Since the Covid pandemic, the terms “Zoom” and “video” have entered common language. Tech employees in the United States have gotten into the habit of no longer coming to the office, to the point that companies are having great difficulty getting them back there, even if only two days a week.
Frédéric Plais did not wait for the pandemic to decentralize his company Platform.sh. Since its creation nine years ago, the start-up has been designed to be managed in a decentralized manner, with strong processes and principles. Today, Platform.sh manages thousands of clients ranging from Nestlé to The Economist to whom it provides website and mobile application management tools. However, the deployment was not simple. It required iron discipline to develop and maintain a solid culture and unite the teams despite the distance, time difference and isolation.
Economically, the company has long gained by eliminating the head office, the foreign offices, and by offering good salaries, but aligned with local markets and not those, delusional, of Silicon Valley. But tech giants eventually realized the benefits of decentralization and started hunting everywhere, causing wage inflation around the world. However, according to its founder, Platform.sh retains its initial advantage which it owes to its perfect mastery of the “remote” business.
In this episode of Control F, we caught Frédéric Plais passing through Europe where he takes care to meet his teams. He talks about how he manages his spider web on a daily basis from his home on the Pacific coast.
Listen to this episode and subscribe to Control F on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Castbox, Deezer, Google Podcast And Amazon Music.
The team: Frédéric Filloux (presentation) and Jules Krot (editing and production)
Music and design: Léonard Filloux
Logo: Jérémy Cambour / L’Express
Image credit: Jason Redmond
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