Staying Sane While Working Remotely
- 1. Staying Sane While Working Remotely Presented by Caitie Skaggs, Very Good Assistance
- 2. Discussion Points - Acceptance - Personal Strategies - Managing a Remote Team - Tools I Like
- 4. ACCEPTANCE Working from home does not come naturally or easily to a lot of people. We are conditioned to believe and act as though valuable work happens at a certain pace, within certain hours, and can be measured by our presence. Productivity is going to look and feel different — and that's OK!
- 5. Take breaks Set your schedule Personal Strategies 1 2 Create a protected work space 3 Reach out to your network to combat social isolation 4 Maintain Your Health and Wellbeing
- 7. Take breaks Set your schedule Personal Strategies 1 2 Create a protected work space 3 Reach out to your network to combat social isolation 4 Maintain Your Health and Wellbeing
- 8. Assess your hardware and home Internet situation Time management techniques Personal Strategies 1 2 Guiding Productivity Reach out to your network - see what's been working for them 4 Keep track of your wins5 Think long-term6 Manage expectations3
- 9. Tools & Techniques Focus on your tasks and manage your distractions well. 1 Choose a task, set timer for 25 minutes and work on the task. When time is up, take a 5 minute break. After 4 pomodoros, reward yourself with a longer break The Pomodoro Technique 2 Plant a seed, which will grow into a tree after 30 minutes of productivity without using blacklisted sites. Concentrate on your work and share your tree with friends. Forest App/Chrome Extension 3 Virtual Coworking helps you get things done. Participate in 50-minute session where you have video chat with your partner about what you intend to do, then do it quietly together. At the end of the session, you recap what you've done together. FocusMate
- 10. Assess your hardware and home Internet situation Time management techniques Personal Strategies 1 2 Guiding Productivity Reach out to your network - see what's been working for them 4 Keep track of your wins5 Think long-term6 Manage expectations3
- 12. Assess your hardware and home Internet situation Time management techniques Personal Strategies 1 2 Guiding Productivity Reach out to your network - see what's been working for them 4 Keep track of your wins5 Think long-term6 Manage expectations3
- 13. This is a time of forced introspection Take this time to think about how you can improve your processes. How can you improve your workflows?
- 14. Managing A Remote Team Setting clear communication standards Set clear productivitiy standards Ensure employees have tools and resources they need Set aside consistent times for check-ins Be open to changing and evolving your remote work plan
- 15. Communication Tools Are you over zoom calls yet? Many companies are already using/paying for this. You can use google chat/hangouts right in your gmail tab Video calls up to 25 participants GOOGLE CHAT/HANGOUTS ( G-SUITE) 3 Free or $8/user/month if you also want to use it for voice/video calls up to 15 people. Bonus points for being able to communicate with clients, contractors, freelancers outside of your organization. SLACK 2 If your organization allows you to see employees calendars, have them keep these up so projects don't slip. KEEP UP WITH TASKS AND CALENDARS 1 Free until 4/21/2020 due to COVID-19. $12.50/user/mo after that with an annual commitment MICROSOFT TEAMS (OFFICE 365) 4
- 16. Managing A Remote Team Setting clear communication standards Set clear productivitiy standards Ensure employees have tools and resources they need Set aside consistent times for check-ins Be open to changing and evolving your remote work plan
- 17. Productive time Time Spent At One's Desk
- 18. Managing A Remote Team Setting clear communication standards Set clear productivitiy standards Ensure employees have tools and resources they need Set aside consistent times for check-ins Be open to changing and evolving your remote work plan
- 19. Tools of the Trade Access to your company's software programs, relevant files, etc. Adequate space, hardware, infrastructure. Some tasks simply cannot be done remotely -- this is where acceptance comes in, for now.
- 20. Managing A Remote Team Setting clear communication standards Set clear productivitiy standards Ensure employees have tools and resources they need Set aside consistent times for check-ins Be open to changing and evolving your remote work plan
- 22. Check-ins Check in with team as a whole Roll call to see who's here Encourage use of headphones & mute button Check in with individuals Be respectful of people's time by having a clear agenda Seek input of team members on what's working and what's not
- 23. Be open to changing your remote work plan.
- 24. Tool/App Roundup These are tools I like that might help you Free database tool. Good templates, can be used for project management. AIRTABLE◦ Project/task management tool. Free or $12.50/mo. TRELLO◦ Project management. Free or $9/mo/user. I like the time tracking and invoicing features. TEAMWORK◦ Text, voice, video communication tool. Free or $8/user/mo SLACK◦ Suite of cloud-based productivity tools. Includes communication tools discussed before. Free or $12/user/mo G-SUITE◦ Suite of cloud-based productivity tools. Includes communication tools discussed before. Free until 4/21/2020 . Starts at $5/user/mo OFFICE 365◦ Virtual coworking community. Free 3 sessions a week or unlimited $5/mo FOCUSMATE◦ Social productivity encouragement FOREST APP/CHROME EXTENSION◦ Popular video conferencing tools. SKYPE, ZOOM, GO TO MEETING◦
- 25. Use this time to ask questions, commiserate, or share strategies or tools that have been working for you. Share what's been working for you. CHIME IN!
- 26. Keep in touch! Contact me if you need help strategizing or troubleshooting your plan. Need an operations/workflow overhaul? Just need extra hands to get everything done? Contact me for a free consultation Caitie Skaggs caitie@verygoodassistance.com (210) 405-8887