HashiCorp co-founder and CTO Mitchell Hashimoto shares his best pieces of advice for navigating remote work culture.

1. Remote Culture
at HashiCorp
Copyright © 2020 HashiCorp

2. Founded Remote
Since 2012
▪ Mitchell in Los Angeles, CA
▪ Armon in San Francisco, CA
▪ First hires in:
– New York City, NY
– Chicago, IL
– Pittsburgh, PA
– Columbus, MO

3. Remote First Today
The Year 2020
▪ 900+ employees
▪ Process is still remote first

4. Communication
How we share ideas,
socialize, and empathize
with others who aren't
physically in the same
room or potentially
not even online.
Personal Health
How to stay healthy in an
environment with relatively
little human contact and
surrounded by different
distractions.

5. Communication

6. Recognize Lost Social Cues
No body language, subtle facial expressions, etc.
▪ Solution: Over-communicate
▪ Emoji
– Critically important. Conveys emotion on text.
▪ Be explicit, be careful with sarcasm, intonations, etc.
– I just put my true meaning in parens, i.e. "(joke)"

7. Written Culture
Everything results in a document
▪ Writing is probably the #1 skill to be successful at HashiCorp
▪ Zoom, Slack, etc. are great for discussion, but results should be written
▪ We use Google Docs with a standard set of templates
▪ Email is the most inclusive way to get approvals
– Slack and Zoom assume privilege of presence and attention
– Sync vs Async

8. "Chat Literacy"
Learn to chat online
▪ Test: Does the person understand the difference between
"ok" "ok." and "ok…"?
▪ If no: its equivalent to hiring someone who is illiterate.
▪ Good news: very easy to train, learn.
– Shouldn't block hiring someone, just highlights a place to improve
▪ Why does this matter?
– Won't be able to communicate effectively to teammates

9. Personal Health

10. Establish Explicit Boundaries
Non-remote "commute ceremony" is gone.
▪ Talk to your family to understand expectations of working vs. not.
▪ Put your start/end times as blocks in your calendar
▪ Block out time for lunch and consider this non-optional (within reason)

11. Invest In Your Office
▪ Windows, speakers, lighting, a door
▪ If possible, avoid working in your bedroom
▪ I've moved 4 times since working remote, my requirement is always:
I need to see the outside.

12. And so much more!

13. Thank You
hello@hashicorp.com
www.hashicorp.com
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