Distributed firms need novel management practices. Those that have grown up this way offer lessons to those that now need to learn fast
haven’t changed much,” says Kyle Mathews as he sprays disinfectant on his hands. At least at work. His startup, Gatsby, helps websites manage content in the cloud. It has no headquarters and its 50-odd employees straddle the world, from Mr Mathews’s home in Berkeley, California, to Siberia.
Distributed organisations are as old as the internet. Its first users 50 years ago realised how much can be done by swapping emails and digital files. These exchanges led to the development of “open source” software, jointly written by groups of strangers often geographically distant. Plenty of startups start out distributed to avoid high rents—and so high wages—in Silicon Valley and other tech centres. Many opt to stay that way. Joel Gascoigne, boss of Buffer, which helps customers manage social-media accounts, works remotely in Boulder, Colorado. Stripe, an online-payments firm, has a head office in San Francisco but its new engineering hub is a collection of remote workers.
Besides new tools, distributed firms need novel management practices. One rule is not to mix physical and virtual teams. Online participants in mixed meetings often feel excluded. GitHub’s boss, Nat Friedman, has all employees—himself included—log in to meetings virtually, even if they are in the office. Looking over someone’s shoulder to see if they are working is another no-no. Remote workers do not slack off, as some managers fear.
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