Distributed Working Ladder
When working as a distributed team there is a journey to being harmonised with the new technology, working in a home environment and being efficient and productive with your team mates beyond what can be achieved in a physical office environment. Below are some identified categories to illustrate various common experiences on the journey:
Level 1 - Orientation
At this introductory level the purpose of the online tools is to occasionally augment the face to face meetings in the physical office, which is still the preferred option, and are used to include distant members located outside of the office environment. Knowledge of the online tools at this level is limited to hosting meetings and occasionally using a virtual whiteboard to communicate ideas that are becoming difficult to explain over the wire.
Level 2 - The Virtual Office
The premise at this level is that the physical office environment is still the preferred option and the online tools are just a way to replicate the meetings and practices that would normally happen in the office. A side effect here is meeting fatigue where each meeting is just a click away and the need to feel visible and productive can be overwhelming, prompting team members to try to attend every meeting and get across every chat message as a way to compensate for the lack of physical contact and perceived isolation from the physical office space. Technical knowledge of the online tools and capabilities becomes more widely known and are used more often as a means to replicate the whiteboard discussions and meetings that would normally happen.
Level 3 - Productive
At this level online collaboration tools are being used consistently with video conferencing software and activities begin to be more efficient and dynamic. The need to attend every meeting and read every message begins to subside and active filtering is used to determine which activities are more valuable than others. Alternatives to meetings are also investigated and implemented as a means to be more efficient and reduce the mental load of attending everything. At this level there is an acceptance of the technology and its purpose as an alternative to the physical office environment rather than just a means to replicate it. Team members may begin to cooperate at this level with online work artefacts passed backwards and forwards between team members to arrive at an expected outcome.
Level 4 - Evolved
Here team members are beginning to collaborate effectively, replacing meetings to instead swarm together working on online artefacts at the same time and in a highly interactive approach using multiple tools concurrently to achieve their outcomes. The use of video conferencing, screen sharing, chat messaging as well as online collaboration becomes normal and preferred over meetings. Deeper insights are gained by working with others at the same time as perspectives and influences are shared with an enhanced understanding and depth to the work. At this level the online collaboration become more efficient and more insightful than what is possible in the physical office space.
Level 5 - Harmonised
At this level there is a harmony between the work space and home space as the benefits of being at home whilst working productively begin to be realised. Creating an immersive working environment with significant investment in work equipment and furniture is seen as valuable and necessary to be productive. Personalised activities such as playing music, interacting with the family at home during breaks, picking up the kids from school or taking an afternoon nap become possible as the working day can be restructured and inter weaved to cater for work and home needs. At this level working life and home life are enriched and coexist to provide a highly productive but also an attentive and caring environment that far surpasses what is possible in a physical office space.
See Also
References
- The Future of Work, Making Sense Podcast, Sam Harris & Matt Mullenweg, accessed 27 Apr 2020
- Automattic, accessed 29 Apr 2020