Remote Work Survival Guide: Boost Productivity & Balance – Part 1

OK so unless you’ve been living completely off-grid these past few months then you will be aware that it is highly likely you’ll be getting to work from home in the foreseeable future. However, your working from home experience is also highly likely to have mixed results, depending upon the collaboration tools and corporate infrastructure provided. This post is one in a series on how you can get the most out of this situation, which will hopefully help pave the way for a more flexible way of working, once the current situation has passed.

If your company has already moved to a fully cloud-based solution such as Teams and Office365 then you are home and dry. Here everything, files, programs, data, tools and everything else you’ll need are in the cloud. So long as you have an internet connection, whether at home, on the train, in the coffee shop then you can log in and work as you normally do, which means its business as usual.

One of the key requirements for any cloud-based solution is connectivity. Most of us will be at home, either using our home broadband connection or mobile phone hotspot. In most cases, remote working won’t have the same challenges as working over the internal corporate, MPLS-based network. When working from home, your connection is direct via the internet, avoiding the corporate firewalls, DNS servers, breakout point and any geographical tenant-related latency. Having a direct connection means you may actually experience better performance at home (unless your home connection is super slow) than you might be used to in the office.

However, you may find that even though you are running a cloud-based collaboration tool, some of your key data and programs may still be stored on file servers or internal file shares. Access to these may only be via a VPN connection and you will need a token (hard token that looks like a key fob or a soft token an app on your smartphone) to help authenticate during login. Although secure, this can be cumbersome but you can work around this. The simplest way is to move your key files to OneDrive (other corporate recommended cloud-based storage solution) either using your file manager or company email. Depending on how long you are required to work away from the office, then you may find more and more of your files and data stored in the cloud.

Some of you will realise that your office environment is still run internally by the IT department in company-owned on-premise data centres. This is the least preferred situation. You will be required to access via VPN and your working experience will be tolerable but not the most productive.

Luckily all is not lost. If you find yourself in this situation, most of the cloud-based collaboration tool providers are offering time-limited access to their products. Microsoft and Google are the latest to offer this. Worst case is you sign up as an individual and in some cases download an App or Browser Applet. This means you can still collaborate however the experience will not be as seamless as running a fully cloud-based solution, as sharing company data may not be as easy, supported or allowed. But it is better than the alternative.

The next challenge depends upon how successful the collaboration tool adoption (often referred to as rollout) program has been. Most users I’ve spoken with tell me they could be more productive if they knew how to use the tools better. So assuming this to be true for you, click on the “Getting Started” guide (Teams or Google). Having familiarised yourself with the overview, you should buddy up with a colleague and try out some of the features to build up some confidence operating the tool, setting up meetings, sharing the intended screen or program, test recordings etc. This saves the time and embarrassment (and perhaps loss of reputation) when doing it for real with a valuable customer, important sales opportunity or larger audience.

Most of these tools have specific features which will enhance or minimise distractions. These may include background blurring (handy if you’ve left clothes hanging from the picture rail or have small children on the loose) and recording so other colleagues can catch up with the meetings they weren’t able to attend. You should also set up a Team or Google Hangout to share hints and tips as well as provide an informal support network. It is good practice to have a “Frequently Asked Questions” (FAQ) section, an “Need to Know”  (N2K) section to pin important information, a “News” section for up-to-date and late-breaking information such as when we can return to the office,  as well as other, specific areas such application, customer or specific interest information eg Meetings, Data Sharing etc. This means everyone has access to the same information, rather than trying to figure it out themselves.

One of the challenges working remotely is missing out on the informal interactions, jokes, stories and banter that supports the real office environment. You do not want to lose this, but at the same time, you don’t want this informal chatter to clog up the work areas. So why not create a channel, team or hangout called “WaterCooler” where such informal communication can take place. You could even set up a video conference every lunchtime and host a virtual lunchroom.     

Well that should be enough to get you busy and start working but remember your keyboard and mobile phone probably have more bacteria than your toilet seat, so remember to clean them regularly too. In my next post, I’ll share some ideas on how to make remote working more productive and hopefully you’ll become as resourceful and effective as Kevin, rather than the other two dudes!!!

Connect with Mark Sweeney (Director of Professional Services)