Working Remotely is something that is going to become more common. It is important that we have the tools to continue to work from home (aka WFH) effectively and efficiently whilst also maintaining good mental health.
If you need help with your business, SSW can assist in putting the tools in place to allow your employees to continue working from home with little to no impact on their efficiency and productivity.
Figure: Check out Jason's tips on Working From Home
Need help with working remotely? Check SSW's Remote Work consulting page.
If you are spending many days working remotely, it is vital to remain in some sort of morning routine.
Some people might think that if they are working from home it’s OK to wear pyjamas or not brush their hair. However, if you change into your usual dress code, you will feel more motivated and ready to work. Also, you will show professionalism by not wearing pyjamas and attending meetings as you would if you were there in person.
It’s not always easy to stay on-flow and maintain productivity in a distracting environment. Here are 3 proven strategies to help you maintain productivity:
Many of us now have a desk job, which involves (if you don’t have a stand-up desk) a whole lot of sitting around. Couple this with an inactive lifestyle outside of work and you have a recipe for poor body and mental health.
While flexible work hours are awesome, and it’s fun to set your own schedule, most roles where you are working with a client require you to have set hours. Chopping and changing when you are available looks unprofessional, so you need to have a known routine.
Set your hours and stick to them. It’s ok to start at 7 am and finish at 4 pm, that’s fine as long as everyone knows those are you set hours (Do you set your work hours in your calendars?). Keep a routine, it will help you stay focused and others to know when you're around.
Daily Scrums are important because:
Prioritize Communication - Make yourself highly available on a number of communication channels.
A picture is worth a thousand words; and a video is worth a thousand pictures. The big communication points with clients are:
- Daily Scrums (Product Owners often don’t join)
- Done Videos
Most Scrum teams do the first 2 well but Done Videos are less common.
The de facto approach of communicating via group emails and sharing files via a patchwork of different services is difficult, with the potential for missed messages and files.
If the presenter wants to show a video, they should give remote attendees the URL to the video prior to playing.
Videos never play well over a shared screen, as there could be a delay on the internet connection.
- Do you have a morning routine?
- Do you take care of your personal appearance even for remote meetings?
- Do you know how to maintain productivity?
- Do you have an indoor exercise routine?
- Do you aim to keep your working hours consistent?
- Communication - Do you have a daily catch-up?
- Communication - Do you make yourself accessible?
- Communication - Do you send "Done Videos"?
- Communication - Do you know the options for remote meetings?
- Do you give remote attendees the URL to shared videos?
- After the meeting - Do you create action items?
- Setup - Do you have a dedicated working space?
- Setup - Do you have an ergonomic setup?
- Setup - Do you have good audio conferencing?
- Setup - Do you ensure speakers use a microphone?
- Setup - Do you test your microphone, web camera and audio before meetings?
- Do you have a nice video background?
- Setup - Do you have good lighting in your video calls?
- Do you know you should always have your camera on for clients?
- Setup - Do you use two monitors?
- Do you keep a chat window open at the side of the screen at all times?
- Do you share screens when working remotely?
- Do you know the best methods to remotely access/control a users PC?
- Do you fix bugs with a phone call?
- Do you know how to set up your workspace for video?
- Do you use the Pomodoro Technique?
- Do you know how to collaborate across time zones with minimal overlap?