Podcast Recap Episode 4: The Future of Distributed and Open Source

In this episode of The Way Work Should Work, we sat down with Matt Mullenweg, the Co-Founder of WordPress and CEO of Automattic to talk about the future of distributed and open source. Matt isn’t just a thought leader in today’s distributed workplace, he’s actually built a 1,200-person company scattered across 68 countries that to this day doesn’t have any offices.

We’ll take a deeper look at how he does it, why he thinks distributed work is a moral imperative, and where he thinks most companies land today on the Five Levels of Autonomy for Distributed Work. To listen in on the conversation, click here for the full episode.

Key insights:

“I believe that if you're able to allow people the freedom, autonomy, and agency to serve your customers in a way which provides them autonomy, then you should. Because it will make their lives significantly better. It's good for the environment and it will have a ripple effect on the lives of everyone they interact with, and how they’re able to show up.”

Matt Mullenweg, CEO of Automattic

Key takeaways:

• In the past, “work from home” was a euphemism for not working. Today, everything has changed, which is why we need to change that false narrative.
• Distributed work is a moral imperative. If you can give the people in your organization more autonomy and agency, then you should–both for their benefit but also for the benefit of your company.
• As humans, we’re not meant to be on Zoom for 10 hours a day. At some point, we need to ask, “What are other ways to accomplish the same outcomes with a different input?”

Click here to listen to the episode.