Work from Home, or become Extinct
Darwinism has its deep roots in our modern day capitalist economy. In fact, contrary to what many people think, “survival of the fittest” was a theory made public by English philosopher and notorious Social Capitalist, Herbert Spencer, seven years before Darwin published the “Origins of Species”.
Our habits, norms, and the way we operate, often take decades to change. A disruptive event like the COVID-19 pandemic works like a time machine that fast-forwards the economic natural selection process, leaving less time for businesses to either adapt, or die.
As many countries made the tough lockdown decision, a major factor of a business fitness is its ability to operate remotely.
For many companies, work from home is a second nature, but for the vast majority of companies, it’s just a fantasy. A 2020 report shows that 93% of employers in the USA don’t even offer a work from home option. If you are one of these companies, this new reality is probably the economy’s last and final call for you to pivot swiftly before it feeds you to other more adaptive companies.
Love it or hate it, remote work is the new norm.
The technology department at Alef Education has always been flexible in terms of work location and hours. The moment we decided to work exclusively from home we were already all set in terms of mindset, tools and even certain practices (such as online stand up meetings). This article started off as an internal guide for fellow employees not so familiar with the new norms. Some friends suggested the tips here can help others create a smooth transition to work from home beyond Alef Education.
Start with the basics, setup a home workplace
- It does not have to be a dedicated room, a corner in the least active room is good enough. Your bed is not an option (we’ll discuss why later).
- You don’t have to spend $10k on your setup to be ergonomically friendly, just follow these basic tips on your dining table, and you’re good to go.
- It doesn’t have to be all singing and dancing. Stick to the same peripherals you had at the office.
Get into the “Work” mindset
One of the (few) advantages of working from an office, is the sharp line you can draw between work and home. This line becomes blurry when home and work are the same physical place. Here are few tips to make this distinction:
- If there are any rituals that you do before you come to the office, stick to them. This will get you in the right mindset. For example, workout, take your daily shower, pray, make your coffee… etc.
- Smarten up. Yep, you read that right. Not only that you’ll look better at your next video conference, but it turns out this has a positive impact on your productivity! This doesn’t mean that you need to be all suited up, but don’t stay in your PJs. Smart casual is more than enough.
Dress up and make your coffee before you start work
Decide on “Core Hours”
- Agree with people you work closely with on your core hours. Core hours are bound by a start no later than and finish no earlier than times.
- Stick to asynchronous communication during non-core hours. That is Emails or messaging. Don’t expect the other party to get back to you immediately. Synchronous communication outside core hours such as phone calls and video conferences are a big no-no.
Follow the “General Meeting Etiquette”
If you are the organizer
- Think twice before organizing a meeting. For many, meetings are Maslow’s Golden Hammer of communication. There are many other means of communication that may be either more suitable or less costly than a meeting.
- Schedule your meetings 1+ day(s) ahead.
- Agree on the meeting tool and send a link to the meeting in the invite. Most tools support this feature.
Dave didn’t schedule the meeting, didn’t test his mic and wasted Northwind’s precious time checking whether he’s audible. Don’t be like Dave the Octopus.
If you are an attendee
- Turn on your camera (unless it’s a presentation or a large meeting). Voice conversation covers a small percentage of what we are able to communicate face to face. A big part of your body language and hand gestures can be communicated if you open your camera. That’s one more reason you need to smarten up.
- Let others know if you need to step out for something urgent. Leave it in the chat box as to not interrupt others.
- If you got a new mic/speaker, please test them before the meeting.
- Always mute when not talking, no matter how quiet your place is. The opening of a noisy door in the background can be captured in the mic and cause disruption. Know the keyboard shortcut and get into the habit of muting the moment you’re done.
- Do not interrupt. We know how smart the idea you’re about to say is, but what’s the point if no one will understand. Zip it until your colleague is done!
- If something unexpected happens, don’t panic. We totally understand if your daughter appeared or your husband was singing in the background.
Don’t Panic if life happens during a meeting, we have lives too!
Plan with your team daily — We call this a standup
It’s about time that you get yourself familiar with some Agile rituals. One of the most powerful tools to plan for your day and keep everyone updated with what others are working on is a daily standup.
- Stick to the General Meeting Etiquette (see above).
- Literally Standup. There’s a good reason for that.
- Go in a round-robin, answer the standup 3 questions: a) what did you do yesterday, b) what are you planning to do today and c) are there any blockers.
- As a rule of thumb, don’t spend more than 2 minutes per person.
- If there’s a big timezone difference, try using a bot such as Polly to answer the standup 3 questions.
Use The Right Tool
From each tool according to its ability to each scenario according to its needs. Using the wrong tool for the wrong scenario could literally be a recipe for a disaster. Here are some clues to help you decide what tool to use in which scenario:
1. Informational Depth
The amount of information you can articulate in a verbal conversation is very different from that you can express in an IM message. Deeper tools encourage more structured thoughts to be expressed. Using a shallow tool (such as texting or even a phone call) to explain why you should pivot your business model is a waste of time. A vision document on Google docs, a decision log on a confluence wiki or en email summarizing the corporate’s annual report are great examples of utilizing deep means of communication.
2. Synchronousness
A tool is synchronous if the all parties are “present” and have to communicate in real-time. An example of that is a phone call or a meeting. This option is very costly and yet it is overused — avoid unless necessary.
3. Nonverbal Communication Capacity
Words comprise a part of our communication. In certain circumstances, this part is only 7%! The rest is communicated through other means such as voice tone, and body language. Accordingly, the nonverbal capacity of an Email is very low, using such a tool to talk about a sensitive matter that could be misunderstood is just naïve. An interactive instant messaging tool, with the ability to express emotions in the form of Emojis is a better option. At the end of this spectrum is tools that communicate your voice tone and body language such as a video call with both cameras on.
Once you get this, you need to agree with your team on 1 and only 1 tool for each of the following areas:
- Tracking tool. Back in the good ol’ days, you used to ask your colleague about the task in hand every time you run into him. Now that you’re working from home, you don’t want to call him 3 times a day, just use some tracking tool. The most popular tools used in Alef Education are: Trello and JIRA.
- Instant Messaging tool. Here at Alef Education, we mainly use Slack and sometimes WhatsApp
- Video Conferencing (VoIP) tool. Although not the most polished VoIP tool out there, Google Meet is by far the most convenient. If you’re using GSuite for work, a Google Meet meeting will automatically be created by default on your Google Calendar events. For attendees, no account required and all you need is a browser.
- Whiteboarding Tool. An Agile Coach once told me that the most effective way to communicate with someone is face to face in front of whiteboard. Thanks to technology, you can now achieve similar results while being thousands of miles away! We at Alef Education use Miro, and I have to say that I’ve never seen a tool that is actually better than a real whiteboard except for Miro! Another tool I came across is Mural which I haven’t tried yet, but it seems to be super cool as well.
More Tips for Managers
- Make sure you have your own charter. Agree on the core hours, communication tools, tracking tools, standup times… etc.
- Trust your people. The people you have hired and worked with for the past months and years are still the same people. If they’re goofing around at home, they were goofing around at the office and vice versa. (More on this in the amazing book on remote work, Remote).
- Do not micro-manage. Well, this is applicable whether you work remotely. But it becomes super annoying now that you have to tell everyone the next step they need to take in a remote call or .
- Respect your team’s core hours. If you need something from your team outside working hours, use an asynchronous communication tool (Slack or Email) and make sure to say that I don’t need this to be done tonight.
Keep time to love, laugh and live*
Working from home does not make home a “more relaxed” office. One of the reasons you need a dedicated place for work in your house, is to keep home, well, home.
Take it Easy
- I know how hard it is for a workaholic like you to disconnect. But you need to find a sustainable routine. Working 12 hours every single day makes you more prone to losing it, and more importantly losing your family.
- Setup a daily do not disturb notification schedule on your mobile from work communications such as email, Slack and WhatsApp after work, say for example at 7pm till 8am, to help you switch off and be focused and fresh for the next working day.
- If you feel stressed, don’t wait until you burn out, talk to your friends, your manager or to the HR about it. Karoshi is actually a thing.
(dis)Connect with Others
For some, the office, was the only socialization hub. Try to bridge this socialization gap by:
- Make some time available for friends and family whether in your household or remotely.
- Arrange for a tea break in the middle of the day.
- Organize a group “lunch and learn” sessions.
- Spend 5 minutes at the end of the meeting to hangout with your colleagues.
- Arrange virtual fun activities (e.g. Group Game).
Invest more in “You”
Reading up and keeping up to date on all your Social Media channels on what’s going on and keeping in touch with people can be stressful and intense at times especially if you are under curfew. Take time to find a little “me” time away from all of it to switch off:
- Digital Detox for one or two evenings a week.
- Work out. While at the office, you had all sorts of lame excuses, but now, what’s your excuse for not spending 5 minutes of jumping jacks 3 times a day? I personally tried rope skipping, pull ups, pushups and planks while being very active in meetings. In fact it helped me stay focused through long meetups.
- Eat junk if you want to have a messed up mood, bad immunity, low stamina and if you want to die early. Otherwise, if you have a retirement plan, Eat healthy.
- Take breaks during work. It may seem very tempting to go to the kitchen every 2 hours and grab a snack. You are not hungry, you just need a break. Just take one!
So what does your typical work from home day look like? Have a good remote work tool you’ve been using? Why not share it with us? We love trying out new tools and learning how we can make our work lives more effective.
* Apparently, the “Love, Live and Laugh” phrase finds its roots in Bessie-Anderson’s Success poet.
