Remote dailies and lonely co-working

Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

I am a digital nomad for REWE digital, this week working from თბილისი (Tbilisi Georgia).

For two months, I’ve been traveling through Ukraine, Russia, and Georgia with my family while working for a company in Cologne, Germany. In this post, I’d like to share some of my experiences in working physically separated from my team.

Spoiler alert: it’s all about planning. You need to plan ahead and organize the prerequisites upfront: know your timezone, have a good connection, and find a quiet location. And of course, keep your chat-channels open.

As a modern company, REWE digital applies agile methodologies and investigates new working forms to create value for employees and the cooperation. Remote work, home office, meet-ups, and dial-in meetings are common practices, so meet-infrastructure is available at our main office.

Mouthwatering timezones, simple but challenging

Within our teams, constant communication and short recurrent meetings are an integral part of daily work. My team is no exception to this rule, we communicate open and frequent and have several recurrent meetings like daily, weekly, review and planning.

Our daily starts at 09:30 CET, which is a good time when you are in that timezone. You had some time to start picking up yesterday’s threads, and most part of the day is still in front of you. Being in a totally different timezone, my daily starts at 12:30 GET, not problematic, but still kind of in the middle of lunchtime.

Same for that weekly afternoon meeting, 15:00–16:00 CET, perfect at dinner-time, no worries it’s only once a week… enjoy!

Photo by Alfred Rowe on Unsplash

Connectivity is amazing

Do you think you’ll have internet? Friends and colleagues frequently ask. The answer is clear and easy: YES! It’s cheaper, faster, and more stable than at home! Normal prices for a SIM with 30Gb/month are about 7€. Guaranteeing 4G in the most unconventional places like the desert, abundant villages, and all the way up the mountains.

Beyond that, every hostel, restaurant, cafe, and guesthouse has free and fast wifi. Connectivity is truly amazing.

Photo by Eric Stone on Unsplash

The place to be

What is a good place to work? It seems to me, this depends on your personal preference. To attend meetings you definitely need someplace quiet. If video is involved, try to have a wall behind you, so people do not show up from behind.

I like working in different kinds of locations, apartments, cafes, botanical gardens, and of course co-working spaces. This new form of work-space is arising in most major cities and rural areas all over the world.

Normally you can buy different time models like day-, week- or month- membership. For the duration of your membership, you’ll have a working environment with meeting-rooms, good infrastructure and (if you are lucky) ginger-tea (or coffee) to your disposal.

It is a chance to meet new people and get to know the local business scene. But on the other hand, depending on the current number of co-workers, the office can become pretty noisy.

In Tbilisi, I worked in terminal vere, a modern office with great rocking chairs. 24 hour membership will cost you 10€, so if you are watching your budget a frequent visit may soon be too expensive.

Conclusion

Working physically abroad with fluent communication is not that complicated if you keep up to a few rules. Plan your working days ahead and communicate them. Find a workspace, check the internet-connectivity (have a SIM backup) and keep an eye on the timezone-differences. As you work, keep your chat-applications open and be responsive to conversations.

If you keep to these simple rules, the members of your team will see you as an integral part and communication is independent of the miles between you.

გნახავ მალე (see you soon)

Rutger

p.s. If you’d like to see some of our traveling-photos, I invite you to have a look at our family-blog at www.welt-blick.eu