How to Work Effectively on the Road
Lessons learned from being overly communicative to buying a Jetpack
Every Tuesday through my funemployment, I publish a blog post as part of my self-guided learning program . This week, Sawyer Hollenshead asked me to write about travel tips.
One of the privileges of being a digital designer is our ability to work from anywhere, as long as we have our laptop and Internet. In practice, though, working remotely isn’t that simple.
If there isn’t a company policy on working remotely, gaining trust from your colleagues can be challenging. If you long to work from idyllic locations, getting wifi can be an issue. Not to mention the headache of finding work-friendly spaces in a new city or country.
Over the past few years, I’ve been lucky enough to spend as many as three months of the year working remotely from cities and islands in the world. My playbook to work effectively when you are remote comes with two parts. The first part is about things you have control over — your schedule and output. The second part is about logistics — tips on flights, coworking spaces and getting online.
Part 1. Being accountable before, during and after the trip
Like the first priority on any flight is safety, the first priority of any work remote journey is to make sure your colleagues feel taken care of.
Since every company has their own philosophy about working remotely, it’s uncommon that your plan to work remotely will meet some skepticism. So to take care of your colleagues means to build the trust with your team, and you build trust by being accountable before, during and after the trip.
Before the trip
- Tell your team, manager and reports that you will be working remotely at least two weeks in advance. The longer the trip, the more advanced the notice.
- Send an email outlines your work plan. When will you be online? In case of spotty wifi, how can they get in touch with you? What tasks do you expect to finish, and what are the known risks while you’re away? How to give you feedback, if not having you in the office is hindering the team?
During the trip
- Stick to the schedule that you’ve agreed upon with the team.
- Post lunch or afk status.
- Summarize what you’ve accomplished over Slack or email at the end of the day. Even if you’ve individually talked to every person on the team, over-communicating publicly when you’re away can never hurt.
- Find a quiet place for video chats. It’s not fun to have to listen to other people’s chatter or the background music of the cafe when you’re on the other end of line.
After the trip
- Solicit feedback from your team, manager and reports. What went well for them? What could be better? Any surprises?
- Sum up what you’ve accomplished, and any learnings during the trip. It could be a summary of your daily summaries. And share it with a broader group of people, so other teams can learn from your experience.
Developing the habit of over-communicating while you work remotely helps everyone on the team understand how to best work with you when you aren’t physically present. And don’t forget to iron out the kinks over a number of shorter trips, before carrying out a full-week one.
Lastly, lead by example. If you want the company to adopt and embrace the remote culture more widely, show your team how successfully it can be done.
Part 2. Taking care of the logistics
You can be a skilled communicator with the best intentions, and still fail to be accountable during your trip due to a number of things that you don’t have control over: flight delays, poor internet connection, or lack of a comfortable working space. These are lessons learned the hard way.
Book the first flight out the day.
As tempting as it is to finish a whole day of work and then leave for the airport, I’ve had much better flying experience if I leave early in the morning.
The most obvious plus is the traffic. To catch a 7am flight out of JFK, I have to leave at around 5am. Roads are clear, traffic is light, and Uber fares are the cheapest. The less apparent benefit to book the first flight out is that the weather condition tends to be better, especially when I want to catch some powder out West in the winter months. And in case of weather-related delay or cancellation, I have a lot more departures to choose from later in the day.
Ideally, I like to leave on a weekend day so I can settle into a new city or country before the work week starts.
Use Croissant and Public Libraries for workspace.
If I’m going to a major city for a couple of days, I use Croissant to find workspaces on the go. In smaller cities or the country, the public libraries are always a good bet for free wifi and big desks.
Ask for speed test results in work-ready Airbnbs.
For longer trips, it is cheaper to have my home be the primary workspace. I use this “For work trips” filter to find homes that are equipped with wifi and a workspace. But to make sure there is solid wifi, I always ask my hosts to do a speed test before booking the Airbnb.
Consider a Jetpack for backup Internet.
For more rugged a.k.a scenic locations, I’d like to have a backup internet solution. The Verizon Jetpack is does the job nicely, and there are many other options out there when you’re ready to go down this path.
Working effectively while traveling is a practice. It’s a commitment to go the extra mile to over-communicate, spend the day flying, pay for Croissant and other coworking spaces, ask Airbnb hosts for speed tests and buy the Jetpack.
But the reward is beyond worthwhile. It’s the experience of finishing the work day and walking out into a brand new city. It’s the handshakes with new friends. It’s the perspective that the world out there is so much bigger than I know, and there’s so much more to see. It’s the dots connecting when I look backwards.
That’s it on travel for today. Until next week! ✈️
Follow Back and Forth as I journal through my funemployment every Tuesday. AMA @kuanluo.
