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The following is a guest article written by Walter Chen, a former large law firm lawyer, math and computer science graduate as well as the co-founder and CEO of iDoneThis an easy group performance management tool that We use here at WooThemes.

What I've admired most about WooThemes is that they have built a multimillion-dollar business, entirely bootstrapped, and outside of the tech hub.

One of the biggest problems for small businesses who aren't part of the technology hubs is their capacity to quickly hire skilled employees However, by using some form of business jiu-Jitsu, WooThemes has WooThemes group has turned the weakness into a benefit. Being self-employed by the founding team that they were able to start the business and, in the years since the company's inception, they've been able to "hire skilled and high-end talent who are skilled and talented from anywhere in all over the world."

Making an efficient distributed team has proved to be one of the most difficult tests for WooThemes. The most difficult thing about it is that the challenges of running a distributed team grow as your team grows. As Adii stated, "The flexibility of remote work is an integral part of our genes. However, it does not eliminate certain challenges that come with remote working."

Three firms fight for the advantage of remote work in the marketplace as well as the measures they've taken to succeed.

It's a delicate balance to make sure that everyone who isn't at the base can feel as an integral part of the group.

Joel Gascoigne, Buffer.

If you increase the size of your group from a scattered small group to a team that has at least 10 people, you'll find yourself at a crossroads, whether you should set up offices at a central location, or continue working entirely at a remote location.

In the year that Buffer reached $1.5M in its annual revenues and increasing its workforce the company decided to open its headquarters within San Francisco. For this to be achieved, they formed the team who emphasized the importance of equality as a key principle.

In the event of a lack of equality between remote and office work, both parties resent and dislike the other. Remote workers feel cut out of the action in the office. Office workers think that remote workers are slacking off.

Jason Zimdars from 37signals put it in a concise manner in his post. He said"equality" is "there are no advantages when you go to the workplace, as well as it's not an advantage to remain home to get work done" It is crucial to ensure that there's no inferior employees within your organization.

It is important to note that the Buffer team is committed to equality to the point that they utilize devices to enable remote communications within the workplace in order that everyone as dispersed and remote as possible to be part of the conversation. Although they may not be sitting close to one another at work, they talk on HipChat or send emails so that all is able to participate in discussions. At Buffer it's all about equal treatment of everyone. to ensure that everyone is treated on your team to the best possible standard in addition to going to every length to achieve that.

There's a high probability that you can't just select any person at the past spread across the globe and expect them to make something amazing. There are three crucial elements that make up a successful remote, work process: Tools for Team, Process and the team.

Wade Foster, Zapier.

Remote work is seen as having the advantage as being more casual and informal than working at work. The bedroom is yours or maybe you don't have pants on. What happens when remote working was a completely different experience for Wade Foster, co-founder at Zapier.

The study found that teams working from remote areas need to be more deliberate on three areas that include process, tool and personnel -- than groups with co-located locations to be able to compensate for the environment that develops organically in offices.

The most important element is who makes up the group. According Wade, Wade his research, identifying and hiring trustworthy individuals who are able to thrive without a physical social space is crucial. In addition, give them the equipment and tools to complete the job. Like, for instance Zapier's Zapier team uses Sqwiggle the live, always-on video chat room which transforms into a live stream at just a click. This allows users to stay aware of the presence between them and solve the issue of not having a physical space to share.

Finally, teams that are dispersed are most efficient in the event that they've thought on how to function effectively. For Zapier it's all hands approach to support and the routine of regular feedback.

This process can also be affected by the choice of tools that to use. Because they're the creators of an amazing automation application that automates tasks across different applications, the people working for Zapier are naturally big believers in the benefits of automation to help to streamline processes and tools to maintain harmony within the team. In fact, using Zapier when building Zapier is an awesome chance to allow Wade and the company to market their product.

Whereas some people might find conventional processes and tools burden these processes, Wade and his team use Zapier to automate their actions in order to improve interoperability between their processes and tools, for instance by employing Zapier to transfer issues and pull requests into Campfire to allow group discussions.

Although we're all over across the globe, we would like all to feel part of a small team.

Mark Forrester WooThemes.

Maintaining that connected and close sense of belonging across boundaries and across a variety of initiatives requires that everyone stay in touch. It's particularly difficult when teams are dispersed. The co-founder Mark Forrester recalls how, "Back when we were in the past and could join Skype and join a group chat -- that's no longer efficient and efficient now." They keep one another updated using IDoneThis to record and distribute details about what each did throughout the day.

The reason for WooThemes to maintain that sense of cohesion and making sure that the company is small rather than growing just to grow is how they remain an incomparable source of success. "We believe in that,"" Mark comments, "which is the reason that we're using tools like iDoneThis to increase the efficiency of our employees and not overwork them or straining the staff unnecessarily."

The power of teams distributed with the entrepreneurial spirit of WooThemes can be seen in the amount of being thoughtful and attentive into the members of the team, and what they can do to help them work in their most efficient way. In the case of WooThemes Zapier, WooThemes and Buffer this translates to focus on features that are so often overlooked within co-located workplaces A deliberate effort to foster unity and cohesion, an understanding that equality is a must and a keen eye on how the pieces are put together.

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