Company Communication & Meetings
Glitch has always aimed to nurture a culture that is welcoming and respectful. We strive to be good communicators so that we foster a healthy work environment where we can be productive and make great things together.
Regular Communications
Daily
Working Hours For people who are remote or in HQ, our day usually starts between 9am and 10am, with a greeting in Slack. This lets everyone else know you're around, or if you're out sick or on vacation, they know that, too. Our office is usually empty by 6pm or earlier each day, and remote workers leave their home offices on the same schedule, too. At Glitch, your coworkers won't even @ mention you in Slack when it's outside of working hours, and if something is shared during non-work times, there's no expectation that you'll respond until you're back at work. There are exceptions for roles where people are on-call, or special cases like events or unusual circumstances, but on a day-to-day basis, we are enormously productive by letting people live their lives and have their downtime.
Meetings - We try to keep meetings to a minimum and when we do have them, they're well-organized with a specific agenda. Every meeting is remote-first, with every person in the meeting joining on video chat — even if they're based in HQ. No one should be left feeling disconnected or forgotten. Each person on the team takes turns keeping notes because we don't want women or other underrepresented team members to feel unduly obligated to handle such tasks, and every meeting with more than 2 people has notes shared to the notes channel in slack so that everyone knows what's going on.
#notes - The Slack channel for team meeting notes so that everyone can stay up to date with any conversations that happen in meetings. If your conversation involves more than 2 people, or includes any people outside the company, document it in notes unless there's something sensitive that's not appropriate to share.
Weekly
All Hands - This weekly meeting each Monday is focused on critical updates, strategy, alignment and progress on goals and notes will be posted here 
to maintain a record. We will also report progress against the key goals that each team has identified. Recordings are on the team drive at Fog Creek Share → Media → Weekly All Hands.
to maintain a record. We will also report progress against the key goals that each team has identified. Recordings are on the team drive at Fog Creek Share → Media → Weekly All Hands.
Monthly
Glitch Bravos - The first Monday of every month at our All Hands Meeting, we take time to recognize our colleagues for doing exceptional work. We all tell our coworkers what we appreciate about each other! You can add a bravo for a coworker here .
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Ongoing
Company Snapshot - This page in Notion is where you can check in on all the various projects across all teams happening at Glitch. Each team has a column, and each project gets updated about every week. Each card will also point you to the right person to talk to about each project.
in Notion is where you can check in on all the various projects across all teams happening at Glitch. Each team has a column, and each project gets updated about every week. Each card will also point you to the right person to talk to about each project.How we communicate
We are a proudly distributed team, so the way we communicate shapes our shared virtual workplace. In order to work effectively across multiple teams, we narrate our work so that our colleagues and customers understand what decisions we are making and why. This means sharing mistakes and lessons with one another to encourage accountability and welcome feedback.
We want our feedback to be constructive, specific, and communicated with respect. When giving feedback, consider the situation (“During yesterday’s meeting on product direction…”), the behavior you observed (“…you described the new team organization…” ), and the impact it had on you (“…and it made me feel relieved.”). Focus more on the situation and behavior and less on the impact — this helps us focus on the facts so we can stay level-headed.
When our comments are rooted in honesty and respect, we create safe communication spaces where people feel comfortable sharing ideas and asking questions.
Communication tools
Notion - the hub for all company activity, notes, updates and projects
Slack - for ongoing conversations within and across teams. Note: sometimes Slack is used for external communications. In these cases, the channel name is preceded by a dash (like
-glitch-friends )Video conference tools (Zoom, Google Hangouts, etc.) - Sometimes it’s easier to get a point across when you can see and hear the person you’re speaking with. We use video conferencing for team meetings and to share a virtual room with colleagues.
Coffeetime - This is a tool we use that helps us get to know our coworkers. It randomly pairs people every week for a half hour chat and though its not required, we'd recommend you take the opportunity to connect with the entire team.
Jell - Jell allows us to do a virtual daily standup for individuals to share what they accomplished and what they’re planning to work on. Some teams use it more than others, but its an easy way to see what someone is doing on any given day.
Email? - We use email for especially urgent company-wide alerts, and to work with people at other companies. For ordinary chat, we prefer to use Slack, and for lengthier conversations, we write out our ideas in full and share them for feedback and comment.
Resources
You can watch Jacob's talk on giving effective feedback here .
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