It’s time for a new approach to teamwork: one that minimises distractions, reduces time-blocking communication, prioritises mental health, and promotes independent and efficient work.

This management style can lead to more productive teams, with fewer managers and more individual contributors, with everyone focused on their core competencies.

Liam Martin is the author of a bestselling book and the founder of a conference focused on remote working, which he believes is crucial for scaling organisations. He advocates for a new management style for remote teams, emphasising the importance of communicating effectively without unnecessary interaction.

Three reasons to listen

• Explore asynchronous management and its potential to revolutionise remote work practices
• Discover the challenges organisations face when implementing asynchronous management and how to overcome them
• Learn about the importance of documentation and effective information sharing in scaling remote teams

Episode highlights

• [00:11:55] What is asynchronous management?
• [00:17:51] Where companies fail to implement asynchronous management
• [00:22:15] Case Study: GitLab
• [00:23:30] Entrepreneur operating system
• [00:27:53] Be an of your organisation
• [00:29:20] Getting the information flowing
• [00:32:44] Remote work in 2024
• [00:37:43] Try an asynchronous week
• [00:39:16] Liam's book recommendation
• [00:43:18] Takeaways from Dan and Pia

Links

• Running Remote: Master the Lessons from the World’s Most Successful Remote-Work Pioneers – Liam’s book
• Running Remote on YouTube
• The Entrepreneurial Operating System
• Slite
• Notion AI
• Flex Index
• Flow: The Psychology of Happiness, by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
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To bring specialists into teams with different skill sets takes good communication and a knowledge of the history of the team you’re integrating. Doing this well means everyone can point their skills at solving problems.

Ash Winter is an experienced software tester who has a particular interest in how teams and organisations work. Ash has been a software tester for over 15 years, and has experience as a consultant, helping organisations improve their testing processes.

In his role he’s seen a wide range of team structures and sizes, and he’s particularly focused on the challenges and opportunities of being a specialist within a team.

Three reasons to listen

• Understand the unique challenges and opportunities of being a specialist in a cross-functional team
• Explore the impact of team history and dynamics on integrating new specialists
• Learn about the evolving role of software testers and their influence in modern development teams

Episode highlights

• [00:09:14] Testing teams
• [00:14:29] The problem with "embedding" into a team
• [00:16:30] The Spotify model
• [00:19:48] Communities of practice
• [00:22:57] Agile methodologies with multidisciplinary teams
• [00:28:05] The benefits of a coaching qualification
• [00:30:19] Ash's book recommendation
• [00:31:42] Takeaways from Dan and Pia

Links

• Connect with Ash via LinkedIn
• Team Topologies: Organizing Business and Technology Teams for Fast Flow, by Matthew Skelton & Pais Manuel
• The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable, by Patrick Lencioni
• The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement, by Eliyahu Goldratt
• The Phoenix Project: A Novel about IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win, by Gene Kim
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Workplaces need to provide better support and flexibility to parents coming back from having a child. And more needs to be done to redress the imbalance of working mums vs working dads.

Jessica Heagren is the founder of Careers After Babies, and an advocate for gender equality in the workplace, particularly for women coming back after maternity leave. Jess has conducted extensive research on the career impacts of having children and has published a report uncovering some surprising statistics that don’t all make for happy reading.

Three reasons to listen

• Explore the challenges and solutions for women returning to work after maternity leave
• Understand the impact of traditional gender roles on shared parental leave and workplace dynamics
• Learn the importance of empathetic and inclusive line management in supporting working parents

Episode highlights

• [00:10:54] The Careers After Babies report
• [00:12:07] Gender pay gap
• [00:13:57] Why only 15% of couples talk about who works
• [00:16:25] The 7 themes from the report
• [00:21:57] "Everyone's replaceable"
• [00:25:51] What the next generation of parents holds for the worwkplace
• [00:27:48] The need for more empathy
• [00:33:34] Have the conversation
• [00:34:48] Jess' media recommendation
• [00:36:15] Takeaways from Dan and Pia

Links

• Connect with Jessica via LinkedIn
• The Equal Parent: Why Sharing the Load Matters, by Paul Morgan-Bentley
• The Careers After Babies report
• Leave us a voice note