REWORK

Going Remote is a series of bonus episodes where different Basecampers answer questions about how they do their work remotely. In this episode, Merissa Dawson and Chase Clemons answer questions about providing customer support, including how they talk to angry customers and how they onboard new team members. The full version of their Q&A, including a visual walkthrough of the support team's Basecamp account, can be found on YouTube.Show NotesDesign lead Jonas Downey's Going Remote episode - 00:18Basecamp's customer support team - 00:26Going Remote playlist on YouTube | Full version of Merissa and Chase's session  - 00:39Question 1: How do you talk to customers who are really angry or not nice? - 00:54Chase talks more about his experience managing a deli in this Rework episode - 2:41Question 2: Who hops on the calls with customers, someone from Support or from the Product team? - 4:26Question 3: It's tough right now. What's something you could tell a support specialist from around the world? - 6:18Question 4: Any tips or tricks for helping onboard new people in customer support, especially when remote? - 8:54More detail about the Support team's onboarding process is in this Rework episode - 9:42Basecamp on Twitter - 13:32

Fitness studios, like many other businesses, had to scramble to change over from in-person to virtual operations almost overnight. In this episode, three business owners in the fitness and wellness industry share their stories of how they've pivoted and how they're continuing to look after their communities' well-being during a difficult time.Note: After we wrapped editing on this episode, Haji Healing Salon launched two support groups that meet weekly with a clinical psychologist. If you're interested in signing up, click on "Healing Services" on Haji's website.Show NotesArts + Public Life residency program at the University of Chicago - 3:14Haji Healing Salon website | Instagram - 3:19"Haji Healing Salon Aims to be 'Oasis and Sanctuary' On Bustling 79th Street in Chatham" (Block Club Chicago) - 4:04Philly Dance Fitness website | Livestream - 7:22Take It Off Broadway - 8:43StreamingVideoProvider - 11:10Punchpass website - 14:21Punchpass webinar on getting classes online - 17:04Hot Yoga Burlington - 18:30"Zoom Rushes to Improve Privacy for Consumers Flooding Its Service" (New York Times) - 23:06

We're starting a new series of bonus episodes called Going Remote. We'll have different Basecampers answer questions about how they do their work remotely. In this first episode, design lead Jonas Downey talks about how he and his team collaborate with each other, give feedback, and communicate with their developer colleagues. These episodes are adapted from an ongoing series of livestreamed Q&As, which you can find in their entirety on Basecamp's YouTube channel.Show NotesVideo of Jonas' Q&A | YouTube playlist of all Q&As - 00:33Jonas Downey on Twitter - 00:39Question #1: I’m planning on doing design thinking sessions for groups. How should I channel the team aspect in a virtual call with 20 to 30 people? - 4:25Question #2: What tools do you use to replace whiteboarding and Post-It sessions? - 6:33Reflector app - 7:31Question #3: It seems like most communication you do runs through Basecamp. How do you communicate the intricacies of designs to engineers, and what’s your workflow? - 8:51Basecamp co-founders Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson's live walkthrough of the company's Basecamp account - 8:54Question #4: Do you use version control tools like Abstract? - 12:46Question #5: In the meeting-averse culture of Basecamp, how does design work get reviewed and approved? - 16:23Question #6: Do you use any design tools, or do you design in the browser? - 17:44Question #7: Is it required at Basecamp for a designer to know how to code? - 18:48Question #8: How many designers do you have at Basecamp? - 20:21Question #9: I'm interested in the dynamic between designers and product managers. Do you do project management yourself using tools like Jira or Trello? - 21:07Question #10: How do you balance between designer and manager roles? - 23:00Basecamp on Twitter - 25:35

We're back from hiatus! In this episode, we sit down with Quaker theologian and small business owner Wess Daniels, the author of the book Resisting Empire: The Book of Revelation as Resistance. He talks about the value of silence; reshaping systems of money and power; and building community during a time of struggle. Show NotesWess Daniels on Twitter | His blog, Gathering In Light - 1:19Resisting Empire: The Book of Revelation as Resistance (Barclay Press) - 1:27Friends Center at Guilford College - 2:11Fireweed Coffee Co - 2:29Wess's blog post on holding a family meeting - 4:10Poor People's Campaign - 15:48

We place a long-distance phone call to Antarctica to chat with Kathrin Mallot, an astrophysicist who works at the IceCube Neutrino Observatory in the South Pole. In this episode, Kathrin talks about preparing for a work assignment in a super remote part of the world; practicing self-care during the punishing Antarctic winter; getting along with coworkers that you also live with in close quarters; frozen nose hairs, snacks, Internet access, and more! This episode was originally run in February 2019.Show NotesThe IceCube website - 00:46What is a neutrino? (Scientific American) - 1:13SNOLAB in Canada is an example of a neutrino observatory located in an old mine - 1:58Emsisoft - 2:48Skynet satellite (and the other Skynet) - 4:38Mt. Erebus in Antarctica is the southernmost active volcano on the planet - 14:00The Thing (the 1982 version by John Carpenter) - 19:28The IceCube website has an entire section about living at the South Pole - 26:53The defibrillator scene in The Thing (Warning: VERY SCARY! And gross!) - 27:39The blood test scene in The Thing (Warning: ALSO VERY SCARY AND GROSS) - 27:50

This is the second part of a two-hour live Q&A on remote work that Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson held last week. Part 2 covers questions about interruptions, mental health, hardware and software tools, and building culture as a remote company. You can find Part 1 on our feed in your podcast app or on our website. If you'd like to watch the Q&A session in its entirety, you can do that on Periscope. You can also check out Basecamp's Guide to Internal Communication.Show NotesQuestion 1: How do we get aligned with coworkers without interrupting them through chat/phone calls and while respecting their time? - 4:03 Pings (direct messages) in Basecamp - 6:34Hey is Basecamp's upcoming email product - 7:23"Interruption Is Not Collaboration," our episode where we discuss Office Hours - 8:45It Doesn’t Have to be Crazy At Work - 10:48Question 2: How would you encourage leaders to prepare (or how has Basecamp prepared) for an eventuality where large numbers of workers will be sick for extended periods of time? Adding more buffers to time estimates? - 14:15Question 3: How can we best nudge our bosses in the right direction with this stuff? - 18:39The Guardian published an article that mentions DHH's efforts to shame companies whose employees aren't allowed to work from home - 18:57 David's tweet asking for stories of companies - 19:08Denver Post article about Charter Communications' remote work policy - 19:41REMOTE: Office Not Required - 21:23Question 4: Where do you put ideas that are mostly about code? Do you have discussions in GitHub for that? - 25:06Tuple - 26:58Question 5: What can you do for taking care of the emotional well-being of the work community that’s going to be remote for weeks in the middle of such unprecedented crises? - 27:32You can send reports of companies to corona-reports@hey.com - 30:36Question 6: How do you each spend your typical days at Basecamp? How do you balance team collaboration and meetings with more solo, “deep” work? - 34:33"Wait, other people can take your time?" (Signal v. Noise) - 41:36Question 7: How do you set up a culture and understand cultural fit when building a fully remote organization? - 41:54"Introducing the 5x12" (Signal v. Noise) - 43:48"The books I read in 2019" (Signal v. Noise) - 45:10The Basecamp Employee Handbook - 46:51Question 8: How do you help first-time WFH employees to ensure we are getting the most out of them? - 48:38Question 9: How do you manage boredom, anxiety, and isolation while working remote alone? - 51:25Question 10: What technologies (hardware included) are you excited about (outside of Basecamp) to help support remote? - 55:45A photo gallery of Basecamp employees' work-from-home setups -

Nom Wah Tea Parlor is New York Chinatown’s oldest dim sum restaurant. For decades, it served Cantonese dumplings and rolls in the traditional way, from trolleys pushed around the restaurant. When Wilson Tang took over Nom Wah in 2011, he switched from trolleys to menus with pictures and started serving dim sum through dinner. He also opened new locations that broadened Nom Wah’s repertoire beyond dim sum. These were big changes for a restaurant that opened in 1920, but Wilson saw them as measures to secure Nom Wah’s future for its next century in business. This episode first aired on The Distance in May 2017. Nom Wah has reduced operations due to COVID-19, but you can support the restaurant by purchasing merchandise: https://nomwah.com/shop/.

Earlier this week, Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson held a live Q&A about remote work. We're splitting the session into two episodes. Part 1 covers questions about video calls, brainstorming, setting priorities, and good management during a time of stressful transition. If you'd like to watch the Q&A session in its entirety, you can do that on Periscope. You can also check out Basecamp's Guide to Internal Communication.Show NotesJason and David's book, REMOTE: Office Not Required - 00:55The full session on Periscope - 1:00Question 1: In a workplace with a mix of local and remote workers, what are some good strategies for making the remote workers feel more connected and not left out of office events? - 8:12Basecamp's Automatic Check-ins feature - 9:25Question 2: How do you qualify employees and gain trust if you don’t meet in person? - 14:14Question 3: How do you handle the transition in a company that hasn't been very remote until now and can't make a quick switch to writing more? - 18:30A Guide to Managing Remote Teams by Claire Lew, CEO of Know Your Team - 19:40Question 4: How do you handle video meetings with more than 20 people? - 23:44"Is group chat making you sweat?" (Signal v. Noise) - 30:00Question 5: How do you prioritize tasks? What's your productivity system or non-system? - 30:14Shape Up, Basecamp's book about product development - 30:50Question 6: Do you believe any developer/designer/product manager can work remotely? - 36:09Question 7: How would you host a brainstorming meeting? - 38:17Question 8: How do you properly handle large layoffs of more than 10 people? - 40:51"Stanley's Abruptly Closes After 52 Years of Selling Affordable Produce, Longtime Workers Caught Off Guard" (Block Club Chicago) - 44:30Question 9: What are the key things I can do as a manager of a small team to make remote working a great experience within my team, even if our company culture is still catching up after being forced to go full remote? - 46:02

Basecamp is a remote company, so we're less disrupted by the current pandemic than many other businesses, but we're still taking steps to keep folks safe. Jason Fried talks about canceling the company's April meetup and closing the Chicago office. Rework will be taking a few weeks off so we can get set up with recording studios at home. In the meantime, if you're working from home for the first time, we'd love to hear your stories! Please get in touch at hello@rework.fm (you can write an email or send us a voice memo) or leave us a voicemail at 708-628-7850.Show NotesTearing the heart out of Saturday night - 00:06Joe Bob Briggs' series, The Last Drive-In - 0:14Joe Bob Briggs: How Rednecks Saved Hollywood - 00:27Our recent episode about leaving the Chicago office - 1:10RailsConf - 5:59The Distance - 8:57Wailin learned about fomites from this 2013 New Yorker article and now she won't stop talking about them - 10:46

We at Basecamp love to preach the virtues of the 8-hour work day, but where did it come from? (Hint: Not from Henry Ford!) Labor historian Emily Twarog explains the origins of the 8-hour work day and why it was so short-lived in the U.S.Show Notes"This CEO thinks it's crazy to work more than 40 hours a week" (CNN) - 00:34"Extreme Capitalism with Jason Calacanis," the episode that credits Henry Ford with the 8-hour work day - 1:04"Did the 8-hour day and the 40-hour week come from Henry Ford, or labor unions?" (Politifact) - 1:06Emily Twarog | Twitter - 1:10"The Mill Girls of Lowell" (National Park Service) - 1:54The Lowell Offering - 3:04"Fire of 1871" (Encyclopedia of Chicago) - 3:51A history of McCormick's reaper works factory - 4:59An overview of the Haymarket Riot - 5:24A history of the Bread and Roses Strike of 1912 - 5:54The U.S. Department of Labor's history of the Fair Labor Standards Act - 11:02The National Labor Relations Board's FAQs on the National Labor Relations Act - 11:06Fight for $15 - 29:17"She was Instacart's biggest cheerleader. Now she's leading a worker revolt" (Washington Post) - 29:29Emily Twarog's book, Politics of the Pantry: Housewives, Food, and Consumer Protest in Twentieth-Century America - 31:25Beaten Down, Worked Up: The Past, Present, and Future of American Labor by Steven Greenhouse - 31:36On the Clock: What Low-Wage Work Did to Me and How It Drives America Insane by Emily Guendelsberger - 31:45