How We Work
We're a remote-first team that runs on trust, transparency, and clear written communication. These are the simple principles that keep us in sync without being glued to our screens.
You're responsible for managing your own availability
It's very important to take breaks. And it's very hard to take breaks if Slack is always on. Make sure you set yourself to “Do Not Disturb” or set a status when you're in deep focus mode. That way you can stay away from the notifications and get back when you're ready.
Feel free to set your notification settings to “Direct messages, mentions & keywords”, this way you get notifications when people @-mention you. Use the save or /remind feature to remind yourself of important messages you should get back to. It's your own responsibility to make this work.
Default to public channels
If you don't know where to put your funny meme or ask an important question, please always use an open channel. Only if the message is of some private matter should you move to the DMs. The more transparency the better — it helps us all stay in sync.
It may feel like you're standing on a desk and speaking through a megaphone, but it's not — your co-workers can turn off notifications (see #1), so don't worry about putting your conversations in public channels. Also, use @-mentions when addressing people so they get notifications.
Use threads
If you come back to a channel after being at the beach all day, you'll probably see a lot of messages concerning different topics. Use the thread feature in Slack when you respond so we can make sure to keep track of the right conversations.
Remember your #standup. Every day. Unless you're off
This is one of the most important channels we have to stay in sync. It's a great way to start off the day, because it forces you to think about your priorities, but it also lets your teammates know what you're working on (which gives them a chance to help / ask questions / give feedback) and it creates a great feeling of teamwork.
NB: If you're on vacation, stay away from this channel and take a deep breath. 💆
Reply by the end of the day
This one is important for remote work to work. The good thing about working remotely is that you can manage your own time, and it gives you a lot of freedom. It's great that you can take a break from Slack for 3 hours to focus or do something else, but to make sure we don't end up in a situation where we're moving slowly due to lack of information, everyone should be able to expect a reply by the end of the day.
This is obviously only the case for people who are not on vacation, and “by the end of the day” means by the end of a regular workday (remember some team members are in different timezones).
What is a standup at Videoselz?
Your standup is a written message you'll post to Slack every day before you start working. It has two main purposes:
It's a tool to help you plan your day ahead and make sure you stay committed to working on the things that bring momentum.
It's a way to communicate your progress, plans, and problems to your team in a simple and easy-to-understand way.
What does a good standup look like?
A good standup follows the simple PPP (progress, plans, problems) framework, and is short, measurable, and easy to understand. It's structured to hold yourself accountable to your most important priorities and to give your teammates an easy way to follow your progress.
Make your plan measurable. “Source 3 candidates for the Customer Success role” is measurable — you know exactly what you need to work on. “I'm going to do a little bit of sourcing” is not, and it's hard for yourself and your team to understand exactly what you're aiming for.
Copy/paste and follow up on yesterday's plan. Some of your colleagues might be affected by your progress (or lack thereof), so being transparent and following up is important. To make it easy for your team to follow along, copy/paste yesterday's goals — today's “Yesterday” should be identical to yesterday's “Today.” 🤯
It's okay to change your plan during the day. We can all get caught up in urgent or unplanned activities, and that's okay. Having a plan helps you decide whether changing priorities makes sense. Use your standup to keep yourself honest.
Don't list your meetings — list the desired outcome. Meetings aren't contributing to momentum, and attending one shouldn't be a goal. Instead of “Meet with X,” try “Get to a decision on Y” — that shows progress and your team knows what you're trying to accomplish.
Let's all use the same emojis
To avoid confusion, we use a shared set of status emojis:
I reached this goal / completed this task yesterday
I did not begin working on this task yesterday
I started working on this, but didn't finish (remember to add a comment to explain your progress)
Standup FAQ
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