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The basic problem[br]with working in an office

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is you're just not in control[br]of your work environment.

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[The Way We Work]

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Howdy, my name is Matt,[br]and I'm the CEO of Automattic,

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the company behind WordPress.com,[br]Jetpack and WooCommerce.

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We're coming up on over 800 employees,[br]and they live everywhere,

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from California to Alabama, Mississippi,[br]to where I live in Texas.

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They're also in 67 countries.

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Canada, Mexico, India, New Zealand.

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Some of them choose not even[br]to have a home base, they're nomads.

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Whether they are in RVs[br]or traveling through Airbnbs,

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they are in new places[br]every day, week or month.

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As long as they can find good Wi-Fi,[br]we don't care where they are.

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Our focus on distributed work[br]didn't happen accidentally.

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It was a conscious choice[br]from the very beginning.

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Notice I don't use the word "remote,"

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because it sets up the expectation,

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that some people are essential[br]and some aren't.

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I use the word "distributed"[br]to describe what we do,

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where everyone is[br]on an equal playing field.

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I think a distributed workforce

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is the most effective way[br]to build a company.

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The key is you have to[br]approach it consciously.

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When we started WordPress,

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many of the first 20 hires[br]were people I'd never met in person.

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But we'd collaborated online,[br]sometimes for years.

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I wanted to continue that[br]for one simple reason.

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I believe that talent and intelligence

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are equally distributed[br]throughout the world.

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But opportunity is not.

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In Silicon Valley,[br]the big tech companies fish

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from essentially[br]the same small pond or bay.

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A distributed company[br]can fish from the entire ocean.

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Instead of hiring someone who grew up[br]in Japan but lives in California,

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you can gain someone who lives, works,

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wakes up and goes to sleep[br]wherever they are in the world.

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They bring a different[br]understanding of that culture

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and a different lived experience.

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At the base of the decision[br]to go distributed,

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there's a desire to give people autonomy[br]over how they do their work.

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Unless you're in a role[br]where specific hours are important,

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you can make your own schedule.

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Everyone can have a corner office,[br]their windows, the food they want to eat,

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you can choose when there's music[br]and when there's silence.

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You can choose what temperature[br]the room should be.

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You can save the time[br]you'd spend commuting

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and put it into things[br]that are important to you.

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A distributed workforce[br]is ideal for a technology company.

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But people often ask me,

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"This works great for y'all,[br]but what about everyone else?"

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If you have an office,

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you can do a few things[br]to build distributed capability.

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First: document everything.

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In an office, it's easy[br]to make decisions in the moment,

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in the kitchen, in the hall.

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But if people work remotely

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and some members of the team[br]are having those conversations

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they don't have access to,

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they'll see these decisions being made[br]without understanding the why.

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Always leave a trail of where you were[br]and what you were thinking about.

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This allows others to pick up[br]where you left off.

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It allows people in different[br]time zones to interact,

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it's also great to think about[br]as an organization evolves,

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people leaving and people joining.

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Try to have as much communication[br]as possible online.

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When everything's shared and public,[br]it allows new people to catch up quickly.

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You also need to find the right tools.

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There are so many apps and services[br]that help with day-to-day communication,

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video conferencing, project management.

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The things that changed how you work[br]probably aren't objects anymore.

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They're things you access[br]through your computer.

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So experiment with different[br]tools that enable collaboration,

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see what works.

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Create productive, face-to-face time.

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In a traditional office,

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you're in the same place[br]48 weeks out of the year

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and you might have[br]three or four weeks apart.

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We try to flip that: we come together[br]for short, intense bursts.

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Once a year we do a grand meet-up

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where the entire company[br]comes together for a week.

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It's half-work, half-play.

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The primary goal is connecting people.

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We want to make sure[br]everyone's aligned and on the same page,

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and they have a deeper connection[br]with their colleagues.

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When they work together[br]the rest of the year,

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they can bring together[br]that understanding and empathy.

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And the final practice:

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give people the flexibility[br]to make their own work environment.

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Every person at Automattic[br]has a co-working stipend

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that they can put[br]towards a co-working space

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or just to buy coffee, so they don't[br]get kicked out of the coffee shop.

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One group in Seattle[br]decided to pool their stipends together

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and rented a workspace on a fishing pier.

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Each person who joins the company[br]gets a home-office stipend.

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This is money they can invest[br]in getting the right chair, monitor,

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the right desk setup, so they can have[br]the most productive environment for them.

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Today, there are just a few companies[br]that are distributed first.

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In a decade or two,[br]I predict that 90 percent of companies

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that are going to be changing[br]the course of the world

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are going to function this way.

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They will evolve to be distributed first,[br]or they'll be replaced by those that are.

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As you think about[br]what you're going to build next,

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consider how you can tap[br]into global talent,

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give people autonomy to live and work[br]where they feel they should

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and still participate fully in whatever[br]it is that you're creating together.