The Modern
Work Method
Work Method
How the best remote teams work.
Work has an unsolved problem: Where we work has changed, but how we work has not.
The Modern Work Method, derived from over 5,000 interviews with top business professionals, is a new philosophy of how to deliver business value fast, designed for the remote and distributed contexts in which many teams now work.
The Modern Work Method, derived from over 5,000 interviews with top business professionals, is a new philosophy of how to deliver business value fast, designed for the remote and distributed contexts in which many teams now work.
The Modern Work Method advocates for structured, transparent, and async-first collaboration instead of informal, real-time, office-first approaches transplanted to remote contexts.
Definitions over deadlines
Begin with the end in mind.
Collaborate on a vision so everyone can see what success looks like.
Define success clearly and share a vision widely – with milestones and metrics.
Adjust deadlines and workload as information and context changes.
Structure over improvisation
Use structured requests for feedback and approval.
Proactively set roles, deadlines, and formats for responses and communication.
Maintain a clear, organized approach even in times of chaos.
Make upfront investments that create downstream speed.
Transparency over need-to-know
Share ideas early and often with your team.
Show work before it's perfect.
Report bad news quickly so corrective action can be taken.
Share documents transparently in real time in an organized handbook.
Documents over meetings
Be async first.
Capture ideas in a document or on a canvas so they don't get lost.
Document everything: processes, structures, decisions.
Use meetings for complex problems that are not easily solved in a document.
Short feedback cycles over extended deliberation
Incentivize a bias toward action.
Optimize processes for rapid feedback.
Give everyone on your team the clarity and context they need to move quickly.
Prioritize tested results over opinions.
Insights over outcomes
Create a culture of learning on your team.
Reward changes and pivots based on new insights.
Hold retros to review what went well and what you need to change for next time.
Share learnings cross-functionally so everyone benefits.
Next: The Modern Work Crisis
