Saying Goodbye, Keeping Your Team

Noah Stokes shares his decision to leave San Francisco, and demonstrates that you can both move and take your colleagues with you:

Bold now shares a virtual office. Garrett is still in San Francisco, while Sam has moved to Austin, Texas and Charlie remains in Raleigh, North Carolina. It’s bittersweet to be virtual, but at the same time we all work to live, not live to work. So why not love where you live.

I’ve spent 9 of the past 12 months working remotely with my team at Icelab, and in this time, my wife and I have experienced life and adventures together in some amazing and personally significant parts of the world. It’s been a unique and precious period in our lives, and my work’s been a critical enabler for it.

And when I am at work, we’ve been as productive as ever. The time collaborating remotely has actually strengthened my understanding of my teammates. It takes a certain degree of thoroughness to explain yourself in text and over Skype. You can’t take shortcuts in your communication. It’s true that this has led to frustration at times, but it’s ultimately led to a more acute knowledge of their workings and motivations.

Anyone who builds things knows that worthwhile creations take time to mature. One of the most worthwhile things you can work on is your team. If you’ve found a good one, do your best to keep it, no matter where you live.

© 2008-2024 Tim Riley. All rights reserved.