Essay · ~2,500 words
Distributed Work's Five Levels of Autonomy
Matt Mullenweg · Matt Mullenweg (Automattic / ma.tt) Free Intermediate
Written by the founder who runs a fully distributed company of thousands across every time zone, this gives you a ladder from a team that just copies office habits online to one judged purely on what it produces. It names the exact moment accountability shifts from watching people to trusting written output. Read it to see where your own setup sits and what the next honest step up looks like.
- Most teams only recreate the office online (level one)
- Real async means judging results, not when or how
- Great written communication is the unlock, not more tools
