What remote work taught me about trust

This started as a throwaway line in a notebook and turned into the thing I get asked about most. So I will try to say it properly.

You have an office with very long hallways. The shift is to measure outcomes rather than appearances, and to communicate generously enough that small problems surface early, before they have a chance to become big ones. Remote work is, at the end of the day, an arrangement built on trust. If you have to watch people constantly to believe they are working, you do not really have a remote team.

Remote work is, at the end of the day, an arrangement built on trust. If you have to watch people constantly to believe they are working, you do not really have a remote team. Remote work is, at the end of the day, an arrangement built on trust. If you have to watch people constantly to believe they are working, you do not really have a remote team.

You have an office with very long hallways. The shift is to measure outcomes rather than appearances, and to communicate generously enough that small problems surface early, before they have a chance to become big ones. Remote work is, at the end of the day, an arrangement built on trust. If you have to watch people constantly to believe they are working, you do not really have a remote team.

You have an office with very long hallways. The shift is to measure outcomes rather than appearances, and to communicate generously enough that small problems surface early, before they have a chance to become big ones. You have an office with very long hallways. The shift is to measure outcomes rather than appearances, and to communicate generously enough that small problems surface early, before they have a chance to become big ones.

The work, as ever, is to keep showing up in the unglamorous middle and trust that the compound interest shows up later than you want but right on time. You have an office with very long hallways. The shift is to measure outcomes rather than appearances, and to communicate generously enough that small problems surface early, before they have a chance to become big ones. Remote work is, at the end of the day, an arrangement built on trust. If you have to watch people constantly to believe they are working, you do not really have a remote team. Remote work is, at the end of the day, an arrangement built on trust. If you have to watch people constantly to believe they are working, you do not really have a remote team. Remote work is, at the end of the day, an arrangement built on trust. If you have to watch people constantly to believe they are working, you do not really have a remote team. You have an office with very long hallways. The shift is to measure outcomes rather than appearances, and to communicate generously enough that small problems surface early, before they have a chance to become big ones. Remote work is, at the end of the day, an arrangement built on trust. If you have to watch people constantly to believe they are working, you do not really have a remote team.