How to be a great remote worker & remote advocate

Working remotely brings a lot of flexibility to the workday. It also provides a lot of new challenges that can become difficult or even overbearing if we don't learn to navigate them. Even more, these challenges become worse when we begin the transition from "fully remote" to "partially remote". As someone who has worked remotely for over two years now, Byron Delpinal will provide the tips and tricks he's learned the hard way on how to be successful working at home, as well as how to become a great remote advocate when folks start returning to the office to ensure you can create and maintain a remote-friendly culture going forward.

Transcript

1. BYRON DELPINAL Tips & Tricks on Navigating Remote Life and Fostering a Lasting Remote-Friendly Culture at Your Office HOW TO BE A GREAT REMOTE WORKER & REMOTE ADVOCATE
2. Working remotely during a pandemic is not the same as being a remote worker. DISCLAIMER:
3. REMOTE WORK BEST PRACTICES
4. - Provide constant text and status updates. - Insist on video calls as much as possible. - Non-verbal communication is lost when you rely on a phone in the middle of the room. - Utilize Slack/Teams statuses. - Set your Google/Outlook working hours. - Communicate when you're working odd hours (unless you're normalizing the concept of working constant 12-hour days). 1. OVER-COMMUNICATE
5. - Morning: Establish a routing that gets you into "work mode". Suggestions: - Shower and get dressed. - Cook breakfast. - Go for a walk and listen to your morning podcast/radio show. - Breaks: Actually unplug. - Shutdown: Establish a routine that gets you out of "work mode". Suggestions: - Write something (e.g., gratitude journal, peer feedback, blog). - Establish your to-do list for tomorrow morning. 2. ESTABLISH A ROUTINE
6. - Don't forget to eat snacks/lunch and drink water. - Be intentional about moving around. Suggestions: - Go for a walk and let people know - this encourages others and normalizes the concept of taking a break. - Dance to music. - Do laundry. - Take advantage of being at home. Suggestions: - Cook a nice hot lunch for yourself. - Take a nap. - Spend time with family. 3. TAKE BREAKS - CARE FOR YOURSELF
7. - Suggestions: - Plants (real or fake) - Colors that spark joy - Family photos - Comfortable chair - Laptop stand (Roost) - Your favorite pens and notebook - Anything else you need to be productive 4. LOVE YOUR WORKSPACE
8. There are a lot of tools that allow collaboration to thrive virtually. For example: 5. DON'T LET YOURSELF BE LIMITED Task Management: - Trello - Asana - Jira - Basecamp Communication: - Zoom - Microsoft Teams - Slack Collaboration: - Google Drive - Miro
9. - Set boundaries with your family so that you can focus when you need to. - Communicate your meeting schedule to your family. - Respect other people's boundaries. 6. SET BOUNDARIES WITH YOUR HOUSEHOLD
10. - Set your Google/Outlook working hours and stick to them. Suggestions: - Shutdown your computer when you're finished working for the day. - Encourage others to stick to their working hours. - Establish your workspace and only use it for work. 7. SET BOUNDARIES WITH WORK
11. CREATING & MAINTAINING A REMOTE-FRIENDLY CULTURE
13. SOCIAL DISTANCING: HERE TO STAY Fully-remote and fully-distributed is easy. Semi-distributed is very difficult.
14. REMOTE ADVOCACY: IN THE OFFICE X - This person is responsible for: - Monitoring the chat and asking questions. - Asking throughout the meeting for input from people on the phone. - Ensuring that meeting collaboration is remote-friendly. - Limiting side conversations. Establish a point person for meetings.
15. REMOTE ADVOCACY: IN THE OFFICE Treat all meetings as virtual. - Make it a practice to schedule a virtual component for every meeting, regardless of if everyone plans to attend in person. - Enables people to have flexibility to join from home or their desk.
16. REMOTE ADVOCACY: IN THE OFFICE Use more written communication. - Have less meetings and more written communication. - Ensures points get across clearly. - Allows for more broad feedback. - Recap decisions after meetings and water cooler conversations. - Have a place to keep track of decisions.
17. REMOTE ADVOCACY: FOR EVERYONE Be humans together. - Suggestions: - Remote happy hours - Water cooler Zoom calls - Coffee break calls - Donut (software) - Human check-ins - Fun facts - KYT (Know Your Team) - Virtual Background Theme Days
18. REMOTE ADVOCACY: IN THE OFFICE Keep the fun. Being remote-friendly doesn't mean you can't celebrate in person. It just means that you make an effort to celebrate remote folks differently.
19. REMOTE ADVOCACY: FOR EVERYONE Trust each other. - Trust people to get their work done. - Gauge people on tasks completed, not hours worked.
20. THANK YOU!
21. - Tips For Working Remotely – From Someone Who Learned The Hard Way - Remote: Office Not Required, by Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson - It Doesn't Have To Be Crazy At Work, by Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson - Zapier's Guide to Working Remotely - GitLab's Remote Playbook - Better Allies: Everyday Actions to Create Inclusive, Engaging Workplaces, by Karen Catlin RESOURCES
22. Q&A Ask me anything!
23. SUCCESS STORIES Share your success!