[Decentralised Working Mindbook] The tools we use for management & collaboration

This is part of a series on how we work, in our Mindbook on Decentralised & Remote Working

CTQ has been ‘remote-first’ since 2014. Both the co-founders had years of experience working in conventional IT product & services companies, including in innovation & research environments. They felt that much of these companies had stagnated in the way they organised and collaborated. Very few of them were able to embrace the waves of new ideas, tools, and thinking, and were holding back smart people from moving forward and getting stuff done.

Since we had the advantage of evolving something new, we began by identifying what we wanted to do and avoid. For instance, avoiding the trap of email as a task+attention medium. Reduce and improve meetings. Allow time. Accommodate different ‘personal timezones’ And so on.

Here’s what we do today

(use the controls of the slideshow to go forward and back)

Behind each of the tools and principles above, there is a lot of implicit & tribal knowledge that is learned by doing and copying. So teaching newcomers by example, unearthing the mental models behind their use, and reflecting on faults are as necessary as having these systems.

Will this system work if and when we grow?

Very few tools & systems stay relevant for ever. But some principles do. We don’t know what we’ll be using in 3 years time, but we know our bias is to keep evolving.

This is from our Mindbook on Decentralised & Remote Working. Read another post.