Working Remote Tips

End your day at a reasonable time based on what you need to accomplish for the day.

Take a break after work- don't immediately start working on other projects.

When you have decided to finish working, close your laptop or whatever is the focus medium for your work. Create some boundaries around your day.

Transitioning in and out of work mode can be difficult. Set times and stick to them. It makes it easier if you have a routine such as exercising before or after work. Having a separate dedicated space can help as well.

Note times when you will be away from the "office" during regular business hours (vacation, appointments, etc.) - this makes it easier for people to know whether or not to ping you via Slack or wait to ask until a certain date/time

Take a break for lunch. Possibly see about creating a routine to do this around the same time. This will allow you to take breaks and great consistency with work (whatever it may be)

Meal prep to give you the opportunity for easy meals during your work day and create variety and some healthy options.

https://www.forestapp.cc 

https://hbr.org/2020/04/3-tips-to-avoid-wfh-burnout 

https://www.healthline.com/health/working-from-home-tips 

https://time.com/5801725/work-from-home-remote-tips/ 

When in doubt, communicate what you're thinking about. It's easy not to communicate because inaction is always easier than action. It's always important, but more so when you aren't in the same office as someone, since they may lack the context you have, to send an email or message, just giving someone a heads up. If you're not sure about something, err on the side of talking to someone (e.g., Hey, can we chat for 15 minutes about X?) Often a quick chat is enough to help you figure out a solution, or what to do next.

Don't assume someone is aware of something you are aware of. We tend to think others have the same context we do.

Provide more details than you think are maybe necessary. When communicating asynchronously you can't see someone become confused.

When working remotely it can be easy for each person to get what they want, and communication might only occur if something goes wrong. It's important to let the other person know that something they did or worked on was helpful to you. Over time people learn how to be more helpful to each other automatically. It's kind of like training a dog but only letting them know when they did something bad.

When you send someone a message and have to wait for a reply, instead of getting it immediately when face to face, it can be easy to assume the other person is ignoring you. They aren't.

Assume best intentions. This is generally a good philosophy for life.

It can be challenging to re-learn to communicate entirely without body language. You won't necessarily be able to tell that someone is having a bad day in the way that you would have in person.

Ask to hop on a call. In the office, it's easy to pull someone aside and it feels less formal. When everyone will be on a call, however, it will tend to feel more like a formal meeting. Consciously work against that by asking if you could hop on a call for a few minutes to talk through something you're working on.

Don't be afraid to ask for what you need (e.g., people to speak up in a meeting). It helps to have advocates that you can talk to (e.g., Hey, do mind making sure people do X?)

One of the hardest parts of working remotely if feeling like you have context. Talking to different people to get different viewpoints helps fill in the gaps.

Find a way to communicate regularly with your team (e.g., a daily status email). When people sit close to each other they often take for granted that they know what their teammates are working on as this information is conveyed in passing. When you work remotely you need to be deliberate about collecting this information.

When you have the opportunity, volunteer to write any summary emails as it means everyone with information will come to you.

Turn off alerts for anything that can be on your screen. This will save you from any distraction (email, Slack chats, the shopping you were in the middle of doing) that the laptop provides- distractions that probably aren't there when you are physically in a room with someone.

During the meeting, mute when you aren't talking. Background noise, coughs, and typing are not only distracting, but because of audio ducking, make it a lot harder to hear those who are talking. You can also try an app that allows you to use 'push-to-talk' functionality, like Shush for Mac. https://krisp.ai/ does a great job of filtering background noise if you're in a loud environment.

The inherent latency in video conferencing systems can make it hard to inject yourself into the conversation at the right moment, or cause people to talk over each other. This can be remedied with a technique you learned in grade school- raise your hand when you want to talk. It can feel a little awkward sitting there with your hand up in front of your laptop, but you'll get used to it.

If there are opportunities in large meetings for you to act as a moderator/facilitator, do so. It's a great role for remote employees to play because it places them square in the attention of the group when they might otherwise be forgotten in the background.

One of the biggest improvements you can make to your on-camera presence that doesn't require any special equipment is good lighting. When positioning yourself, try to remove or block any bright backlights (such as a window), and if you find that your face is still too dark on-screen, a desk lamp can help quite a bit. Additionally, it really helps your video presence to place the camera close to the top of the screen, directly facing you so you can at least give the appearance of paying full attention to your colleagues.