remote work

tips.md

• get a really good chair
• get a standing desk
• get a standing desk mat
• do a stand up in the morning by yourself (what am i going to focus on today)
• do a debrief at the end of the day (what did i do)
• stop working at the end of the day and relax
• stop working and have breaks for meals
• write everything down
• turn off or uninstall email/slack from your phone
• take leave
• go for walks
• go work in cafes/libraries
• work in other people's offices
• do production deployments from a plane, in a tree, on a train
• have a few backup options for network connectivity

• Have a gym membership and commit to either a group class or regular sessions with a PT. Not moving is very common
• I very much agree that uninstalling email and slack from your phone is a great thing (but I only went as far as email)
• Having a pet is very nice
• Communicating with significant others that although you're at home, you're still working is a challenge at times. I struggle with the expectations of 'why didn't you do it, you've been home all day' frustrating
• Prepare food in advance and measure out portions to avoid grazing / overeating. Keep an eye on your weight and avoid 'scope creep'

• Facebook is not the truth, find other sources of information.

• A separate dedicated space in your home dedicated to work is killer if you can manage it. Bonus points if it has a closable door.
• A proper headset for calls (I use a Jabra UC Voice 550)
• Change up where you work. At least once a week.
• I align my work day to where the rest of my team are. It's a pain to wake up earlier but the benefit is worth it, plus I get to finish early.
• Have a Slack or Telegram or Smoke signal group of friends on a similar timezone that you can shoot the shiz with. Otherwise podcasts can help make you feel like you're hearing people talk.
• I like to see my team's faces everyday in our daily stand up video call.

• Remember to say hi to your team at the start of the day
• and bye at the end :)
• Automate as many of these things as possible - manually remembering things is hard, but setting alarms/calendar events is easy.

• Don't let friends or family assume you're available because you work from home; You do not own all the errands or chores, you're not always available to help with things, you (probably) can't take last-minute long lunches.
• Buy some art for your workspace.
• Keep your workspace clean so you're not tempted to clean instead of working.

via @alisterscott - https://watirmelon.blog/2017/05/08/the-future-of-testing-is-distributed/

• Find community outside of work
• Hiking/Toastmasters/School Parents
• Daily Goal
• Document decisions and move on