The calmer, clearer, more focused way to run remote teams. An opinionated, open-source book for founders and leaders building remote-first companies. 36 principles across 9 sections, covering trust, async communication, hiring, tools, connection, and scaling. No hedging. No "it depends." Just what works after 20 years of building distributed teams across continents. Free to read online. Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0.
Hey š
I've been working remotely for 20 years. Remote employee. Remote manager. Remote founder. Teams across 12 countries, 3am debugging sessions, the awkward early video calls where half the team was muted.
I wrote a first version of this book last year. 200+ pages. Comprehensive. Balanced. Safe. It was wrong. I was hedging so no one could disagree. But nobody remembers ideas that refuse to take a stance.
So I killed it and started over.
36 short chapters. 2 minutes each. Opinionated. Titles like "Kill the Daily Standup," "Tracking Software Is a Management Failure," and "Hire Writers." The kind of titles that make some people uncomfortable. Good.
The book opens by naming six management archetypes that kill remote teams. The Surveillance Manager. The Hybrid Hypocrite. The Meeting Maximalist. You probably recognize someone. Maybe yourself. That's okay.
Then it builds the system, section by section:
ā Trust as the foundation. Outcomes over hours.
ā Writing-first communication. Async by default.
ā Every tool is a tax. Consolidate ruthlessly.
ā Hire writers. Hire autonomous people. Stop hiring from your zip code.
ā Connection is infrastructure. Meet in person once a year.
ā What worked at 5 won't work at 15. Adapt.
A few things about this project:
- Free and open source. Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0. Fork it, translate it, adapt it.
- Complete rewrite from v1. Every chapter rewritten from scratch.
- No sponsors. No affiliate links. No paywall. Just a Ko-fi if you want to buy me a coffee.
- Also available as ebook on Amazon (for v1).
I built this because I wish someone had handed it to me on day one. It's not balanced. I have opinions. Some will make you uncomfortable. That's the point.
Read it free: https://remote-excellence.guide
Would love to hear what resonates and what you'd push back on.
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