It’s 7,809 miles (12,568 km) from the Gobble headquarters in Palo Alto to the Andela headquarters in Lagos, Nigeria. Thanks to the power and reach of technology, 7,809 miles didn't prevent Gobble from sending a surprise pizza to one of their developers in Lagos.
That same technology enables companies to collaborate with the world's best talent, no matter where they are located. I am on the Partner Experience team here at Andela and I support companies like Gobble as they integrate new developers onto their team and learn how to build and scale a distributed organization. Gobble, if you’re not familiar, provides delicious pre-chopped meal kits, ready in 15 mins or less, to dinner tables across the country. Personally, I have never worked in a traditional office where I show up at 9 and leave at 5. I’ve always had a hybrid of working remotely. In my career at IBM, I found myself working on the road or at home most days as my team was scattered all across the West Coast. Now, at Andela, we have a team of 4 based in San Francisco, an office in NYC, and campuses across Africa: in Nigeria, Kenya, and Uganda (more to come)! My team and I meet up at a WeWork 2-3 days a week to collaborate and have much-needed coffee chats. All of this solidifies my firm belief that real relationships can be created from anywhere around the world using the technology that is already available to us. If we have the tools, the willingness to collaborate, and the means to share our ideas, distributed work becomes a superpower that drives productivity and innovation. Cheesy analogies are my favorite, so let’s use pizza as an example of the perfect distributed work environment. For a distributed relationship to work, you need 3 major components - just like your favorite pie needs the crust, the sauce, and the cheese. The Crust: The crust is the base on which the entire pizza is built. Just like tools such as Slack, Gmail, ScreenHero, and GitHub are the base for communication between the team. Although tools (or crust) might seem simple on their own, without them, the team (or pizza) is just a big mess. Your communication practices are what can make or break a distributed team. The Sauce: Next, we have the sauce; layered perfectly on top of that crust, building on the base and making it a little less boring. In this analogy, the sauce is the skillset of the team. Teams that are acutely aware of everyone’s skills and allocate work according to each member’s strengths and passions will find themselves more productive and more engaged in their work. Successful remote work can’t thrive on tools and skills alone - they need superior collaboration, just like no pizza is complete without that ooey gooey layer on top. The Cheese: The cheese is where the magic happens! A simple combination of foods turns ingredients into the pizza we know and love. Collaboration and the relationships formed between team members are the cheese. Teammates who have the opportunity to get to know each other, not just as co-workers but as individuals, are the ones who find the most success in a distributed environment. It might require a shift in mindset, but put in the effort to make them feel part of the team and you’ll quickly see your team melt together into ooey-gooey goodness. Our partner, Gobble, embodies what it means to build a perfect, distributed pizza: Step 1: Tools & Process - They treat their Andela developers as full-time Gobble employees; Lekan, Adim, Mayowa, Yusuf, and Shalom were all onboarded just as if they were in the office, getting access to documentation, company-wide Slack channels, and Gobble email addresses. Every day at 11:00 am PT / 7:00 pm WAT there is an engineering team standup where a Google Hangout connects the Gobble office in Palo Alto with the team of 4 Andela developers at the Gobble office in Lagos, Nigeria. This is where they strategize and discuss the top priorities and goals for the day. Step 2: Collaboration & Communication - The whole Gobble team works together in real-time and asynchronously. Using the timezone difference to their advantage, they use the 5 work hours of overlap to connect in real-time for questions on Slack, clarification of tasks or approach, and for planning meetings. Gobble assigns work based on teammate’s strengths and interests. After the Lagos team ends their day, the Palo Alto team will do code reviews, complete their own tasks, and handle any questions that need an answer before for the next day. When the Lagos team wakes up, they work on their tickets assigned in GitHub and have time to prepare and focus before their standup at 7:00 pm. They’re consistently communicating to keep the Palo Alto team posted when they have blockers, need more information, or to send their favorite .gif for a laugh. Step 3: Teamwork & Appreciation - The Gobble Team goes above and beyond to make the team feel included. This is where “How to Order a Pizza to Lagos, Nigeria” comes in - Chris, the Head of Engineering, and Jen, their lead software engineer, ensure that their Lagos team feels the love across the world. As a way to say thank you to their team member, Mayowa, they worked with the awesome Andela Lagos Operations team to get a surprise Domino’s pizza delivered just in time for stand-up last week! The Gobble team is already scheming ideas for Andela-versary, birthdays, promotions and more, proving their commitment to building relationships with distributed team members. TL;DR: The world is evenly distributed with brilliant minds around the world, but the opportunity to work with those minds is not. Technology is a super power in 2017 where we can develop an app together from 7,809 miles away, we can build true, personal friendships, and we can challenge each other with new perspectives to go from good to great. The world is waiting, my friends.
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