We all WFH now.

TL;DR

As you might be going through a rapid change from office life to working from home (WFH), here’s some ideas on how to approach this uncertain period and the unplanned transition to remote work.

Why are we all WFH?

About a week ago, as the news around COVID-19 intensified, the company I work for sent an internal comm suggesting people to avoid unnecessary travel and work from home (WFH) if possible. A few days later, the recommendation became a proper arrangement, de facto forcing everyone (whose role allows for it) into this new working situation.

First things first: staying at home is a social responsibility

As I mentioned the word “forced” when talking about a company’s decision to have people WFH, I immediately felt I need to clarify one important aspect. Thanks to the #coronavirus, we are going through a pandemic that cannot be easily stopped or solved at this very moment. What we can do though is slow down the spread of the virus, giving our healthcare infrastructure time to take care of all patients.

People with more knowledge and preparation than I have on the subject, thoroughly described what is necessary for all of us to do, so I won’t repeat what you can easily read following the official sources of competent authorities.

The one thing I want to remind us of is that, in a world where we are all connect like never before, every action we take has an impact on other people’s lives.

Staying at home unless absolutely necessary, as well as practicing social distancing and great health habits are the only things we can do to help and yet we can literally save lives by doing so.

If you take away one things from this blog, let this one be it.

OK then, let’s WFH!

We are all onboard that WFH is a way to help, and that’s great! The fact that we are committed to doing our part though doesn’t make the transition from office life to WFH any easier, especially if one never practiced remote work before.

My personal experience with WFH has been limited to fews consecutive days, maybe a couple weeks in a row to its fullest extent. On the other hand, I worked with as well as managed people who were fully remote and have been doing so for years, which led to gathering some insights on how to approach this change of lifestyle due to the current circumstances.

Now, for the ones who have never done remote work before, these weeks can be a challenging period and, as Alice Goldfuss pointed out, it’s ok to feel bad about it (while I’ll try to give my perspective here, I highly recommend to read her blog post on the very topic I’m talking about).

Things are going to be different: you will find challenges in being productive, focussed, energized, or simply engaged. That’s ok. Hopefully your company’s management will understand this and support you in the transition. Regardless of whether that’s the case, here’s a few things you can do to make WFH work for you.

Set the time boundaries

Many of us struggle with “switching it off” after leaving the office, continuously thinking of work-related problems to solve, sometimes even picking some work up once at home. If you do that, it will only get worse when you WFH, because there is no physical space to keep you from working long hours. This lack of a clear separation will impact your focus and productivity in the short term, and lead you towards burnout going forward.

A few things you can do to draw the line:

• define your working hours, put them in your calendar, and stick to them
• take the lunch break at the time you usually do, as much as possible cook for yourself, and spend your meal time away from your work devices
• when you’re away from our keyboard, communicate your status proactively (on Slack or whichever real-time communication tool your company used), so people don’t have to wonder whether you are available at any point in time (more on this later)

Get yourself energized

The commute to the office, as challenging as it may be sometimes, is a way to be on the move. It’s not just that you actually walk (run?) to catch that train/bus/metro, drive your car, or ride your bike (or all the above). It’s also the fact that you actually get out of the house and move, change environment, and experience different sensations on the way that kick start your day.

When WFH, you give up your commute and that’s a great thing in terms of time saving. On the other hand, you lose that natural boost that makes you ready for your daily challenges.

A few ideas of what you can try to kick off your day:

• as you wake up, open the windows and get some fresh air: CO2 accumulates over the night and the lack of oxygen leaves you mind unable to make good decisions
• make your bed right away and get the sense of achievement to start the day with
• exercise: excluding the gym for social distancing reasons these days, you can still go for a run (keeping at least a meter distance from non-family members), do some weights at home, do some yoga, or just dance in the living room!
• take a shower and get dressed, no need to stay in those pyjamas
• meditate: 5-10 mins a day will make you calmer and more focussed
• prepare yourself coffee/tea/juice and have it next to some breakfast

Note that at this point you haven’t yet opened your laptop, checked your email, and ideally even touched your smartphone (if not for using an app that helps with the above).

Throughout the day:

• take a break every hour or so: stand up and go somewhere else in the house (or even outside) for a few minutes
• as you take a break and whenever you feel thirsty, drink plenty of water
• have mid-morning and mid-afternoon (healthy) snacks: prefer fruit and veggies over chips and chocolate
• if you are not expected to do the usual 9 to 5, consider taking some time for switching off: go for a walk outside and/or take the dog out, meditate, or have a power nap

Double down on your communication efforts

As a rule of thumb, people will have a harder time telling whether you are available and it can create frustration. This is not about micro-management, and you are likely to experience the same about your colleagues. The truth is that it’s easy for everyone to go down the rabbit hole of a non-trivial problem to solve and we can hardly remember there’s a team around us that might need help or otherwise require our collaboration.

On the flip side of that, the number of interruptions will likely increase due to the fact that people can’t tell whether it’s a good time to approach you without seeing you from their desk, so they will approach at arbitrary times.

Here’s what you can do:

• Be proactive and communicate ahead that you are about to go deep into a problem that requires focus, and give an idea of what’s the next time slot when you will be available (e.g. “hey folks, I want spend some time on that issue with the CI server, I’ll give it a couple good hours and let you know how it goes”)
• Block a few spots per day (two, at least) on your calendar to reply to emails or other similar tasks where you are asked for your input (e.g. code reviews); this way you can set clear expectations on when people can expect your feedback
• Though it might seem counterintuitive, most messages in a “real-time” communication tool don’t require an immediate answer; so don’t rush to answer any messages you receive, instead set up a clear “Do Not Disturb” for a reasonable amount of time and protect your focus; if someone in your team shows clear signs of disagreement or cannot cope with it, bring this up in the next team meeting (e.g. a retrospective, a standup, or whenever your team has a chance to talk about the team itself) so together you can try and find a solution that works for the bigger group
• Be on time for meetings and keep an eye on the clock to avoid them dragging for longer than necessary; whenever possible, shrink the length of your meetings (most 60 min meetings can be done in 30 with a clear agenda set out ahead) and cancel those which are not necessary (most meetings can be an async discussion on Confluence or Google Docs)
• Take the time for 1:1s and arrange virtual group chats over coffee using your favourite video conference tool (e.g. Zoom, Slack, Hangouts); it’s important to be present and engage with your team and stakeholders more often than usual
• Switch that video on: you are not going to have much face to face contact these days, so unless your internet connection doesn’t allow it, it’s good to interact to the fullest with others and video calls are just as good as it gets
• Last but not least, make sure you check on your colleagues: this is a stressful situation and some of them might feel lonely or even depressed; sharing a friendly word, a funny meme, or an interesting article will go a long way

When it’s time, stop working

Once the work day is done, put your work stuff away and immerse yourself in an activity that has nothing to do with work for a fixed period of time.

Think of it as a replacement for your commute back. This way, you’ll add some structure to your day that will serve as a meaningful way to disconnect.

A few examples of what you can do:

• read a book (or listen to one)
• write a journal or a blog post
• listen to (or play) some music
• do some exercise (see above for ideas)
• call a relative or a friend (it might make their day as much as yours!)

The point is: disconnect.

When we don’t unplug, we don’t give time to our brain to process the amount of information we received and make sense of it all. Disconnecting properly helps us be more focussed and productive because we are not exhausted, as well as more engaged because we feel like we can work effectively.

WFH and be safe

I hope some of these ideas will stick with you and you can manage to make the most of this difficult situation. If we treat it a chance for learning, we will likely learn something from it. In that light, feel free to leave your best practices and suggestions in the comments.

More importantly, please be safe and be responsible. Yours and many other lives are on the line and it’s up to all of us as members of the global community to do our part. In the end, we are all on the same boat (I mean, planet).