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Ask HN: How do you communicate in a remote startup?

243 points aml183 | 4 comments | 15 Nov 24 19:17 UTC | HN request time: 0.202s | source

We are a remote company. Everything is going well. No plans to be in person, but I’d say we can do a better job at communicating. Any tips or articles to read?
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paxys ◴[15 Nov 24 20:51 UTC] No.42150868[source]▶
Make conversations public by default. If you use Slack, make team channels, project channels, announcement channels etc. all public. Discourage 1:1 and private communication unless really necessary, especially for engineering topics. This single change will have an immense impact on overall company culture.
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1. bdangubic ◴[15 Nov 24 23:46 UTC] No.42152642[source]▶
I’d want this as much as I used to enjoy open floor plan at the office… Discouraging 1:1 and private communication in my experience would actually have 100% opposite effect of what you are describing. This is equivalent to discouraging pair-programming which while may not be everyone’s cup of tea many find extremely productive
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2. em-bee ◴[16 Nov 24 08:26 UTC] No.42155249[source]▶
you bring up a good point. what matters is the forum where decisions are made. you can talk about ideas in private. but the ideas need to be brought up in the group before any decisions are influenced. especially if the private conversation is with a team leader. if a team leader hears an idea in a private conversation they should ask that person to repeat the idea in public. but also they should discourage team members to specifically approach them to bring ideas. that is what is meant by discouraging private conversations. of course you can talk in private, but if the idea is not repeated in public then it is as if it was never talked about
3. spaceisballer ◴[19 Nov 24 17:11 UTC] No.42185738[source]▶
I’m with you, then again Best Practices mean best for your work environment, not all. I’m currently making sure to cultivate an environment where my staff are comfortable sharing information openly. Not all of my people are comfortable announcing things to the group and want to bounce things off me or other supervisors. Sometimes you have to meet people where they are at. Like establishing the vision and just keep making sure you’re moving towards it.
4. vundercind ◴[19 Nov 24 17:17 UTC] No.42185831[source]▶
The point is search needs to work, including for people not involved the conversations. Private and 1:1 chats break that.

Use mute and let people @ you to pull you in when you're really needed. You don't have to leave notifications wide-open on every channel.