Our team was born during COVID so we’ve never known what it’s like to work all together in an office. Being remote from the start has become a strength for us in many ways, but not without its challenges in terms of developing culture and maintaining connection.
We’ve done a few things to address these challenges, but one that has been particularly fun has been honoring Tie Tuesdays with a weekly web meeting. H/t to Ed Farrington for the idea.
Tie Tuesday basically means wearing a tie on Tuesday, regardless of what else is going on or the general dress code. We don’t actually have a dress code, but especially during COVID times it’s nice to occasionally have a reason to be a little more formal—and have some fun!
To keep up with what everyone is working on we have daily Slack “stand ups” that don’t actually require any standing up or even working at the same time. But the stand ups are great for coordination and making sure everyone has what they need to move forward.
Our Tie Tuesday meetings, on the other hand, are less about projects and more about getting us all talking face-to-virtual-face. It gives us a chance to check in with each other and chat about weekend plans or whatever else is going on.
COVID has been a challenge in any number of ways, but in this one way it’s inspired a fun new tradition for our remote team.