Summary:
David Thacker, an investing partner at Greylock, welcomes Adam D’Angelo, the founder and CEO of Quora, to discuss the company’s decision to become a remote-first company. Adam shares his insights on the benefits and challenges of working remotely.

Quora’s Mission:
Quora is a question-and-answer platform founded in 2009. It aims to connect people seeking knowledge with those who have it. Quora has over 300 million monthly unique visitors.

Motivation for Remote Work:
Prior to the pandemic, Quora had a strong office culture. COVID-19 forced the company to embrace remote work. Adam discovered the benefits of remote work outweighed the drawbacks.

Benefits of Remote Work:
Increased employee productivity. Improved employee satisfaction. Reduced costs for the company. Access to a wider pool of talent.

Challenges of Remote Work:
Maintaining company culture. Ensuring effective communication and collaboration. Overcoming feelings of isolation.

Decision to Become Remote-First:
Quora announced its decision to become a remote-first company. This allows employees to work from anywhere, with occasional office visits.

Remote Work Before the Pandemic:
Prior to the pandemic, Quora employees primarily worked from a single office in Mountain View, except for sales teams. The company culture emphasized in-person meetings, open communication, and the use of various collaboration tools.

Adam D’Angelo’s Initial Skepticism of Remote Work:
Adam D’Angelo, Quora’s CEO, admits that he was initially skeptical of remote work. This skepticism was rooted in several factors, including lower housing costs and easier H-1B visa acquisition during Quora’s early days. Remote work experiments during this time often resulted in negative experiences, such as social isolation and reduced involvement in company decisions.

The Challenges of Accommodating Remote Employees:
D’Angelo highlights the difficulties of integrating remote employees into a primarily in-person work environment. Remote employees faced challenges such as being forgotten during meetings, struggling to gain attention, and experiencing a sense of disconnection from the company.

The Bias Toward In-Person Interactions:
D’Angelo acknowledges the subconscious bias toward in-person interactions. Naturally, people tend to prioritize relationships with those they see more often. This bias can lead to a sense of exclusion and isolation for remote employees, resulting in their diminished involvement in key decisions.

The Practical Difficulties of Maintaining Two Systems:
Combining in-person and remote work creates practical challenges for companies. It requires maintaining two different modes of relationship-building and communication, adding complexity to the already demanding task of managing a company.

Negative Impact on Remote Employees:
D’Angelo acknowledges the negative impact of these factors on remote employees. They often feel disadvantaged and miss out on opportunities. This can lead to reduced job satisfaction and increased turnover as employees seek organizations that offer a more inclusive headquarters environment.

Synchronous Communication:
Quora emphasizes synchronous communication using Zoom for video calls to foster collaboration and creativity among employees with diverse skills and responsibilities.

Scheduled Availability:
Employees are required to be available from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Pacific time, allowing for real-time collaboration and avoiding the challenges of asynchronous coordination.

Employee Reaction and Feedback:
The decision to adopt a remote-first approach was polarizing, with some employees preferring to return to the office. Extensive employee surveys were conducted to assess productivity levels and gather feedback on remote work preferences.

Benefits of Remote Work:
Increased productivity and employee satisfaction due to factors such as eliminated commutes, reduced visa issues, and improved work-life balance.

Talent Attraction:
The previous local work requirement at Quora may have limited the company’s ability to attract top talent, especially in a competitive tech sector. The shift to remote-first is expected to expand the pool of potential candidates and enhance Cora’s ability to recruit the best talent globally.

Recruitment and global reach:
Remote work enables recruiting excellent talent from around the world, broadening the talent pool. It addresses the challenges posed by recent changes in the visa system, which restricted the flow of skilled workers to certain regions. This offers advantages in recruiting and provides opportunities for talented individuals who previously lacked access to these markets.

Benefits beyond the company:
Remote work positively impacts not only the company but also the individuals who can now access employment opportunities previously unavailable to them. It fosters diversity and inclusion by expanding the reach of job opportunities, enabling individuals from different regions to contribute their skills and experiences.

Maintaining the product development process:
Core has successfully maintained its product development process while transitioning to remote work. Teams continue to set goals, hold meetings, stay in sync, prototype, test, and run experiments effectively. In-house tools for experimentation and continuous deployment of code have played a crucial role in maintaining efficiency.

Challenges and opportunities in virtual communication:
Adapting to the new environment has highlighted the challenge of replicating informal communication that occurred in physical offices. Informal interactions, such as parties, happy hours, and casual socializing, are crucial for team bonding and fostering a sense of community. Current tools for virtual communication may fall short in replicating these experiences, but there is potential for innovation in this area. The demand for effective virtual communication tools has surged, creating opportunities for new products and solutions.

Experimenting with virtual tools:
Core is actively experimenting with tools like Donut to facilitate casual one-on-one conversations among employees. This is a step towards creating a more informal and lightweight virtual environment that encourages spontaneous interactions. Future developments in this area hold promise for enhancing virtual team dynamics and fostering a sense of connection.

Historical Perspective on Mobile Adoption:
Adam D’Angelo reflected on the early days of his company and the challenges faced due to a gradual adaptation to the mobile revolution. The failure to prioritize mobile as a strategic opportunity resulted in a delayed response to the changing landscape. A lesson learned from this experience was the importance of decisiveness and making tough choices, especially when it comes to major shifts.

Decisive Leadership in the Remote Work Decision:
D’Angelo emphasized the need for decisiveness in the choice between remote and in-office work models during the pandemic. Hybrid models create uncertainty and compromise, requiring a clear decision to avoid confusion and maintain company morale. A top-down approach is necessary for such decisions, driven by the CEO and with a clear communication strategy. Not all employees may support the decision, but knowing the direction enables them to align or seek alternatives.

Enforcing Remote-First Policies:
D’Angelo described specific measures implemented to enforce the remote-first policy effectively. A requirement was introduced for everyone in meetings to call in remotely, eliminating the disadvantage of hybrid setups. This approach ensured equal participation, engagement, and a consistent experience for all attendees. The challenges of managing this setup were acknowledged, such as the need for additional booths and divided meeting rooms.

Addressing the Potential Advantages of Office Work:
D’Angelo recognized the potential advantages of being in the office, such as building stronger relationships with coworkers and demonstrating commitment through visible hard work. To mitigate these advantages, the company focused on creating a level playing field by removing physical proximity as a factor in performance evaluation and recognition.

A Change of Routine:
Adam D’Angelo (CEO of Quora) decided to work remotely full-time to promote a remote-first culture.

Complex Social Dynamics:
When leaders work remotely, their actions can subtly influence others to follow suit, creating a dynamic where those in the office have an advantage.

Statement of Intent:
To reinforce the remote-first approach, D’Angelo declared that he would only visit the office once a month, emphasizing his commitment.

Examining Peer Companies:
Quora seeks to learn from other successful remote-first companies, such as GitLab and Automattic, but adapts their policies to fit their unique needs.

Communication Preferences:
Unlike some companies that favor asynchronous communication, Quora emphasizes synchronous communication for better collaboration.

A Shift in Perception:
The pandemic has changed many employees’ perceptions of remote work, with many now preferring it, broadening the pool of potential hires.

Investor Confidence:
Investors’ perceptions of remote-first companies have also shifted, with many seeing them as viable and successful.

Quora’s Coworking Space:
Quora’s Mountain View office will be converted into a coworking space for employees who prefer working on-site.

Safety Amidst COVID-19:
The office will be reconfigured to ensure COVID-19 safety, including spacing out desks and eliminating shared food.

Support for Remote Collaboration:
To support remote work, the office will provide more smaller rooms for video calls, either as phone booth-style spaces or small personal offices.

A Long-Term Adjustment:
Full use of the office is expected to take time, as safety measures are implemented and employee preferences are accommodated.

Increased Labor Mobility:
Remote work reduces commuting stress and enables higher labor mobility. Increases movement towards locations with higher GDP per capita, driven by job opportunities.

Reduced Housing Costs:
Remote work reduces pressure on housing prices in high-cost areas like the Bay Area. Makes it easier for individuals to afford housing in desirable locations.

Two-Body Problem:
Traditional job relocations were easier when most families had a single earner. With two-income households, coordination of job changes becomes a challenge. Remote work eliminates this issue, as one partner can work remotely regardless of the other’s job situation.

Access to Job Opportunities:
Remote work opens up job opportunities for people in different regions and countries. Reduces the need for individuals to relocate for better jobs.

Reduced Pressure on Transit Systems:
Less commuting due to remote work reduces the strain on mass transit systems. Improves the efficiency and sustainability of transportation infrastructure.

Overall Impact:
Remote work benefits individuals, businesses, and society as a whole. It promotes economic growth, equality, and social well-being by increasing labor mobility, reducing housing costs, and improving access to job opportunities.

Structural changes to office work:
The traditional model of office work demanding permanence in location is costly for employees. Life circumstances can change, prompting people to seek new locations for various reasons, such as experiencing a different culture or moving closer to family. Remote work offers a solution by breaking the geographical barrier.

Benefits of a remote-first approach:
Flexibility: Remote work allows employees to choose their location without sacrificing their career progression. Equal opportunity: A remote-first policy ensures a level playing field, where employees are on equal footing regardless of their location. Improved work-life balance: Remote work enables employees to balance their work and personal lives more effectively, leading to increased job satisfaction. Attracting a broader talent pool: Companies can access a wider range of talent from different regions and backgrounds, fostering innovation and diversity.

Impact on the global economy:
Remote work opens up opportunities for international collaboration and knowledge sharing. Shift in employment patterns: Companies can hire the best individuals for the job, regardless of location, leading to a more globally distributed workforce. Economic growth: Remote work can contribute to economic growth by increasing productivity and efficiency.