Introduction

Studio Toffolo is a remote-first company. When not working on projects or our own products, you'll find us rockclimbing, hiking or going on solotrips.

What does it mean & how do we work that way? We'll explain in this post!

🏔️ What does “remote-first” & “async” mean?

Remote-first means that our location doesn't matter. Lorenzo is based in Eindhoven (NL), Nadia in Sicily (IT). All our work is in the cloud, so wherever there's wifi, we can work. We sometimes go on trips, and take our work with us.

“Sync(hronized)” means working at the same time. So, A-sync(hronized) means that we don’t work at the same time. This gives us flexibility to combine work with other things.

🔨 Tools, tools, tools

To work the way we do, we needed some tooling. As our central project management tool, we use Linear . We assign each other tasks, leave comments, and see our progess.

We use Slack to message each other. Sometimes, we’re working on the same hours, but most of the time there’s a delay between responses.

We also use Loom . You can quickly make a screenrecording including your own camera. Looms are great to quickly explain something without rambling in long chat messages!

For design, we use Figma . Usually, Lorenzo starts with a quick wireframe and Nadia takes it from there.

Oh, and that’s right, we don’t use e-mail or Whatsapp!

✌️ Keeping connection

Every friday, share a quick textual update in Slack: what we’re working on, and if we need help with anything. We answer those questions when it suits us, and we create our own planning.

Next to this, we try to catch up in a 1-2 hour videocall, every other week. In this videocall we catch up and discuss ongoing projects.

We also try to see each other in person every half year. Lorenzo has been to Sicily, and Nadia has visited Eindhoven during DDW. During these visits, we try to mix work-related with something fun.

So there you have it, the recipe for a remote-first & async company. We believe this brings more focus, and helps to bring out your personal preferences in work.