ve learned about remote working one year on :

1. Shifting quickly and easily into an international team

From an almost 100% French team based in Lyon and Marseille, we have become an international company with a team across Europe. Shifting to a remote-first startup allowed us to welcome new team members based outside of Lyon and even outside of France. English became the working language even though some communications were already in English, for example with our advisors, consultants. It was quite easy to achieve this cultural shift.

2. Document everything and work asynchronously: A game-changing way of collaborating

Everything should be documented on GitBook. This is our Single Source of Truth. We switched to full written communication, including Slack. Documentation (and updating it!) is key! Do not hesitate to over communicate when writing. Use Loom video when needed!

However, we agreed to work asynchronously as well. The result is what matters, not how or when you start to deliver, and you’ll be provided with everything you need to succeed. When working remotely, limiting synchronous interactions such as Slack and e-mails is necessary . When you’re focused on something or in a deep work session, switching context can be painful (and tiring!). Decide when something is urgent and important (and when it’s not). Folks organize their own schedule and their work-life balance. Be mindful and take care of your mental health.

3. That meeting could have been an email

Your time matters. We can’t buy it. We can’t go back. Our habit for each meeting is to schedule it with a goal, outcomes and to be prepared in advance. We try to book a meeting of less than one hour (45 or 50 min) when possible. So if you have another meeting right after, you have a couple of minutes of break. It makes sense. Remote working can cause video call fatigue.This synchronous moment is the opportunity to talk about topics that could not be solved asynchronously in written communication.

4. The importance of connection to strengthen collaboration

We haven’t had the opportunity yet to gather the whole team IRL due to the lockdowns but we believe that casual time (Zoom coffee, gaming nights…) and virtual offsites need to be organized. Virtual offsites have been organized quarterly to have casual time together and brainstorm how to improve our collaboration. All thanks to the mix of Zoom, Miro, Slack and GitBook! Each Friday we have a Show and Tell session.

As a remote-first startup, we can accelerate teamwork by having a shared experience or creating something together. In the end, great memories, or something you can laugh about are what we will remember later on.

5. Work-life balance

Work-life balance is something we really care about at GitBook. The trend to stay late at work to show you are busy (sometimes you can be very busy indeed), doesn’t work anymore. All we want is for you to work smarter with the right tools, automate as much as you can and take care of yourself, having impact. We are the owners of our projects, managing our schedule to deliver on time — key challenges when remote working.

We take the time to recharge, spend time with family, friends, and take care of our loved ones, so we do not hesitate to snooze Slack notifications in the evening, on the weekend, or during vacations.

Working in a full-remote startup doesn’t fit everyone. It requires discipline (a schedule, time management…) and if you need social interactions, you need to find it yourself and set up your own habits. But managing your time, focusing on your work to be productive without being interrupted and spending it on meaningful things that fulfil you is so powerful.

Cheers to more amazing people joining GitBook and sharing more moments together !