The Wandering Developers

How JotForm balances remote and in-house teams.

All around the world workers wake up early, get dressed, and commute to their offices. Having a commute that’s less than 30 minutes is rare, and that’s just one way. People sit in cars, trains, buses, and vans joining in a great daily global migration. Being at an office helps with interfacing with coworkers, staying on top of the company news, and doing one’s job.

On the flip side of the coin, telecommuting has become commonplace. Many companies rely on it exclusively, saving money on office space, personal expenses for travel, and, in theory, leading to happier, healthier employees.

Rare sighting of JotForm Maintenance Team developers together

JotForm does both. Our core developers work in an office. In the beginning of 2013 a new team was created within JotForm- the Maintenance Team. This is a team of developers whose main goal is to fix the many facets of JotForm. Between the core form builder, approaching 400 widgets, over 100 applications, and many other aspects to the product, this team’s goal is to ensure the quality of it. They are the first responders to escalated customer inquiries. And they don’t commute.

There are two unique aspects to the Maintenance Team. First is that they all work remotely. England, Thailand, and the Philippines seem to be their preferred locations in recent months. Some move around more than others. Second is that most of them work part time. This presents many challenges when it comes to scheduling, prioritizing, and communicating. It also makes them uniquely suited for one of our most ambitious goals- to have zero bugs.

A leading Maintenance Team developer

Since the team as a whole is part time, it puts us in a position to hire above the curve. Traditional employment settings bring on employees in 40 hr/wk increments with the expectation they’ll be employed for years to come. Remote developers on the other hand are accustomed to having multiple employers throughout the year. What this means is we can hire to meet the immediate project needs. They in turn may take a week off to work on separate projects, or to move again as the case may be. In practice we have long term relationships with all of them, but the nature of the relationship gives us more flexibility. This dynamic allows us to potentially one day reach the zero bugs goal, since they already work selective schedules.

Another compatibility is the pace of work. By nature of primarily being tasked with fixing bugs, they usually work on smaller projects. Whereas new development typically entails months long planning, design, and development cycles, a maintenance engineer can knock out two to five issues a day. This fits well in that they can make a positive contribution, and not frequently be overwhelmed by projects that take months of uninterrupted focus. Bugs by nature, are interruptions, so having a team that’s used to working in bite sized intervals, is helpful.

Typical lunch break for JotForm Maintenance Team developer

The stories coming from the Maintenance Team are adventurous, enviable, and sometimes concerning. They speak of coffee shops, time with family and friends, and being able to control one’s income. Workplaces become university libraries, while secondary degrees can be pursued. Traveling is a given, sometimes with the company of a significant other. All while having a “real job.”

Unverified reports surface of dengue fever, lost dogs, social unrest and military coups. Familiarity with locals and local cultures leads to a different life experience, perhaps one that many office workers yearn for. This comes with the hazard of an increased influx of website requests from friend circles. Sometimes the freedom and convenience of being away from an office is everything one hoped it would be. Sometimes the structure of a corporate setting is missed. The need for self discipline is the most universal refrain among them.

Please don’t feed the monkeys!

The biggest drawback is the lack of interpersonal contact. We miss the opportunity to know and understand each other. Work is described as clearly as it can be by email, ticket systems, and chat, and then it’s completed according to those standards. Sure you can get to know people over the internet, but it sometimes boils down to units of work being performed for a fee.

The existence of remote teams of developers is nothing new. Some companies conduct all their development through disparate groups of developers distributed around the world. We find having a core team of developers for new projects, and a remote team of part time developers, strikes a nice balance. Core developers aren’t interrupted as often, the remote team thrives on the pace of work and lifestyle it affords them, and JotForm’s users get a higher quality product.