“In this day and age, when you give employees the choice and freedom to work how they want to, you end up getting exceptional results.”
In the modern era it seems to-do lists are never ending for most of us. But not if you bring your to do list into the modern era.
Todoist has been helping more than eight million people get things done since 2007. It was one of the first digital task managers on the market, and it’s one of the leading productivity apps available today.
Doist is the company behind the software, led by founder and CEO Amir Salihefendic. A remote-first company, their motto is organise, simplify, inspire, and Amir applies the same approach to running his distributed team.
At the time of writing, Doist employed close to 50 full time employees and 97% of them worked virtually from all over the world, with only four or five working from an office in Porto, Portugal.
They engage staff in a range of professions, including marketing, HR, finance, customer support, designers, coders and programmers, as well as freelance roles for translators, bloggers and test coders.
And they prioritise culture when hiring. Amir firmly believes competencies and skills can be learnt, but culture is built.
“Being a part of a virtual team can be very difficult. But from the start we make sure we pick employees who have a similar mindset as the rest of the company. Our hiring process is not rushed as we ensure culture is more important than competencies.”
“We look for people who can work independently because when you work remotely, you cannot afford to have people relying on too much guidance.”
Having said that they also seek to hire team players.
“At Doist we pride ourselves as being great team players, strategising together as a team, driving those plans into reality through hard work and dedication while at the same time, making sure we have loads of fun.”
Doist employs the ‘Rework’ concept, allowing staff to choose when they work, up to a maximum of 40 hours per week.
“We give people the freedom to work when they want and from where they want. In this day and age, when you give employees the choice and freedom to work how they want to, you end up getting exceptional results,” Amir says. “We believe this is the key to a productive workforce.”
As the Doist team expanded across the world, they quickly discovered email communication would not suffice. They trialled multiple tools, but unable to find the right fit for them, Doist did what Doist does best – and built their own communication software from scratch.
“It helped us develop a tool that is not only perfect for us but one that fits the way we work and also respects our culture and values.”
“Our employees are spread all over the world and we ensure that we have the right tools from communications to project management, to make them productive from day one.”
“In addition, we use Todoist plus a mix of Skype and Google Hangouts to make sure all teams are well organised and working at high levels of productivity.”
To measure productivity, the team uses Objective Key Results, which Amir says is a similar approach to the team at Google, customised to suit the unique team dynamics and virtual setup of Doist.
Creating an inspired workforce has resulted in major achievements for the team, not limited to the development of the world’s number one productivity app, Todoist.
“Besides this, each team has played a pivotal role in making each platform a success,” Amir explains. Having the right people with the right mindset is what matters for Amir, and this can be seen in all that Doist has achieved so far.
“Many companies have tried working from a virtual aspect with some failing miserably and some succeeding in the most graceful way possible. We too have had our ups and downs but after many years of course correcting we seem to be on the right path.”
“Our employees are happy and we are doing great from a business perspective. The culture we have developed is amazing and cohesive which has played a major role in increasing employee engagement.”
Be sure to check out Doist’s company profile on Remote Work Hub to see remote jobs currently on our database.