Remote

Office Not Required

By: Jason Fried, David Heinemeier Hansson

Narrated by: Rebecca Lowman

Length: 3 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's Summary

The "work-from-home" phenomenon is thoroughly explored in this illuminating new audiobook from best-selling 37signals founders Fried and Hansson, who point to the surging trend of employees working from home (and anywhere else) and explain the challenges and unexpected benefits. Most important, they show why - with a few controversial exceptions such as Yahoo - more businesses will want to promote this new model of getting things done.

The Industrial Revolution's "under one roof" model of conducting work is steadily declining owing to technology that is rapidly creating virtual workspaces and allowing workers to provide their vital contribution without physically clustering together. Today, the new paradigm is "move work to the workers, rather than workers to the workplace." According to Reuters, one in five global workers telecommutes frequently and nearly ten percent work from home every day. Moms in particular will welcome this trend. A full 60% wish they had a flexible work option. But companies see advantages, too, in the way remote work increases their talent pool, reduces turnover, lessens their real estate footprint, and improves the ability to conduct business across multiple time zones, to name just a few advantages. In Remote, iconoclastic authors Fried and Hansson will convince listeners that letting all or part of work teams function remotely is a great idea - and they're going to show precisely how a remote work setup can be accomplished.

©2013 Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson (P)2013 Random House Audio

Not useful if you're already working remotely.

This helps you to understand how it's like to work remotely, and very few tips on how to improve your remote work.

Enjoyed Rework but this book was a disappointment

I feel that this didn't answer all my questions about the subject and the problems that they mentioned have many solutions and not just using remote workers. There was also a lot of sarcasm where I believe that the solution should stand on its own without needing to break down other views. I am for remote work but this book hasn't covered the subject as extensively as I would have liked.

I really enjoyed the book called Rework by the same authors and after listening to it I wanted to know more about employees working remotely and was excited to find this book but was very disappointed.

Pros of working from home

Would you consider the audio edition of Remote to be better than the print version?

Audio and paper(digital) version basically offers the same...

What was one of the most memorable moments of Remote?

I liked that this is by someone who practices rather than simply preach.

I've been working remotely for over 15 years

It's great to know that it is a trend that is coming of age. This book is a good primer for anyone considering remote work.

Excellent and thought provoking

The content is really excellent - if you have any interest in business in the future this is a foundation to provide thoughts or give step-by-step guide
A great book for everyone from CEO to Intern, from entrepreneur to long term corporate

Fantastic, Futuristic, Frustrating

What made the experience of listening to Remote the most enjoyable?

Fried and Hansson's borderline-indignant disregard for corporate and professional norms is well-documented both in their previous book and on the 37Singals blog. In a culture chained by institutionalization and (mostly) very slow to adapt to change, their willingness to question every single aspect of professional life and take risks are both inspiring and frustrating to those of us still chained to our desks, dreading commutes and struggling to fight the devastating consequences of interminable meetings.

The wide range of examples and possibilities they present – both from their own experience and from other organizations of every all sizes – aggregate to more of a framework or platform than set of instructions. Essentially, they argue that there is room for some level of remote work in almost every knowledge-based industry and that testing and implementing it has potential to make a very real impact both on productivity and the company's bottom line.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Remote?

More memorable than any single moment in the book is the general perspective Fried and Hansson provide on management. Their belief in the creativity and drive of their own employees, leveraged by their willingness to trust them and bolstered by their relentless investment in their well-being, is at first jarring and then awe-inspiring.

What does Rebecca Lowman bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Typically, non-fiction books read by narrators other than the author lose a bit of author's quality of tone, but Lowman expertly managed to preserve it.

There's a moment very near the end of the book, in which she is rattling of an absurd URL string, that her voice takes a very distinct "we're both aware this is ridiculous, right?" tone that, for whatever reason, had me doubled over with laughter. Literally. Like, I had to stop the treadmill.

Best for those considering remote work

I was hoping to get more strategy and navigating obstacles once remote work was in play. The book seemed more centered on why you should consider or convince your boss to go remote.

great for starting remotely

love it! it helped me a lot negotiation what my current employer to transient to remote work

A must read for those interested in remote work

Engaging and informative audiobook backed by supporting evidence/examples from established companies. It answered most questions I had about how to implement remote work.

great intro to remote working concepts

if you have been rote working for awhile this all should be default operation in function for you, but if you are a new comer this is the starting manual.

Concise and informative book!

Concise, informative, narrated well and full of good arguments in support of remote work. Recommended especially to those who still believe offices are the way forward.

A prophetic book!

I started off thinking what a great book that speaks to the pandemic. Then I thought, why do they suggest webex rather than Zoom. Then I saw it was written in 2013!!! What prophets! Every bit completely relevant to these hybrid times!

Useless

This the most useless book I have ever read. It has zero insight about working remotely. I have heard better content hanging out at wetherspoons listening to local drunks.

Outdated

Time & Coronavirus has made this content mostly moot - would have been interesting 10y ago. Not needed in 2020

Hasn't aged well

This book was cutting edge when it was first released. These days (post covid) it just states what for many people is obvious. It spends too much time convincing you of the benefits of making the switch to remote and not enough time talking about the challenges. In particular, it makes glib statements such as "You don't need to worry about remote workers not putting in enough hours. You need to worry about them putting in too many." I'm the CEO of a fully remote team and I can categorically say that this statement is not true, especially not when it comes to staff who are less used to mature self management. It also fails to talk about making asynchronous work possible through awesome documentation and collaboration (cf Matt Mullenweg's writings on remote work).

Great book

Anyone who has gone from office based to remote due to lock should read this

Highly relevant today

Very relevant in today's work environment. A more detailed exploration of remote working than in their later book... it doesn't have to be crazy at work. I highly recommend that book but this one is a good base.

nonsense basics

none sense basics gets too hot about things children know at school nothing new in this book shown

Remote reviewed by Tevin

I was already pro remote work so I have to admit I might be biased when recommending this book. But it won't stop me from recommending it to any business owner. This is an easy read, straight to the point and really defending the pro position with sound arguments based on business overall productivity.

One dimensional

I already work remotely so maybe it’s just this book isn’t meant for me. Might be a bit dated now perhaps. Felt a bit like a one dimensional debate. The narration was pleasant but tone felt a little argumentative, perhaps a touch whingey/dismissive. Did listen to the end but almost ended it early on a couple occasions. Sorry. Will probably change some people’s lives. Just not for me.