Keeping the Human Touch in Remote Work

We hope you aren’t missing your offices too much as you work from home, but here’s something for you if you are.

On that note, with the possibility that remote work could be here to stay, we’d want to succeed if it indeed does. But its success doesn’t solely lie in the tech and digital transformation strategy a company has. As past studies show, the success rate of digital transformations in companies — even digitally savvy ones — aren’t exceeding 30 per cent. So, as we transit into the remote era, we need to not only focus on the tech, but to complement it with the empowering of people.

In this issue, we survey the state of remote work, what it means to maintain human connections in a time of physical disconnection, and how to overcome its challenges.

Remote work and distributed work

In an article from Dropbox, Anthony Kosner, editorial strategist at Dropbox, highlights the nuances between remote work and what he calls the paradigm of “distributed work”.

If we were to work under this new paradigm, Kosner believes that the friction in work experience can be reduced, and a collective alignment — between the individual and the company — can be achieved.

Conversations that connect us with who we are

As mentioned, digital transformation and remote working is more than tech. And social crisis aside, why should we refuse the delicious opportunity to be stimulated, or inspired or outraged? How better do we really enjoy ourselves? These are questions explored by the poet, Helen Calcutt, in her essay about having conversations that will connect us to who we are and who we can be.

How museums sharpened their digital experience

Can self-quarantining citizens still access and enjoy art exhibitions via the web, potentially offering a vastly expanded, global audience to most museums? Here, Archinect reached out to a number of leading museums that have closed, and the responses — a mix of smooth sailing but also steep learning curves — are quite insightful.

And if you’d like to gain a deeper appreciation for art when you ever get to visit a gallery again, try signing up for one of these free courses from the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

How tech companies are supporting their communities

Amid the growing demand for digital products and services associated with a massive work-from-home transition, many tech companies have not forgotten those who are struggling right now. In this article, leaders at 100 startups and tech companies tell us how they are giving back to their local communities during this uncertain season.