You’re used to working in an office. You start each day grabbing a coffee. Maybe dropping the kids off at school. Commuting to an office. Joining meetings. Weighing in on random conversations with coworkers. Replying to emails, and going to lunch with a client. Before long, you’re commuting home to gear up for the next day. The rituals of modern-day office life are familiar and reliable.

The sudden impact of a global pandemic has forced millions of people to transition to remote work without much of a warning or game plan. Most companies are scrambling to recreate office life...outside the office.

There is a lot of mystery around remote work. The remote part, to be specific. This past week, we’ve had many of our own clients ask us how we make remote work, work. We’ve spent over a decade figuring out remote work at MetaLab with a team that works from 12 countries and 8 time zones. We’ve only landed here after years of questioning how we work—evolving our norms, processes, and policies.