In today’s fast-paced work environment, where remote collaboration has become the norm, finding efficient communication and collaboration is crucial. Many teams spend excessive time in meetings and exchanging messages, leaving less time for actual work. ADAM NATHAN, CEO of Almanac.io, aims to address this issue by helping teams reduce meetings and messages by 80%. In a recent interview, he shared insights into Almanac’s approach, emphasizing structured documentation, asynchronous workflows, living handbooks, and the Modern Work Method.
- Almanac’s website
- Adam Nathan on Twitter and LinkedIn
- Almanac’s Modern Work Method
How to get work done without meetings
Insights from Adam Nathan, CEO of Almanac.io
Almanac’s mission is to combine the writing, collaboration, and sharing of key work onto a single platform while providing transparent guidelines for repeatable tasks. By streamlining these processes and eliminating the need for additional meetings or messages, Almanac enables work to flow smoothly with fewer errors. Specifically, the goal is to help teams get work done efficiently without being bogged down by unnecessary communication.
One of the key principles at Almanac is automating basic collaborative workflows. By automating tasks such as feedback requests, approval processes, and information sharing, the right people are included at the right time, following the necessary steps. This structured workflow ensures that every meeting is asynchronous by default, accompanied by a document containing pre-work, status updates, and demo videos. Accordingly, this approach allows synchronous time to be dedicated to solving nuanced problems and engaging in more complex tasks.
Remote-first practices
To assist teams in adopting these practices, Almanac provides templates based on the study of high-performing companies’ collaboration methods. By interviewing 5000 companies and extracting key learnings, Almanac developed the Modern Work Method document and created templates for the most popular best practices. These templates serve as a starting point for teams to implement efficient workflows aligned with remote-first practices.
The rise of remote work across all sectors has emphasized the need for companies to adapt their workflows to remote-first practices. Remote work eliminates the constraint of physical location and exposes the core DNA of teams. Subsequently, Adam Nathan highlights that many companies struggle to collaborate effectively remotely because they needed to improve their collaboration practices even before transitioning to remote work.
Hiring and onboarding
Almanac believes in hiring and onboarding with intentionality and documentation. Generally, candidates at Almanac gain a clear understanding of the company’s values and working style through transparent communication. The onboarding process includes an onboarding checklist and assigns a designated buddy to each new hire. Additionally, Almanac provides a remote work stipend to empower employees to create a productive home office environment. The company prioritizes making the first day special by conducting a first-day interview document where everyone can ask questions and sending a welcome video with snippets from team members worldwide. A 30-60-90-day plan outlines expectations for success and guides new hires in their early weeks. Regular personal check-ins ensure ongoing support and integration into the company.
Company culture and team-building
Almanac values the importance of retreats in fostering team cohesion and collaboration. The company encourages new hires to meet their teams in person within the first few months. It organizes an annual company-wide retreat, team-based retreats for both work and team-building, and sprint-based retreats to complete specific projects. Additionally, Almanac arranges co-working weeks throughout the year, renting a large Airbnb in exotic locations and bringing together teams from different departments to collaborate and bond.
Creating a strong company culture requires deliberate effort, investment of time and resources, and a focus on building relationships. Getting to know coworkers as individuals contributes to productivity, employee retention, and overall happiness at work. It transforms the workplace from a mere paycheck to a community of people you genuinely enjoy being around.
Adam Nathan concludes that achieving productivity and satisfaction at work doesn’t necessarily mean adopting an all-remote or all-office approach. Instead, the key is working deliberately, wherever the team is located. Unquestionably, implementing structured documentation, asynchronous workflows, and fostering strong team relationships, companies can effectively get work done without excessive meetings or messages, enabling teams to thrive in a remote or hybrid work environment.
The fabulous Miro, a visual online workspace, has sponsored this podcast episode. Visit miro.com/superpowers to get your three free whiteboards today.
Miro is a collaborative online workspace where you can visualize every idea, project, or workflow with the help of ready-made templates and tools. It’s built for teams to feel like they’re sitting side-by-side, even working in different places.
