Virtual High Fives:Social Tools for

the Distributed Team

Chris Byers, CEO of Formstackwww.formstack.comSeptember 12, 2013

Formstack’s “Why” Statement: We ship inspired software to

get business done.

Easy to collect and manage data

A live survey

Why remote?

vs

What is remote/fully distributed?

Our history with remote

Earn Mistrust

It’s not about the $$$

Remote Success Stories

Tools of the TradeCommunicationCollaboration

Culture

Start with Trust & Earn Mistrust

Tools for Communication

Phone

GoToMeetingGoogle

HangoutSkype

Pros

• Best consistency and quality of video

• Lots of users without slowing down connection

• Free

• Easy to record Hangouts and publish to YouTube

• Easy screen sharing

• Great for one on one communication

• Free

• A lot of TVs have Skype built in now

Cons

• Complicated screen sharing

• Cannot hold multiple meetings at same time unless you buy more users

• Shaky audio/video quality

• Sometimes complicated to set up

• Poor group communication

• Fails/drops more than

the rest

Have a Backup Plan

Use the 10 Minute Rule

Where is my CEO?

Tools for Collaboration

Basecamp

Google Drive + Gmail

MOAR APPS

Don’t have a tool that’s

right for your distributed culture?

Build one.

Tools for Culture

BAM

The last mile

“make the first five minutes personal”

“hangout just for fun”

“communicate, communicate, communicate”

“get together whenever you can”

“make sure the first weeks of work isn’t

remote”

“push more communication to the

group”

“I worked in a physical office and sometimes

felt remote”

“bad habits are magnified”

@cageapp

@daynurseryindy

OKC Co-workingThe Stadium http://www.stadium.isThe 404 http://www.the404okc.comCommonwealth http://www.thecommonwealth.co

Any questions?

Chris Byerschris.byers@formstack.com

Twitter: @rchrisbyers

Links & Picture CredsStackExchange Remote Article: http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2013/02/why-we-still-believe-in-

working-remotely/37Signals Remote Book: http://37signals.com/remote

GitHub: http://gigaom.com/2012/03/26/tales-from-the-trenches-github/

Starbucks Logo - http://www.campusdish.com/NR/rdonlyres/B92759C9-CA17-4148-8998-39C785627114/86143/starbucks.gif

Various Maps: http://maps.google.comArizona: http://distanceparent.org/wp-content/Entering_Arizona_on_I-10_Westbound.jpg

Marissa Mayer: http://media.salon.com/2013/02/marissa_mayer2.jpgLondon Tube Map: http://datavizblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/tube_map.gif

Krakow: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/Krakow_rynek_02.jpgIndianapolis Colts Field:

http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/01/8d/54/e7/indianapolis-visitors.jpgWhereismyceo Screenshot: http://www.whereismyceo.com

My Calendar: http://www.whereismyceo.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/photo-16.jpgVarious Images: http://www.formstack.com