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Running Remote: Master the Lessons from the World’s Most Successful Remote-Work Pioneers
Wall Street Journal Bestseller
Learn success secrets from original remote work pioneers on the mindset and strategies they developed to build and grow successful organizations from the ground up.
With the unprecedented rise in remote work due to the pandemic, many businesses have struggled with how to effectively transition to a distributed format. Meanwhile, companies who had always been remote-first had a unique advantage: a highly scalable set of work processes, a unique communication style, and the proper “async mindset” required to succeed without an office.
This groundbreaking guide unlocks the secrets and the lessons discovered by those pioneer entrepreneurs and founders who have figured out how to harness the async mindset and grow their businesses remotely in the most the seamless, freeing, and cost-effective ways.
Once you accept and master some fundamental differences, remote work can fuel higher productivity, eliminate time-wasting meetings and treacherous commutes, and strip away the ugly politics that often undermine the most talented employees. It also leads to great cultural inclusivity and richer cultural exchange.
Running Remote is for ventures of all stripes—companies small and large, one-person operations, mom-and-pop shops, and global mega-corporations. The lessons herein are as valuable for on-premises organizations as they are for the tech worker.
Readers will:
Master the fundamentals of the async mindset by exploring three overarching principles—deliberate overcommunication, democratized workflow, and detailed metrics.
Learn nuts-and-bolts techniques and real-life lessons from remote work trailblazers who built successful all-remote organizations prior to the pandemic.
Gain a better understanding of why hiring, on-ramping, and managing in a remote context is totally different—again with methods and first-hand stories from the founders and leaders that did it first.
Learn how moving to a remote business model impacts traditional management and work processes.
Learn success secrets from original remote work pioneers on the mindset and strategies they developed to build and grow successful organizations from the ground up.
With the unprecedented rise in remote work due to the pandemic, many businesses have struggled with how to effectively transition to a distributed format. Meanwhile, companies who had always been remote-first had a unique advantage: a highly scalable set of work processes, a unique communication style, and the proper “async mindset” required to succeed without an office.
This groundbreaking guide unlocks the secrets and the lessons discovered by those pioneer entrepreneurs and founders who have figured out how to harness the async mindset and grow their businesses remotely in the most the seamless, freeing, and cost-effective ways.
Once you accept and master some fundamental differences, remote work can fuel higher productivity, eliminate time-wasting meetings and treacherous commutes, and strip away the ugly politics that often undermine the most talented employees. It also leads to great cultural inclusivity and richer cultural exchange.
Running Remote is for ventures of all stripes—companies small and large, one-person operations, mom-and-pop shops, and global mega-corporations. The lessons herein are as valuable for on-premises organizations as they are for the tech worker.
Readers will:
Master the fundamentals of the async mindset by exploring three overarching principles—deliberate overcommunication, democratized workflow, and detailed metrics.
Learn nuts-and-bolts techniques and real-life lessons from remote work trailblazers who built successful all-remote organizations prior to the pandemic.
Gain a better understanding of why hiring, on-ramping, and managing in a remote context is totally different—again with methods and first-hand stories from the founders and leaders that did it first.
Learn how moving to a remote business model impacts traditional management and work processes.
256 pages, Hardcover
Published August 16, 2022
39 people are currently reading
1946 people want to read
About the author
Liam Martin
1 book14 followersLiam Martin is the cofounder of Time Doctor and Staff.com and coauthor of Running Remote. He's been working remotely for over 20 years and has worked with thousands of companies looking to adopt a remote working model. Although Liam is Canadian he travels 6 months out of the year with his wife and daughter. Liam is incredibly passionate about understanding how organizations can unlock remote work to help achieve more autonomy for business owners and employees.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
August 22, 2022
The book stays too much on the surface and barely says anything that hasn't been said before about remote work. Not that it doesn't say anything useful. They just don't go into the brass tacks of how to do "async" on a day to day basis. As a result it ends up being 200 odd pages of preachiness.
The book also smacks of a "we're such rich high fliers that you should listen to us" attitude. They talk about someone flying business class on their own dime as if that should be a reason for why we should care. They keep mentioning how they went from a seven story villa in Bali to some luxurious penthouse to some yacht. The bragging about wealth and lifestyle is a bit obnoxious TBH. I'm not sure who they are trying to appeal to with this.
Lastly I think the authors are trying to be assertive with their advice and I don't disagree with any of it, but I think they just stand up strawman arguments in many cases. For example the sync vs async piece. Sure async is superior, but they didn't have to make a simplistic argument to prove their point. If anything it diminishes the value of what they are saying.
I'd love to see a revised edition someday that cuts out all the fluff and has more actionable advice. Maybe that's a different book.
The book also smacks of a "we're such rich high fliers that you should listen to us" attitude. They talk about someone flying business class on their own dime as if that should be a reason for why we should care. They keep mentioning how they went from a seven story villa in Bali to some luxurious penthouse to some yacht. The bragging about wealth and lifestyle is a bit obnoxious TBH. I'm not sure who they are trying to appeal to with this.
Lastly I think the authors are trying to be assertive with their advice and I don't disagree with any of it, but I think they just stand up strawman arguments in many cases. For example the sync vs async piece. Sure async is superior, but they didn't have to make a simplistic argument to prove their point. If anything it diminishes the value of what they are saying.
I'd love to see a revised edition someday that cuts out all the fluff and has more actionable advice. Maybe that's a different book.
September 21, 2022
I drew a lot of inspiration from this book, though the best parts were about making information widely available to all within a company. Also emphasized was the value of ultra-clear process documents. One of the main takeaways was that communicating in synchronous meetings incentivizes things like speaking louder than others, while working on projects in writing forces people to clearly lay out their thoughts, and gives less-extroverted people far more of a role to play.
Some of the negative reviews correctly point out that this is not an actionable handbook for running a remote organization as you might expect from the title. I would title the book something like "Benefits of the Async Mindset." There's a chance I'm just new to the literature in this domain, so if anyone has any recommendations for further reading, please suggest them.
Gems:
P10 Simply put, if you’re trying to recreate the office, you’ll never make the mental shift needed to build a successful remote team.”
P11 “Companies in transition often resist a full embrace of remote, asynchronous communication because it is more labor-intensive–in the beginning. However, as a remote-first company scales up, the time invested in building in async mode pays radical dividends.”
P20 “With business continuity and success planning in mind, over-empowering anyone with ‘sacred knowledge’ is a company risk, but that’s only part of the problem. The individual employee’s sense of duty becomes distorted when he or she thinks, ‘I better protect my sacred knowledge, so they continue to pay me.’ The arteries of exchange are clogged up, preventing maximum growth.
P59 “understand the history of your processes”
P65 “Being good at creating and assembling processes is synonymous with growing a strong business. If you start your business without a mastery of processes, you will probably be unsuccessful, and definitely unable to scale.”
P70 “Some employees are fearful of giving up their sacred knowledge, because they are afraid of being rendered replaceable. In particular, the least talented and least driven employees will be firmly committed to hoarding whatever they think keeps their job in place. It’s a regressive cycle that isn’t good for the company.
The Async Mindset takes the opposite view: By offboarding your sacred knowledge, you create the freedom to build new avenues of growth that can only add to the organization, while also bolstering further innovation and deeper autonomy. No one process is ever allowed to become the measure of success.”
P77 “From the umbrella view, a good process document will let you see the whole company, every activity that company is involved in, and the lucid, easy-to-understand steps that company takes for all its tasks and initiatives. Those with the basic skill set should be able to step in, train themselves, and do the job.”
P89 “By opening up everyone’s metrics company-wide, two important reinforcements take place: First, all employees recognize that they are respected enough to be trusted with the global view. Second, all employees understand that, despite this global view, only one level is 100 percent their responsibility.”
P93 “As a coach, I just help people get clarity around outcomes and achievement, and metrics are the feedback loop that’s required to improve. If I don’t have a way to measure efficiency, I can’t create a feedback loop, and without a feedback loop, there’s no process.”
P131 radical transparency - “The philosophy that all information that can be made public should be made public within an organization. This allows any team member to have the same informational advantage as the CEO or maximum empowerment in decision making.”
P134 “Trust…can only be developed when you get past fear…We want all participants to think like an owner, so they can ask the kind of questions owners ask: Where am I putting my time? Am I doing what I can for the good of coworkers? Do I have the ability to execute on a task or am I just faking it so I don’t lose the job? In a company where radical transparency exists on all sides, most large decisions are completely understood by all, because everyone has the same information.”
P142 The false positive/vanity metrics. ‘Somebody’s in the office–they show up on time, they’re well-dressed, you like them. And so, you give them the benefit of the doubt that they’re productive and good for the team, good for the company. They might be good culturally...But that’s really not looking at…are they actually good at what they do?”
P143 “You can't just institute remote work–you have to take a step back and look at the impact it will have on your culture. Otherwise, it’s going to explode and then people are going to blame remote for that.”
P160 “Time is tricky. You can’t keep it, you have to spend it, and once it’s gone, you can never get it back.”
P166 “Even many companies with the best intentions were imploding, because they didn’t understand that remote work is not about software tricks–it’s about a complete restructuring built on the twin firmaments of autonomy and deep work. Without the guts or the means to do that radical reimagining, many giants quickly went from success to Zoom fatigue without understanding why they were suffering.”
P186 “Don’t ask me what to do, tell me what you did.”
P192 “Platforms broaden knowledge for the curious, allowing every team member to learn all parts of the process.”
P192 “Platform-augmented Management: The concept that organizational responsibilities such as project updates, metrics-setting, and course correction can be delegated to the platform itself, freeing up leaders for “contextual management”--people stuff, family, daily life, inspiration, and encouragement, rather than the work itself.”
P195 “Demo often.”
Some of the negative reviews correctly point out that this is not an actionable handbook for running a remote organization as you might expect from the title. I would title the book something like "Benefits of the Async Mindset." There's a chance I'm just new to the literature in this domain, so if anyone has any recommendations for further reading, please suggest them.
Gems:
P10 Simply put, if you’re trying to recreate the office, you’ll never make the mental shift needed to build a successful remote team.”
P11 “Companies in transition often resist a full embrace of remote, asynchronous communication because it is more labor-intensive–in the beginning. However, as a remote-first company scales up, the time invested in building in async mode pays radical dividends.”
P20 “With business continuity and success planning in mind, over-empowering anyone with ‘sacred knowledge’ is a company risk, but that’s only part of the problem. The individual employee’s sense of duty becomes distorted when he or she thinks, ‘I better protect my sacred knowledge, so they continue to pay me.’ The arteries of exchange are clogged up, preventing maximum growth.
P59 “understand the history of your processes”
P65 “Being good at creating and assembling processes is synonymous with growing a strong business. If you start your business without a mastery of processes, you will probably be unsuccessful, and definitely unable to scale.”
P70 “Some employees are fearful of giving up their sacred knowledge, because they are afraid of being rendered replaceable. In particular, the least talented and least driven employees will be firmly committed to hoarding whatever they think keeps their job in place. It’s a regressive cycle that isn’t good for the company.
The Async Mindset takes the opposite view: By offboarding your sacred knowledge, you create the freedom to build new avenues of growth that can only add to the organization, while also bolstering further innovation and deeper autonomy. No one process is ever allowed to become the measure of success.”
P77 “From the umbrella view, a good process document will let you see the whole company, every activity that company is involved in, and the lucid, easy-to-understand steps that company takes for all its tasks and initiatives. Those with the basic skill set should be able to step in, train themselves, and do the job.”
P89 “By opening up everyone’s metrics company-wide, two important reinforcements take place: First, all employees recognize that they are respected enough to be trusted with the global view. Second, all employees understand that, despite this global view, only one level is 100 percent their responsibility.”
P93 “As a coach, I just help people get clarity around outcomes and achievement, and metrics are the feedback loop that’s required to improve. If I don’t have a way to measure efficiency, I can’t create a feedback loop, and without a feedback loop, there’s no process.”
P131 radical transparency - “The philosophy that all information that can be made public should be made public within an organization. This allows any team member to have the same informational advantage as the CEO or maximum empowerment in decision making.”
P134 “Trust…can only be developed when you get past fear…We want all participants to think like an owner, so they can ask the kind of questions owners ask: Where am I putting my time? Am I doing what I can for the good of coworkers? Do I have the ability to execute on a task or am I just faking it so I don’t lose the job? In a company where radical transparency exists on all sides, most large decisions are completely understood by all, because everyone has the same information.”
P142 The false positive/vanity metrics. ‘Somebody’s in the office–they show up on time, they’re well-dressed, you like them. And so, you give them the benefit of the doubt that they’re productive and good for the team, good for the company. They might be good culturally...But that’s really not looking at…are they actually good at what they do?”
P143 “You can't just institute remote work–you have to take a step back and look at the impact it will have on your culture. Otherwise, it’s going to explode and then people are going to blame remote for that.”
P160 “Time is tricky. You can’t keep it, you have to spend it, and once it’s gone, you can never get it back.”
P166 “Even many companies with the best intentions were imploding, because they didn’t understand that remote work is not about software tricks–it’s about a complete restructuring built on the twin firmaments of autonomy and deep work. Without the guts or the means to do that radical reimagining, many giants quickly went from success to Zoom fatigue without understanding why they were suffering.”
P186 “Don’t ask me what to do, tell me what you did.”
P192 “Platforms broaden knowledge for the curious, allowing every team member to learn all parts of the process.”
P192 “Platform-augmented Management: The concept that organizational responsibilities such as project updates, metrics-setting, and course correction can be delegated to the platform itself, freeing up leaders for “contextual management”--people stuff, family, daily life, inspiration, and encouragement, rather than the work itself.”
P195 “Demo often.”
October 24, 2023
I'd give this 2.5 as it has a good ideas but no actionable insights. It's written entirely for owners who presumably still want to go into an office 5 days a week in order to convince them to go remote. But doesn't offer any concrete suggestions on how to do that.
As someone who has been working for remote-only companies since 2011, most of the book seemed blindingly obvious. It's all surface level, nothing about the practicalities of implementing the necessary processes and metrics. The very few examples that were provided focused on only the most basic use cases.
I was going to write a longer review but then saw this review that summed up everything I was going to say: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
As someone who has been working for remote-only companies since 2011, most of the book seemed blindingly obvious. It's all surface level, nothing about the practicalities of implementing the necessary processes and metrics. The very few examples that were provided focused on only the most basic use cases.
I was going to write a longer review but then saw this review that summed up everything I was going to say: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
March 24, 2023
There is some good content in here, and I enjoyed the different case studies. I love the focus on asynchronous ways of working, and do puzzle over the title which I feel was chosen for marketing reasons rather than describing what the book is about. This book is really about how to work async. Async unlocks remote, not the other way round.
Authors, bless them, seem pretty fond of themselves and their skills in this area. That they've got it all figured out. More power to them, but I would have appreciate a little more humility and more effort to discuss trade-offs. This book is warmly opinionated.
Three stars, but I do recommend it.
Authors, bless them, seem pretty fond of themselves and their skills in this area. That they've got it all figured out. More power to them, but I would have appreciate a little more humility and more effort to discuss trade-offs. This book is warmly opinionated.
Three stars, but I do recommend it.
February 10, 2023
This book has great insights about the value of asynchronous communication and should be read by almost any leader in any office setting.
There are some parts that already feel dated, including predictions that every tech company will go fully remote, when many are walking it back now. It also praises introverts as the most primed for success in today’s world, which personally I love, but that seems somewhat unfair to my extroverted friends.
There are some parts that already feel dated, including predictions that every tech company will go fully remote, when many are walking it back now. It also praises introverts as the most primed for success in today’s world, which personally I love, but that seems somewhat unfair to my extroverted friends.
November 21, 2022
The authors have an extreme argument against office work (sync) and in favor of completely remote work (async). While I appreciate their boldness, they wrote this in a binary way that leaves behind the option for hybrid work or ways to include people who are not high-performing, flexible, self-starting entrepreneurs.
March 21, 2023
Pretty good overview of the remote world, how to make it work and what will come for the future. As a Manager inside IT, this reality is pretty familiar to me and I can see small things happening inside Tech that show this is truly the future. A book to come back to when I need to take a step back.
December 28, 2023
good ideas and tips
Very general takeaways from this book but the real meat isn’t shared since that is what the authors want you to engage their services for. Wish it went more in depth on tactics but will take the high level overview. Still helpful and appreciate the viewpoint
Very general takeaways from this book but the real meat isn’t shared since that is what the authors want you to engage their services for. Wish it went more in depth on tactics but will take the high level overview. Still helpful and appreciate the viewpoint
September 20, 2022
Terribly written with zero valuable nuggets.
November 2, 2022
Terribly written, left it half way.
November 3, 2022
Awesome book if you’re starting working in Remote, or you’re recently managing a remote company
December 16, 2022
I'm a big believer in remote work as a concept and reading this practical book helped me organize what I was doing with my team working for almost 2 and a half years remotely.
May 5, 2023
Interesting ideas on how to shift to an asynchronous remote workplace. I am hoping to be part of this societal pivot as I change companies soon. Great tips that I will refer back to.
May 12, 2023
Running Remote by Liam Martin and Rob Rawson is an excellent resource for anyone looking to take their team fully remote (or learn how to better manage an already remote team).
Having worked remotely for 16 years, I am very aware that some companies do the remote thing well, and others do not. “The first mistake most companies make: trying to recreate the office.” Martin and Rawson advise against recreating the office in a remote work environment and instead focus on asynchronous communication. I’m still wrestling with this a bit because, while I am a big fan of asynchronous communication, it takes everyone’s buy-in to make it work.
Another thing that stood out to me in the book is that they mention multiple times how introverts are typically more successful in remote environments. Some of the reasons include the ability to focus without distractions, remote work often relies heavily on written communication, which can be a strength for introverts, and they are not outshined by the most charismatic person in the room as is usually the case in a traditional office. All of this resonated with me because I struggled when working in an office with constant distractions, yet thrived when I started working remotely.
Overall, Running Remote is a valuable resource for anyone managing a remote team (or thinking about it). It’s well-written and chock-full of invaluable insights that will help you and your team excel in a remote work environment.
Having worked remotely for 16 years, I am very aware that some companies do the remote thing well, and others do not. “The first mistake most companies make: trying to recreate the office.” Martin and Rawson advise against recreating the office in a remote work environment and instead focus on asynchronous communication. I’m still wrestling with this a bit because, while I am a big fan of asynchronous communication, it takes everyone’s buy-in to make it work.
Another thing that stood out to me in the book is that they mention multiple times how introverts are typically more successful in remote environments. Some of the reasons include the ability to focus without distractions, remote work often relies heavily on written communication, which can be a strength for introverts, and they are not outshined by the most charismatic person in the room as is usually the case in a traditional office. All of this resonated with me because I struggled when working in an office with constant distractions, yet thrived when I started working remotely.
Overall, Running Remote is a valuable resource for anyone managing a remote team (or thinking about it). It’s well-written and chock-full of invaluable insights that will help you and your team excel in a remote work environment.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews