The document is a presentation by Avleen Vig about remote engineering. Some of the key points discussed include: - Avleen has been working remotely since 2009 as a staff operations engineer at Etsy. - Remote engineering brings new challenges around communication, collaboration, hiring and accountability. - To be successful remotely requires good communication, discipline in scheduling work and personal time, and maintaining a good work-life balance. - Remote engineers must be self-sufficient in tech support and conflict resolution. Managers play a key role in fostering remote-friendly culture.

1. SRECon EU – May 14, 2015
@avleen
Avleen Vig
Working in New York
Living in Michigan
Successful Remote
Engineering

2. Agenda
Who are you, and where did you come from?
A little background…
Let’s make some success!
Life as a remote engineer

3. Hi, I’m Av, and I work
from home.

4. Avleen Vig @avleen
Hi, I’m Av!
• Working remotely since 2009
• Staff Operations Engineer @ Etsy
• I like cats
• …and I like to tell stories
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5. Avleen Vig @avleen
Why am I speaking to you?
• We’re not in Kansas any more!
• Hiring in tech hubs is difficult and expensive.
• Talent exists everywhere.
• Remote engineering bring new challenges.
• Let’s make remote engineering the default choice!
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6. Remote engineering, Act 1:
Engineering a remote-
happy culture

7. Avleen Vig @avleen
How many remote engineers are here?
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8. Avleen Vig @avleen
Working at home is easy, amirite?
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9. Avleen Vig @avleen
This is Aether,
a remote engineer
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10. Avleen Vig @avleen 10

11. Avleen Vig @avleen
New challenges with remote engineering
Remote engineering isn’t a panacea, and brings interesting problems of its own:
• Communication and collaboration
• Hiring and accountability
• Social pressures
• Work environments
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12. Avleen Vig @avleen
Your life as a remote engineer
• Communication
• Discipline
• Balance
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13. Avleen Vig @avleen
How important is communication?
Let’s play a game
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14. Avleen Vig @avleen
Communicate as remote, by default.
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16. Avleen Vig @avleen
1:1’s: Talk to your manager
at least 2-3 times a week.
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17. Avleen Vig @avleen
Discipline
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18. Avleen Vig @avleen
Schedule when you’re new
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10:00 Wake up
10:30 Lounge around in PJs
11:00 Breakfast
11:30 The Price Is Right!
12:00 Lunch
13:30 Write some code
14:00 Play with cat
14:30 Pile of laundry calls

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Late start..
Working From Box

20. Avleen Vig @avleen
Schedule like a pro
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21. 21https://www.flickr.com/photos/orphanjones/1769903155

22. Avleen Vig @avleen
Don’t be a black-box
You’re a person not a robot!
• Collaborate with other team members
• Lead projects
• Don’t accept work silently
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23. Avleen Vig @avleen
Travel
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24. Avleen Vig @avleen
Balance
Working and resting create a virtuous cycle when balanced correctly
• Set start / end time times for work
• Take vacation
• Get a hobby
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26. Remote engineering, Act 2:
The things no-one tells you

27. Avleen Vig @avleen
You are your own tech support
Time to brush up on your systems administration skills!
• How well can you debug a broken laptop?
• Take your own backups
• Keyboard broken? Amazon is your friend!
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28. Avleen Vig @avleen
Conflict resolution
• 25% of a manager’s time
• Many factors contribute to conflict impact
• Especially critical for remote engineers
28Lang, 2009, Journal of Education for Business

29. Avleen Vig @avleen
What your manager needs to do
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30. Avleen Vig @avleen 30
Step 1: Get a cat

31. Avleen Vig @avleen
Managers are people too
…and they need to help foster a remote-friendly culture
• Regular 1:1’s, over-communicate
• Encourage “Remote by default”
• Do: Encourage. Don’t: Micro-manage
• Set availability expectations (eg, 11am-4pm)
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32. Avleen Vig @avleen
Managers influence the business
There are some things managers should do improve business practices
• Hire communicators and doers
• Find budget for travel and good equipment
• Pair people in different regions on projects
• Doubles development!
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33. Avleen Vig @avleen
Managers influence people
• Find out how your engineers are feeling
• Do they need help?
• You impact families more - support them
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34. Avleen Vig @avleen
Managing meetings
• Invest in a good A/V solution
• Advocate for remotes who aren’t present
• Moderate meetings - remotes need a voice!
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35. Avleen Vig @avleen
Don’t have just one remote engineer!
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36. Avleen Vig @avleen
Cabin fever is a real thing.
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So get outside! https://twitter.com/ripienaar/status/598406043090157568
https://twitter.com/ripienaar/status/598406043090157568

38. Avleen Vig @avleen
Benefits of remote engineering
There are so many!
• US national savings over $700bn per year
• Better for the environment
• Significantly larger work pool
• Employees with more varied backgrounds
38http://globalworkplaceanalytics.com/telecommuting-statistics

39. Avleen Vig @avleen
Catch 22
Catch 22
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40. 40https://www.flickr.com/photos/benimoto/3256355685/sizes/l
Not enough
experience points

41. Avleen Vig @avleen
Moving to remote engineering
There are two main avenues:
• Find a company willing to take a chance
• Convert your existing position to remote
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42. Questions? (not about the photo!)
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43. @avleen