You’re working from home. How can you stay productive?

Creating a dedicated workspace is essential for maintaining productivity while working from home. Choose a quiet area free from distractions and equip it with the necessary tools and resources for your work. Invest in a comfortable chair and ergonomic desk setup to promote good posture and reduce physical strain. Ensure proper lighting and minimize clutter to create a conducive environment for concentration and productivity

Having your own customized workspace is always a dream for many. Are you also one of them? While working from a remote location you can successfully achieve this dream of yours. A Remote employee gets the luxury of setting up their workspace at their convenience. Setting the lighting, headsets, webcams, and their work environment as per their taste and preference helps them concentrate on their work and feel the joy of working in the way that they desire.

While working from home can be enjoyable not keeping up with the time can be harmful. Setting up proper schedules and work to-dos can help you stay productive and focused on the tasks, thus avoiding any mishaps in the project work. Defining your to-do plan and allocating time to each task can help you evaluate your skills and adaptability, thus helping you eliminate any upcoming uncertainty. Moreover, informing about your calendar availability to your peers and clients can eliminate any mishaps and conflicts of time allotted for meetings. Doing all this will help and result in increased productivity.

Allocate specific time slots for work tasks, breaks, and personal activities to maintain balance and focus throughout the day. Use tools like calendars, planners, or productivity apps to organize your schedule and set reminders for important deadlines or meetings. Stick to your routine consistently to develop productive habits and optimize your workflow.

Communication is very important in remote project management. Whether you are communicating with your team member or a client focusing on setting up a smooth hassle hassle-free communication becomes vital. Check their availability, time zone differences, etc. to build a smooth communication flow. Moreover, try to set up the right communication tools and channels to perform a hassle-free flow of messages with your team members and clients.

Communication is key to any project's success (or failure), especially in IT projects built by distributed teams. Strive for async communication to maximize productivity. Instead of that hour-long Zoom sync - ask everyone to give a written status update, so they could focus their efforts on productive work. Document extensively to mitigate the need for ad-hoc meetings and support your async workflows. Over-communicate about major decisions that affect everyone. Use the right tools & channels depending on the context and time-sensitivity, e.g. opening a Jira issue for a bug vs asking to hop on a "quick call". Last but def not least - foster a culture of transparent & direct communication where everyone can speak up their mind.

Start by establishing clear communication protocols and expectations, including preferred channels, response times, and language guidelines. Utilize collaboration tools and platforms that facilitate real-time communication, document sharing, and virtual meetings to bridge geographical barriers. Foster a culture of transparency and inclusivity, encouraging team members to express themselves openly and seek clarification when needed.

IMHO, this is the most critical point to consider when working remotely or virtually. As mentioned above, set a schedule as if you were heading into the office. This goes to the crux of maintaining your health. Wake, shower, dress as though you are "in person". Use a personal device (think iWatch) to remind you to stand, stretch and hydrate. Set a work start and end times and stick to them. From a "work" perspective, use your video camera to be seen and present. It is true when they say "out of sight, out of mind". Maintain social connections to combat feelings of isolation. Join virtual social activities. Enterprise Resource Groups or Community Volunteerism helps belonging and inclusion.

Working from home can feel isolating. While I love the flexibility, sometimes I miss the casual interactions with colleagues in the office that naturally lead to feedback and brainstorming. It can be easy to get stuck in your own head, unsure if you're on the right track. Understanding this, I always push my team to be proactive about seeking feedback. I ask them to schedule regular check-ins with their managers, not just for project updates but also to get managers’ feedback.