Remote Year Values

Creator

Remote Work was created by Greg Caplan and Sam Pessin.

Purpose

In August 2014, Remote Year was started by two friends asking a simple question, “Who wants to travel together for a year while working remotely?” Out of that inquiry grew an incredible community with a set of shared values and a mission for impacting the world.

“Our mission is to create a more peaceful and productive world by fostering genuine human connections across diverse cultures and people.”

Remote Year - Travel the World while Working Remotely

Manifesto

Work-Life Flexiblity

Championing location independent productivity.

We don’t just advocate for it, we live it. Remote Year is a fully-distributed company, meaning each of our employees works remotely, either from their home or on the road. We give our team the opportunity to do great work – on their teams.

Global Perspective

Appreciating the world’s diversity and interconnectedness.

No two people are the same – and that is what makes the world so inspiring. We believe in seeking out similarities and celebrating differences. No matter where we are, we seek to understand those around us and aim to build bridges where before there were walls.

Empathy

Expanding our capacity to care for others.

We have a penchant for pushing ourselves out of our comfort zones. This lifestyle connects you with people that you may have never met otherwise, local residents in the cities that you travel to or fellow Remotes. We live for the moment that an internal light bulb clicks on, illuminating the way toward making decisions that take all perspectives into account.

Community

Coming together with a purpose.

It’s not about what you can do on your own, it’s about what we can do as a whole. Our team lives by this ethos as members of the Remote Nation, creating meaningful connections and building lasting bonds as we pursue a life of productivity and positive impact.

Being Present

Embracing awareness and gratitude for the moment.

Every day presents opportunities for reflection – only if you’re prepared to notice them. We strive to appreciate every moment of awe, inhale every bit of inspiration and take a break whenever life feels like it’s moving too quickly.

Dreaming

Creating the optimistic future you envision.

We’re leading the way in remote work and ushering in a new era of location-independence. At Remote Year we believe in breaking away from the status quo and changing the possibilities — that means changing what’s possible for both the future work as well as the possibilities for each and every one of our participants on our programs.

Source

https://remoteyear.com/mission

Comment

Having a set of values to live by is one way to declare what you intend for the future.

By definition, your values are what you deem to be important – to be valuable. They are like a compass rather than a map because they set a direction without being prescriptive about what needs to be done.

In the context of the manifesto, I’m not a great fan of simply having values. I don’t think they go far enough. I think they become generic.

In particular, I think the Remote Work mission fails because it is like most mission statements – it’s generic in that hundreds of similar organisations could state a similar objective. It lacks audacity.

For me, a manifesto has a stronger intent. It’s not just a point of view; it’s a strong belief. The US Declaration of Independence says it best: “We hold these truths to be self-evident…”

What is your truth?

I think this is an opportunity that Remote Work could take much further by describing the world they want to see. (This is particularly relevant to me because I’m considering going on one of their adventures.) And their values don’t speak the full power of the opportunity they are offering.

For me, remote work is the catalyst for three major opportunities:

  • Inspire the careers of future global leaders – consider how your career would be transformed by working abroad for the next 12 months. What would you see? Who would you meet? And most importantly, who would you become?
  • The future of work – The future of work is here today. For the first time in human history, a large group of people on the planet has the tools of production in their backpacks – their laptop and smartphone. That changes everything about work – in particular what we can do and where we can do it. Work is no longer about a job, it’s about a life worth celebrating. Build your life’s work.
  • Build a new nation – Our planet is artificially divided based on natural land features and historical tribes that no longer match the global way we live and interact in a digital economy. Remote Work is not just a rambling feel good community, it’s a nation of people committed to peace, prosperity and cooperation. Take Remote Nation to another level! Take it to the literal level you have described in these words – a new nation. (This is the one I like – it’s bold, edgy and courageous – the three personal qualities you would need to embody to want to take on a year of Remote Work.)

Hopefully, you can see my point. There is an opportunity to elevate Remote Work into a much bigger movement and the key is to create that possibility through a more potent manifesto.

PS: I’d also add a visual to share the message more freely and widely. If you want us to become a ‘card-carrying’ member of your tribe then we need a card we can carry. We need an easy way to say ‘I’m proudly part of this.’

More

Manifesto for Smarter Working (remote work in organisations)

Haydn Shaughnessy – The New Work Manifesto (addressing the lack of engagement in the workplace)

Timothy Ferriss – The Four Hour Work Week – a radical look at how we could live and work

Manifesto for Smarter Working

Creator

Mark Grant, GTM Manager: Digital Workspace Productivity from Dimension Data

Purpose

“Many organisations are being held back from adopting smarter, more flexible ways of working due to their own cultural intransigence.”

“The benefits of flexible and remote ways of working have been well-documented, from increased productivity to improved staff morale. But there remains a tendency among some employers to view such smarter working practices with cynicism and suspicion. For many years it was believed technology was the most significant hurdle to overcome in opening up deskbound office staff to more flexible ways of working.”

Manifesto

Five points we believe employers and employees need to discuss and reach agreement on:

1 We agree the office is just one place we can work

Even the sleekest of offices only suit most of the people, most of the time. There will always be instances where the office isn’t the best environment to work.

2 We do not need excuses to work smarter

Many people feel the need to excuse remote working with reasons unrelated to work, such as waiting in for a plumber. But “I will get more work done, to a higher standard” should be the only reason anybody needs.

3 We know trust isn’t about turning up

Healthy relationships rely on trust earned through mutual respect and value. We shouldn’t have to be in an office for people to trust we’re working.

4 We believe great work can happen any time

When we do our best work is rarely dictated by what time it is. What matters most is delivering the best work possible, with consideration for others involved in the process.

5 We value working smarter over working longer

Being first in and last out doesn’t mean someone is working better or harder. We need to evolve the way we measure performance to focus on productivity, not hours and minutes.

Source

Article by Mark Grant on TheHRDirector.com – June 12, 2018

Comment

This is a great example of a simple five-point manifesto making a complex situation simple and manageable. By offering a handful of principles, a clear set of flexible and innovative actions could follow.

In particular, general rules of thumb are open to interpretation rather than being prescriptive. “We believe great work can happen any time.”

(Right now, I’m writing on a kitchen bench as I house-sit two dogs while I watch the football on a cold and wet Sunday afternoon. Great work? Maybe, may be not. You get the point!)

More

The 37 Signals Manifesto from the book Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansso

Haydn Shaughnessy – The New Work Manifesto

Tim Ferriss – The Four Hour Work Week

 

37 Signals Manifesto

37 Signals Manifesto - Rework

Creator: Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson are the founders of software company 37signals and authors of the book Rework. This manifesto was originally posted on their website from 1999-2001.

Purpose: It’s a collection of 37 nuggets of online philosophy and design wisdom. It’s a great introduction to the 37signals’ school of thought and a fun, quick read to boot.

37signals Manifesto

  1. We See People
  2. Manager of External Reporting
  3. <blink>12:00</blink>
  4. Not Full Service
  5. Size Does Matter
  6. $6,000,000,000
  7. Are They Experienced?
  8. Experience
  9. And I Quote
  10. Refugees
  11. Copy Righting
  12. Occam’s Razor
  13. Eight Seconds
  14. Breadcrumbs
  15. 83%?!
  16. Short Story
  17. No Awards Please
  18. eNormicon.com
  19. Suits Who?
  20. Sloganeering
  21. A not “Q”
  22. B2whatever
  23. Sightings
  24. My Cousin’s Buddy…
  25. Just Because You Can…
  26. Make it Useful
  27. Simplicity by Design
  28. Tulipomania
  29. Linkin’ Logs
  30. ASAP
  31. Reference
  32. Highest
  33. What’s in a Name?
  34. Our Team
  35. We Come in Peace
  36. Signal vs. Noise
  37. SETI

Source

Complete manifesto with descriptions on each item

‘Rework’ the book on Amazon

Image from Book Cover

Haydn Shaughnessy: The New Work Manifesto

The New Work Manifesto

Creator: Haydn Shaughnessy writes for Forbes.com about Innovation within the New Economy.

Purpose: The stats show that unto 66% of US workers are actively dis-engaged with their work. That means only 33% are! Thus the search for meaning and empowerment from ‘unconventional’ sources.

The New Work Manifesto: Be Unconventional (Selection)

People are busy adding unconventional twists to their lives and their narratives, building twists like minimalism, reducing our dependency on material possessions – there’s a list of minimalist growth indicators here; or it’s about collective as well as personal innovation: looking for ways to engage, transitioning the relationship between the town and the countryside – or the wacky art allied to gardening, the vegan tattoo, or the conventionally unconventional like the street food movement.

The New Work Manifesto is I want to do it my way. This is not just or even a Gen Y phenomenon. It is a story that 66% of us might want to tell. So how do we reconcile people’s desire for personal innovation with the enterprise’s need for innovative people and ideas?

A couple of years ago I interviewed an artist at the Disonancias project which arranges artist residencies inside Spanish companies. Her observation of working in a company? Everything I proposed they found a way to cut.

As an artist she was accustomed to starting small and growing a creative work. In business she started small and still got cut.

Enterprise leaders need to look to how people are innovating and creating and then set out how they want to interact with the workforce. We have to take the personal seriously.

 

Source

Full Article on Forbes.com: The New Work Manifesto: Be Unconventional, 24 June 2011

Image from Daylife: Job Seekers waiting to talk to employment agencies.

 

 

Bre Pettis and Kio Stark: The Cult of Done

Creator

Bre Pettis and Kio Stark

Purpose

To get things done!

Manifesto

The Cult of Done

1.    There are three states of being. Not knowing, action and completion.
2.    Accept that everything is a draft. It helps to get it done.
3.    There is no editing stage.
4.    Pretending you know what you’re doing is almost the same as knowing what you are doing, so just accept that you know what you’re doing even if you don’t and do it.
5.    Banish procrastination. If you wait more than a week to get an idea done, abandon it.
6.    The point of being done is not to finish but to get other things done.
7.    Once you’re done you can throw it away.
8.    Laugh at perfection. It’s boring and keeps you from being done.
9.    People without dirty hands are wrong. Doing something makes you right.
10.    Failure counts as done. So do mistakes.
11.    Destruction is a variant of done.
12.    If you have an idea and publish it on the internet, that counts as a ghost of done.
13.    Done is the engine of more.

Sources

Website: http://www.brepettis.com/blog/2009/3/3/the-cult-of-done-manifesto.html

The Four Hour Work Week

Timothy Ferriss, The Four Hour Work WeekCreator: Timothy Ferriss and published as a book, The Four Hour Work Week .

Purpose: Have us rethink our 9-5 Monday to Friday, live for the weekend deferred lifestyle.

Manifesto

Tim Ferriss’ book title is a great manifesto snapshot:

The Four Hour Work Week : Escape the 9-5, live anywhere and join the new rich.

Ferriss calls for an end to:

  • The 40 hour work week
  • The live for the weekend culture that works five days then has only two days off
  • And an end to the live-to-work deferred lifestyle. Why work the best years of your life? Why die waiting to retire? Or why retire and be too old to do anything?

Tim’s deal is er… TIM’s DEAL. He identifies three lifestyle currencies that you need to manage to live your ideal lifestyle:

  1. Time (Non-renewable)
  2. Income
  3. Mobility

And he has identified four ranked, intra-dependent steps:

  1. Define : Define your ideal lifestyle.
  2. Eliminate : Eliminate everything extraneous.
  3. Automate : Build an automatic, sustainable source of income.
  4. Liberate : Be mobile and free yourself from your location.

Sources

Book Website: http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/
For a great summary of Ferris’ manifesto, grab the Book Rapper issue The Four Hour JOLT!

More

Remote Year Values – living and working remotely while holding down your job and building you career

Manifesto for Smarter Working (remote work in organisations)

Haydn Shaughnessy – The New Work Manifesto (addressing the lack of engagement in the workplace)