Going remote: a live documentation on transitioning out of the office

Current step: Left Hosman. Got myself a two-month sabbatical. Started a new gig mid-September.

Last week, I announced to my fellow developers at Hosman that I would be leaving Paris this summer. I’ve expressed my wish to keep working with the team as a fully distributed member.

A bit of context

This was a long time coming. Living in the capital has proved more difficult by the day: air pollution is getting worse than ever, the pecking order/rat race too. The fam and I will be moving to the mountains in early July. Hopefully, we’ll be able to slow the fuck down and breathe healthier air.

What to expect?

I want to keep a live and public documentation on the process of going full remote. Why?

Well, first, to keep track of things for myself: the tasks at hand, what’s already been done, the surprises along the way, etc. Second, I realized that there’s little coverage on the very process of going remote: this might help other folks. Third, remote work is still culturally challenging for most companies - even though many successful companies are now fully distributed -. So, I want to gather here what it’s like on the company’s level.

This documentation will include:

• personal journey: taking a leap of faith, leaving out and moving in, caring for our friends and making new ones, etc…
• professional journey: communicating with the team, becoming (or not) the first remote employee in an on-site company, the back-and-forths, the challenges and the solutions, the outcome, etc.

I’ll probably take the opportunity to start a theme-based personal garden with this new chapter of my professional life. It’ll be easier to connect the dots than though an antichronological timeline of essays. But that’ll come later.

The list below will serve as a table of content with due dates when relevant:

1. before_action Feb 29, 2020
   • Decide on going full remote.
   • Where should we go: In a mountainous region called La Drôme (will write about it later!)
   • Talk to remote developers (like Nicolas) about the tricks of the trade.
   • Gather documentation about remote working (Remote, Zapier’s guide).
2. Going remote with an on-site based company.
   • Talk to my lead developer. Mar 1, 2020
   • Talk to my CTO/one-third owner of the company. Mar 1, 2020
   • Get an (non-)agreement in principle from the owners: This is a non-agreement. Mar 16, 2020
   • Discuss terms for the severance package.
   • Get a final non-agreement and move on to paperwork. Apr 7, 2020
   • Organize a Zoom goodbye party w/ my colleagues since I’ve already moved to the countryside.
   • Send back my gear

The list will evolve all year since I plan on documenting the whole thing: before, during, and after. Whenever I want to dig into a specific topic, I’ll link the relevant post on the list.

Are you a remote worker or currently in the process of going remote? Come and say 👋 on Mastodon or email me at hello [at] remimercier.com! I’d be happy to chat with you.

Noticed something? Create an issue on GitHub.

Cheers,

Rémi

Last updated on Mar 10, 2020.