Jake Webber on LinkedIn: We have a 100% remote team with people all over the globe. Last year we… (2024)

I've been asked a few times why we don't use Slack for communication in our tech business. The answer is: because it encourages practices that I want to avoid.There's often an expectation with these instant messaging products that everyone should be able to be reached at any time. It feels like everything is urgent and that you should apologise for not responding to a message right away. Not to mention, it's easy to lose important messages among hundreds of others.I much prefer thread-based tools like Discourse, Twist or Zulip. Allowing for effective, thoughtful discussions where everything is nicely organised and searchable. It becomes an asset that can be searched and referenced in the future and serves as our knowledge base. This suits us far better.Be mindful with the tools you choose in business. It can have a bigger influence than you think, potentially even shaping your culture.

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"Most human behavior is learned observationally through modeling: from observing others one forms an idea of how new behaviors are performed, and on later occasions this coded information serves as a guide for action."- Albert BanduraLooking back I can see when I've been influenced by colleagues both in a positive and negative way without even knowing it. I've had to challenge the way I do things to try to unlearn the negative.It's important to remember this if you're in a position of authority. The old management thinking of "do as I say, not as I do" doesn't cut it if you want to build an effective team. Your actions and words need to be consistent.

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Have you heard of Async Remote Working? This is a model Webbernet has been following for years.The reason: Everyone needs long stretches of uninterrupted time to do their job well. You can't expect good work if people are constantly pulled in all different directions. So:- We have 0 regular meetings per week- No daily stand ups- Staff all work different hours (different timezones)- We keep in touch by posting to an online forum. Slack is too noisy.We still:- Work collaboratively on complex technical problems- Respond to client support requests within 5 minutes- Proactively identify and solve issues before they become big problemsWe enjoy:- Working with great people from all over the globe- High productivity- A safe working environment based on trust- Work/Life balanceIf this is something that interests people from a management point of view, let me know. Happy to answer any questions about it.

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This year I want to connect as many Software Developers as I can with businesses. I often hear from Junior Developers who want to start solving real-world problems, yet finding that first role remains a challenge.Your business can benefit if:- Your team is overwhelmed with manual data entry or administrative tasks.- You're using multiple software tools that aren't integrated. Lots of manual work to keep them in sync- Reporting and analytics are time-consuming and require someone to manually pull them togetherOur business is available to provide them ad-hoc support to help them technically.I'm in the beginning stages of pulling something together for this but I'm keen to know if there is any interest out there. If you have any questions or would like to discuss please shout out....And no connection fees.

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Most business owners find delegating tasks easy. Delegating decisions is much harder but it's worth it. It allows your business to run without you. It's crucial for your own sustainability so you aren't always stressed out. How can you achieve this? We did it by clearly laying out our core values as a business, with examples, and letting these guide our decisions.You may not have these written down yet but if you're the one making decisions you already know what they are. What is your criteria for a good decision? What is most important to your business? It's time to write it down and share it.

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Be wary about recurring meetings where everyone scrambles at the last minute to fill the agenda. It's probably not needed.

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Drawing out a business process is great exercise. I've been recently using a free tool called Excalidraw to do this which I highly recommend.Mapping out your process visually has tons of benefits:- Encourages you to keep things as simple as possible- Highlights possible automation opportunities- With colour coding you can see how many different roles are involved in the process- Helps you anticipate possible bottlenecks- It makes training / onboarding your staff simpleI'm working with another business to help map out their processes like this before we make some upgrades to their tech. If you're interested send me a message.

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Regularly reviewing your Customer Experience (CX) is vital. A lot of the time CX is determined early in the life of a business and forgotten about.Sit down with a coffee and map out every interaction your customers have with your business. Is it as seamless as it can be? What can you streamline and automate? Often you can get great results with minor tweaks in the process.As part of our continuous improvement we've found processes in Webbernet that we're going to update so that it's easier for clients to submit requests to us. We've come up with a plan and we're working hard on implementing it. The team is buzzing.

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Employees want flexibility and to be treated like an adult. If the work gets done properly in a timely manner isn’t that all that really matters?I think it’s comical that some businesses will only allow WFH if they can monitor via screen recorders.Who wants to work in that environment?

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