How We Stay Connected Remotely
We might all be living in a 50-kilometer radius from each other, but we haven’t been in the same room together for months now.
We’re a digital agency with a team of 15 developers, designers, and business people. Our team has adapted pretty well to the global WFH change. Just like how we work, how we stay in touch has evolved, too!
Today I will share the things we do and the tools we use to keep learning from each other, and staying in touch!
Coffee time with Donut
Donut is a Slack add-on that randomly pairs people, and helps schedule a time for them to meet. During this time, we chat about anything and everything! Using this app, we remove the hassle of having to schedule these times for ourselves. It keeps us in the habit of having an informal chat with each other, at least once a week.
This pairing is optional, but most of our team usually participates.
You can customize Donut’s settings: we choose to have a weekly pairing, with people getting matched in groups of 2 to 3.
Pair Programming
When we used to work in the office, our developers were doing these sessions of pair programming organically, from time to time. Moving to a remote environment, we had to make sure these moments are recreated somehow!
The pair programming session is an opportunity for developers to share what they work on. They get paired randomly every week, thanks to a script they wrote (similar to the Donut add-on). It’s an opportunity to share what they are working on. It’s also a time to learn more about everyone’s ways of working, especially for problem-solving!
Design Fireside Chat
This is our newest thing, organized by our designers, for people interested in design.
The format is informal: At the beginning of the hour, we do a “roundtable” and everyone says if they want to talk about a topic in particular today.
There is no restriction on what and how we talk about a design topic: sometimes we demo something, go through an article and debate, or just show something beautiful to the group!
We have gained some actionable outcomes from it, too. Thanks to one recent conversation, we decided to review and improve our engagement process with our clients.
Share & Tell
On Friday afternoons, one of us gives a talk to the group. We initiated this as a “Code Share & Tell”, and have now expanded to serve the whole agency on topics of design, project or product management, productivity, and more.
As a result, anything that relates to our industry goes! It has multiple benefits for the team: the speaker gets to practice their presentation skills, get feedback on their topic of choice, and everyone learns something new!
For releasing pressure — Shell Shockers
Right after our weekly Share & Tell, we stay on the Google Meet, and create a private game for our team. Free for all. We blow our steam accumulated through the week, and we’re ready to start the weekend with a clear mind!
