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Make "udalenka" great again: how to transfer the whole company to remote work in 4 stages

While coronavirus is marching around the planet, the toilet is leading the securities market and entire countries are quarantined, more and more companies are forced to transfer employees to remote work. We at RUVDS were no exception and decided to share with Habr our experience in organizing a remote work process throughout the company. It’s worth mentioning right away that there will be no captain's advice in the article, such as “put on your pants when you are at home”, only harsh reality and a guide to action.



So that as a result of the transfer of employees to a remote site, it would not be excruciatingly painful later, we divided the whole process into small stages.

Stage 1: We divide the company into groups / areas


Since we have a small company (up to 20 people), it is easier for us in this regard, because there are not a large number of departments, divisions and smaller units of division of people. In total, 5 conditional groups / directions can be distinguished in RUVDS:

  • Technical support;
  • System administrators;
  • Developers
  • Financial service (accounting, payments and workflow);
  • Leadership and marketing service.

In our case, the division is conditional, because structurally different groups of people, as in our case, management and marketing, need similar access rights. We sympathize with those who have not 5 groups, but much more each, of which we need our own access level.

Stage 2: We determine the working needs of groups / directions and configure access


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One of the main difficulties when working on a remote site is data leakage, which is why it becomes a pain for many security guards. We use the same rules on the remote site as in the office - access to sensitive resources through two-factor authentication by certificate and login / password is implemented. So you can instantly block access to a specific employee by canceling his certificate.

As they say, it is better to play it safe than to underestimate, therefore, we used such difficult times as a reason for unscheduled testing of the "iron part" of the infrastructure for strength. Three services are responsible for its availability in the DC: the on-duty engineers who are at their posts around the clock, technical support and system administrators.

All the key nodes of the data centers are reserved according to the N + 1 scheme in accordance with the standards no lower than Tier III, including telecommunication equipment and power supply. Although something more serious than universal quarantine should happen to limit the supply of power, we nevertheless conducted exercises to switch the power in the data centers to diesel generators. Contracts for the supply of fuel for them will allow the flagship RUCLOUD data center to operate autonomously with a long-term disconnection from the mains. At the same time, we conducted an audit of all repair kits, in case of problems with the delivery of new components. 

Since the coronavirus pandemic is already recognized as force majeure, which allows us not to fulfill obligations, we checked which of the counterparties can take advantage of this and fail at a difficult moment.

According to the experience of China and Italy, it can be said that even the wide spread of the disease does not directly affect Internet providers, especially since each data center has at least 2 independent communication channels that duplicate each other.

Stage 4: We prescribe the rules for working on a remote site


The rules allow the team not to relax and go to the remote without loss of quality of work. For ourselves, we made a short list:

  • Compliance with working hours, even taking into account the fact that the work is focused on the result, not the process. This is especially important for technical support, which should be in touch around the clock. Working hours are that constant within which everyone can communicate with each other.
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The list is as unified as possible, but you can take it as a basis and make adjustments and additions based on the specifics of your work.

In conclusion, I would like to note that the trend towards remote work is not stagnation, but rather an evolution in which only those who actively adapt to environmental changes survive. Therefore, those who learn to work without vigorous office control will focus on the result, and not on the time spent - will benefit from the current situation only.

And what actions to switch to udalenka apply in your team or company? Perhaps we have something to learn from each other.

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