Working remotely: Living Armory’s remote-first culture hero graphic

Working remotely: Living Armory’s remote-first culture

Sep 24, 2020 by Armory

The future of work looks very different than it did just a year ago, pre-COVID. Armory has embraced and extended our strong remote culture to become a remote-first company, which means that although we have a physical HQ in San Mateo, CA, we don’t require anyone to be in a physical office, and that HQ serves more as a collaborative space.

I believe this trend is just beginning to ramp, and that within a few years, with 5G connectivity (and even high speed, low latency satellite-based internet on the near-term horizon), people will truly be able to work from anywhere — it won’t be uncommon for people to literally live their dreams, like working from a treehouse in the jungle of Costa Rica. People do their best work when they are happiest and most fulfilled, and where we each choose to live plays a huge part in that. At Armory, we’re not just supportive of remote work, but we actively encourage our crew to find the best place to work for each of their personal family situations — one that maximizes the work/life balance. At our size & scale today, we can allow our crew to work from anywhere in the U.S. or Canada that they can get their work done productively, and by being a remote-first company, we’ll be able to can find the best talent for any role globally as we scale the company, and we’ll also build a much more diverse and inclusive company, which is personally very important to me as the CEO.

The best part is that our crew is already doing it. In the video above, I did a “Between a Shield and a Fern” CEO interview to hear all about how the Armory crew is pushing the boundaries of remote work and living the future of what many of us will be trying:

Our crew has also shared a number of pro-tips about working remotely — whether it’s from a home office, or a boat.

Mastering WFH Discipline — Armory Crew Shares their Pro-Tips:

Pro-Tips for WFHing w/ Kids at Home:

We have an entire document dedicated to “LFH” — helping kids Learn From Home.

Pics of our Crew’s WFH Setups:

Zak in Marina Del Rey (on a 41′ sailboat)

  • If you choose to live and work on a boat, I recommend you get a solid fixed monitor stand that you can bolt to a table, and secure the rest of your setup as well. This removes the friction from actually using your boat to go sailing as well as working, because you don’t have to spend time stowing your work setup.

Alice in Seaside:

I have a relatively big and empty kitchen bar/countertop. To that end I’ve set up some space near the door/windows so I can enjoy the ocean view and the natural light. This is where I normally stand to work. If I want to sit down to work I just use the kitchen table.
  • Schedule in meals and break
  • Schedule in walk/exercise!
  • Block off calendar if you need deep thinking/deep work time
  • Schedule Slack notification schedule so notifications are snoozed outside of working hours

Justin in Portland:

Fernando in Portland

Mobile Setup

Sean in Olympia

I’ve been working remotely since October 2016.  I did not start with this setup but instead assembled it over about 9 months as I discovered what I needed.  Besides equipment, here are the most important things I discovered:
For details on my equipment and links to purchase on Amazon, check out my README.

Kit in Cupertino:

 

Get the Right Gear & Set Up Your Workspace:

Audio & Video:

Headset: 

    • Best Microphone noise cancellation
    • Active noise cancellation on all outside noise coming into the headphones
    • Soft, light, and replaceable ear cushion
    • Can work wired and wirelessly, and while charging

Speakerphone:

  • Why is it recommended?
    • Works wirelessly so you do not need it next to your computer
    • Top noise-canceling microphone array (will cancel out fan noises etc)
    • Echo cancellation in larger rooms
    • Portable

Webcam:

Ergonomics:

  • The portable Roost ultralight laptop stand makes the laptop screen be an ergo height.
    • If you don’t have a stand, propping your laptop up on some books is better than nothing, and helps you maintain proper posture. Nothing worse than hunching over your keyboard at the dinner table for an entire day.
  • Get some mag-safe adapters, so when your family trips on the cord you don’t wreck the laptop, and make moving from table to office to co-working space is easy.  We recommend this one or this one.
  • Get yourself a fancy split ergo keyboard
  • Something like this to make your desk space sit or stand
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