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Virtual First Toolkit

🌱 We’re designing a more enlightened way of working—virtually. At Dropbox, our goal has always been to bring simplicity and humanity to work. Now that we’re a Virtual First company, we’re extending this philosophy further. In this toolkit, you’ll find practical, virtual-friendly exercises—from setting better goals to improving your team’s well-being—to help you thrive in distributed work. Whether you’re fully remote or working from home, we hope they help you and your team stay effective, connected, and well.

Effectiveness kit

Productivity experts will tell you that being busy is not the same thing as being effective. After all, you can cross off a hundred tasks per day—but were they the right ones? Use our Effectiveness kit to separate the signal from the noise, and nail your most important goals. 

Illustration showing a man and two women carrying a rolled-up carpet

Teamwork kit

How do you stay in flow together when there are endless Zoom screens and many miles between your team members? Whether you’re looking to cut through small talk, connect around a shared purpose, or build a sense of belonging, our Teamwork kit’s got you covered. 

Illustration showing four people hiking up a hill carrying large backpacks

Communication kit

Remote work means interpreting teammates’ facial expressions (and use of punctuation!) over chat and video conference all day long. Use the Communication kit to skillfully navigate the world of virtual human interaction—whether you’re handling a tricky conversation or leading a successful meeting. 

Illustration of a woman holding a paper cup of coffee watching a video conference on her Desktop computer

Well-being kit

Work and life are blended like never before, which means that work–life balance takes a little extra effort. Our Well-being kit offers simple tools to keep your whole self well. Learn to set better boundaries, reduce negative mental chatter, and more. 

Illustration showing a woman surrounded by foliage and planting a root vegetable

scroll Virtual First Manifesto 

The principles we’re using to guide us in virtual work:

seedlingEverything is a prototype

Our expectations around how and when we work are changing faster than ever. Thriving in this context means treating everything we build—from our culture to our products—as creative experiments. We ship to learn. And we’re only ever 1% done.

high voltageGo async by default

In a culture plagued by “presenteeism,” we stand for autonomy and focus. We save meetings for the 3d’s (discussion, debate, and decision-making). Everything else we handle over chat, email, or a doc. We care about your impact—not how many meetings you’re in.

Make (virtual) work human

We want you to do your best work virtually, no matter who you are or where you’re from. To get there, we’re building a compassionate culture that encourages well-being—and products that bring a bit more flow to your workday. 

sparklesKeep it simple 

Work doesn’t have to mean digging for files and managing app overload all day. To help you focus on what matters, we eliminate work about work. How do we do it? By keeping resources short, central, and self-serve. 

 

person jugglingDesign for joy 

We might be building enterprise software, but our work doesn’t have to feel “enterprisey.” We know that creative cultures are more inventive, so we build a little play into everything we do—whether it’s a virtual meeting or a design decision.