“Communication is oxygen.”
That portion of the Automattic creed has stuck with me from the start. After reading the creed during my first week of remote work, I had a surface-level understanding. Now, after a year of working with over 250 other individuals spread across the globe, I understand it even more. In many ways, communication is the lifeblood of an organization. Without discussion and collaboration between individuals, little innovation would take place.
It’s easy to emphasize the importance of communication in remote work since employees can’t meet by the proverbial water cooler. But, it’s just as important when employees are working in the same room—launches have to be scheduled, bugs have to be squashed, and relationships must be built.
There are a slew of tools out there for communicating, including Skype, Slack, and HipChat to name a few. However, in some cases, the normal tools just don’t get the job done, leading companies to improvise and create their own systems that work. Let’s take a look at four companies that have cooked up their own communication tool and three takeaways to apply to your organization.