Coexist

We just lost a senior designer to the draw of the big city and big opportunities so it seems an appropriate time to reflect back on the past several months of working remotely.

For some background, Tyfo worked with us for a year before the first stage of his eventual and graceful exit of Coexist. He's a top-notch multi-disciplinary designer and, of equal importance, a cultural force to be reckoned with. We had seen Tyfo's (and our) friends, one by one, head for NYC and drop in with positive stories of exciting opportunities and, for lack of a more interesting way to put it, fun stuff. It wasn't a surprise that one year into his career here, Tyfo let us know he was moving to the city but still wanted to be a part of our group. This was an easy decision - so we spent the next eight or so months working with Tyfo as a remote employee.

We kitted him out with a new MacBook Pro, sent him on his way and, right away, started booking flights to bring him back once a month so he could stay connected to the group and facilitate collaboration with us and our clients. For the first few months, it was brilliant. With a little extra effort on everyone's part and tools like iChat, Adobe Connect, etc. - we were able to loop him into key meetings and communicate pretty fluidly on a day-to-day basis. Actually - I think I may have communicated more and more thoughtfully with Tyfo for a while because of the instant nature of iChat.

Tyfo had a great attitude throughout the experiment and worked really hard. He was still contributing is a big way to our creative product and it was exciting to have him back once a month. It stirred up the team and, generally, added another dimension to our studio.

It wasn't all rosey. What we hadn't considered was that a remote employee misses: brainstorms, spontaneous cultural events, mentoring younger designers, honing their presentation skills and the occasional long night that binds individuals into a team.

Overall - it was a positive experience and I would consider a remote employee again - realizing that even a highly-talented individual and great cultural fit that is growing within the company, in a remote environment and over time, would contribute more on the level of a top-notch freelancer.