When it came to remote work, what used to be a trend has become the usual.
Good practices for remote work
What was just a trend now is a reality for many companies and, for sure, we will learn a lot in this period. We have listed 09 tips for your team and you to practice:
#1 Reserve a space for your own:
Do you remember your desk at work? So… you will need to create a similar space in your home. Here are some important items to arrange:
- Reserve a desk, a dedicated space to use while working from home;
- A good internet connection and;
- A comfortable chair.
#2 Plan and think
Reserve the first hour of your day to plan what you are going to do along the day. Ah! Minutes before finishing your workday, question yourself: did I do all that I have planned for today? What do I need to improve on my next daily routine?
#3 Take breaks
Staying too long dedicating yourself to a very same activity can deconcentrate and tire. That is why you should take breaks every 1 hour. Remember that even in the office you drink a cup of coffee or a glass of water… This is your moment.
#4 Empathy
It may be that you send a message or call someone and that person does not respond immediately, as well, in a meeting you may hear a child talking or crying, especially in this moment of crisis when schools are closed. Use your empathy to put yourself in the other’s shoes, taking into account the delicate moment we are currently experiencing.
#5 Retrospective of Communication
Periodically gather the team in a virtual room to survey: how is the communication among those involved? Are we maintaining synergy? Are all the audio, microphone, and camera ok? I recommend asking this question initially every day, and spacing the periodicity as the team desires.
#6 Daily Meetings
It is very important to create a common agreement with your team to hold daily meetings so that everyone must attend. This interaction is essential to not lose track of the objectives.
#7 Checkpoints
Some teams feel comfortable making the daily meeting during the day and creating at least one checkpoint, in the middle or end of the day, to find out how we are facing the main goal that the team needs to achieve. I have worked in teams that had a challenging goal and used the checkpoint for a certain period.
#8 Dynamism in Retrospective Meetings
Agilist, you are one of the main responsible for maintaining everyone’s engagement in the retrospective. Look for a retrospective involving all members. From time to time, during the Rite, ask if everyone is listening and if communication is flowing. Ah! Invite another person of the team to help you with the retrospective arrangements; this will increase the engagement of the members. An important tip, if you have never done a remote retrospective with your team, remember: do the simplest dynamic first. This will be better for you to acquire more security and get feedback from the team.
#9 Even From a Distance, We Can Also Solve Problems
Do you remember that bug or that information that you need a co-worker by your side to help you solve?! Or that pair programming you need for some activity?! It is possible to do this remotely as well. Open a virtual window, through any tool that you have access, share the screen, and chat with your colleague. Remember, we are remote but not isolated from the world.
We have teams working 100% remote across the world. So believe me … it works!!! To do this, be open to the new, and always talk about what is working and what improvements need to be made.
Stay safe and see you in the next article.
Glossary
Pair programming is a software development agile technique in which two developers work together sharing the same workstation acting as the driver (writing the code) and the observer (reviewing the code lines) switching roles from time to time.
