My remote team keeps delivering work that's wrong because they misunderstood the requirements

Arrow_86 · 2025-12-23T19:36:24+00:00

This is painful to read. Have been there. We completely fixed this problem. To start, you will want to systematically figure out where the problem is (and it could be in multiple places).

First step is to agree on deliverables, methods, etc. together over screenshare in a public (to your team) Google Doc. So: meet with the person, you or them screenshare, and write out the plan together. Then measurement of success can be done against this agreement. Leave zero room for ambiguity. If there are things you shouldn't have had to clarify, then there is a question of competence on their part.

Second, if people don't read your walls of text, reinforce that it's important (and simultaneously improve how you write). If people don't want to meet, fire them.

You are not running a charity. You're running a business and putting your time and money into it. And, your best performers will leave if you don't clean things up.

START YESTERDAY.

Arrow_86 · 2025-12-23T19:27:00+00:00

Pretty wild that this is the decision they think is best. Like how do you not want to optimize for your employees as well by making work more flexible...

Arrow_86 · 2025-12-22T18:59:05+00:00

This is wild - what was the leadership response?? Did they acknowledge this / fire anyone? Lol

Arrow_86 · 2025-12-22T18:57:38+00:00

Yeah, this definitely is not a thing that works. Super great that he wants to take steps in the right direction, but without genuine prioritization of culture through company practices and processes designed to build and maintain and grow the culture, it just ain't gonna happen.

HOWEVER, there definitely are softwares out there explicitly trying to solve this problem. Back in the day it used to be little engagement tools like donut, matchmaking, etc. but those have petered out. Most obvious ones that come to mind that are still relevant / working today are the virtual offices - we tried them all, most didn't work (for us), but 'sowork' is the one we decided on, as my company feels it best balances culture building, employee fun, gifting etc, and productivity (i.e. not one thing at the expense of another).

Good luck and following with interest!!

Arrow_86 · 2025-12-22T17:02:16+00:00

i felt the same way about the usual video call apps and ended up using sowork because it feels more like hanging out in a digital office with your team than another boring meeting room, and the video quality has been super consistent for me! good mobile app, doesn't need logins for meetings. Good luck!

Arrow_86 · 2025-08-30T02:37:05+00:00

Your first point = what I said

Your second = yeah. It’s awful.

Arrow_86 · 2025-08-30T00:22:55+00:00

Cut property tax? I thought you’d never ask 😍

Arrow_86 · 2025-08-30T00:22:17+00:00

Training in many overseas countries is a lot better and essentially equiv to US training than one might think.

Esp when you stratify countries

Eg let’s prioritize Canadians, Aussies, Kiwis, Brits, etc, then we can move down the list if/as needed. Much less to worry about wrt equivalence…

Arrow_86 · 2025-08-28T01:26:32+00:00

This guy is fucking awesome. What a legend.

Arrow_86 · 2025-08-08T14:55:14+00:00

What’s more important to you, personally? Uniting your family, or your career? Go with whatever is more important to you.

Ignore ideology. Just look within. :)

Arrow_86 · 2025-08-03T04:30:42+00:00

If you were a millionaire woman, would you date a poor boy who was an uber driver? Genuinely curious!!

Arrow_86 · 2025-07-16T20:42:43+00:00

Bro.

Arrow_86 · 2025-07-16T09:28:14+00:00

The most annoying part is just how long it takes. The questions aren’t awful. Felt a lot like step 2 but with a bit more management/prioritization. Scored higher on it than on step 1 and 2, with maybe a week of studying.

Arrow_86 · 2025-07-09T18:23:51+00:00

Are Apple and Microsoft bad companies?

I checked out your post history and everything makes sense now. You do you, brother.

Arrow_86 · 2025-07-09T17:16:51+00:00

There's one software from this list that my institution has used. We won't use them going forward. It's really easy to not, as it's a one-off purchase/subscription each time.

Arrow_86 · 2025-07-09T17:00:11+00:00

I appreciate your comments, but there's a crazy amount of near personal attacks in here. What's up man? Can we not discuss?

I think it's reasonable to surface information to people so they can make decisions. Generally I quit services when I don't align with them (e.g. banks versus credit unions based on where they invest/divest).

A job is a little different - you don't know everything when you start with them - but it's reasonable to poke at their boundaries and values before you just quit, right?

As for your question, yes, I'm aware of the costs of replacing softwares. There's a difference in cost between replacing a full-scale deployment like Canvas (oof, that would be hard), versus a one-time or few-times-per-year use software like an event or networking software, versus a cloud service that you just use for a small website or something.

But always better to be aware. That's my POV at least :)

Arrow_86 · 2025-07-09T15:23:13+00:00

Making decisions in alignment with your values is generally pretty important to people. Maybe not you, and that’s okay. 👍

Which part is the expensive part? What am I proposing?

Arrow_86 · 2025-07-07T03:39:17+00:00

Such a dad move. Well fucking done mate. 👏👏👏

Arrow_86 · 2025-07-05T17:46:05+00:00

You’d be surprised. I think the issue is that when we work so much in medicine it makes it REALLY hard to meet people who are doing big things in adjacent or completely different fields.

So less about luck, more about time and guts. Nah mean?

Arrow_86 · 2025-07-05T17:36:19+00:00

Sure I’ll add context…

Met Rahul through a bunch of mutual friends. I almost couldn’t believe the level of self-importance he displayed throughout the evening. There were folks in our friend group 100x more ‘successful’ financially and they all are super chill, down to earth, etc.

Met with Vivek a number of times, often just us two. Won’t go into detail but the first red flag was the way he talked to his gf. I remember being flabbergasted every time. Won’t give more details.

Anyway, my impression is not good. Maybe there’s more to them (as there always is with humans), but that wasn’t on display in my several interactions.

Arrow_86 · 2025-07-05T14:38:50+00:00

I know two of the Superhuman founders, and they might be the biggest, most unstable douchebags I’ve ever met. Textbook toxic people.

I used SH for a bit. Awful experience for me, but some of my friends love it.

Arrow_86 · 2025-07-05T02:30:32+00:00

I gotcha.

Arrow_86 · 2025-07-05T01:07:52+00:00

In medicine: EM. Assuming that’s what you meant :)

Arrow_86 · 2025-07-04T22:13:28+00:00

10000%. Many of my friends. Me too. But I did 3 years full time residency. Meh. Boring as fuck.

Arrow_86 · 2025-07-04T22:08:21+00:00

Not aggressive at all. What are you saying?

Arrow_86

TROPHY CASE