I was perusing StackOverflow and came across a post containing tips and suggestions for working from home from experienced remote workers. As I was reading through it, I remembered that I had a long run at working from home myself. I once worked with a partner as consultants and we did this without an office. He was usually on the road and I was usually rolling out of bed and planting myself in front of my computer.
IMPORTANT: I’m not an occupational therapist or a trained professional, this is only my opinion based on my experience.
Following their lead, I’ll start with location.
Location
I recently got a door on my office and it has made all the difference in the world. I am sure my wife doesn’t fully appreciate them because I can lock them from the inside, but for me and my concentration, they have been key. To build on what others are saying in the article, I do agree that having a different or isolated space is important. If you have to work at the kitchen table in a room with constant distractions, more power to you. Some people can, I’m not here to say it doesn’t work for you, but it doesn’t work for me.
In addition to a space, have proper lighting (I prefer natural light to artificial), room to spread out, a comfy chair, and a reliable headset for calls and to block out background noise.
Schedule
Your daily schedule should mimic what you would do if you were in the office or if your employer had business or operating hours. If being home automatically signs you up for a collection of responsibilities and you can’t hold normal business hours at home, then make arrangements with your manager so that they are aware what hours will be your most productive and which hours will probably be chopped full of kid duties or whatever may block you from being productive. Kids are a common cause for interrupted time but there are other things that may split up your day. During your productive time, mentally prepare to focus on your work – get your tasks done and move on!
Daily Routine
Having food on hand prevents you from having to spend too much time trying to figure out what you’re doing for lunch. Your home office may still be located in an area where there are lunch opportunities outside of the home that are faster than your at-home options. Again, the decision is yours. I recommend coming up with a solution that works 80% of the time by default – when you don’t have time to think about it, 80% of the time you can rely on a small list of options to meet your needs. You don’t want to be opening the fridge every day asking yourself, “What do I feel like eating today?” Personally, I’m pretty bad at answering that question myself so PB&J or cold-cuts will solve that issue 50% of the time. I also know that leftovers will answer the question 40% of the time. The other 10% of the time, I’ll take the opportunity to go for a walk and grab a burger at the corner. I have 30+ restaurants within a 1-mile radius of my home office so I have options! You may or may not.
The Great Outdoors
It’s hard to remember to get up and get out and do something so set a timer. Buy an eff timer or a piece of software that will remind you to get up! It’s important. Don’t ignore our great outdoors!
Communication
Keep it simple. I don’t like having 6 or 8 different channels for the 3 or 4 teams or groups with whom I have to communicate. Use a chat solution that will notify you if you are mentioned if the noise gets to be too much but having to check a half dozen channels every so often is, in my opinion, is more disruptive than just having three or four large channels. Once you decide on a solution, don’t hesitate to over communicate. Not every conversation needs a fly gif from gliffy – just state your purpose and move on. Not every comment requires a comment in return – just give it a thumbs up and move on. You could spend all day in Teams adding fancy responses and trying to make everybody laugh every time something is said but that gets old after a while and isn’t sustainable. Plus, it begs the question, “Do you have enough to do?”
Tools of the Remote Trade
Software selections have to be decided by, a.) your employer, or b.) your group. The selection of software that may or may not work for you is beyond the scope of this post. However, I will say that I do think that you need to invest in the following:
- a desk or desk-like surface – you’re going to regret sitting on your couch day in and day out
- proper lighting – staying in the dark is fine but eventually, you’ll want to reduce the contrast between your surroundings and your monitor – for your eyes’ sake
- proper chair – if it’s too hard, get a cushion; if it’s too soft, get lumbar support; I like “chairs” that can help build your core but you’ll want to stand, sit, work your core all in moderation
- organization – make sure you can find what you need – pencils, files, highlighters
- refreshments – if it’s coffee, invest in a solution that works for you. I like the aero press and am okay making a cup every two or three hours
- snacks – I can get by with peanuts and gum so I have a good stock of each
- screens in your window – maybe the weather is absolutely perfect some days and you want to breathe fresh air. Keep your cats in and the bugs out by making sure your screens are in good shape
- reliable computer – having to deal with equipment issues every week is a nightmare. Failing systems will cause you to miss meetings or worse, cause your colleagues to spend their time repeatedly helping your figure out if your mic is working today
- external hard drive – computers fail, back up your data
- good keyboard, mouse, and external monitor – don’t punish yourself by forcing your fingers to use the keyboard on the new Macbook – what a nightmare! Get a nice external keyboard and a second monitor…and all the dongles (thanks, @AppleCares!)