Author: shanemhansen Date: 2020-03-03
Due to recent events, many people who aren’t used to working from home might be working from home. Given that I spent the previous 5 years prior to Google managing a fully remote group of people WFH now seems like a good time to share some observations of what works and typical pitfalls.
Overcommunicate. I’ve found it works well to say good morning on chat. Say when going to lunch, or leaving for the day. Work on your emoji/gif game if it’s weak.
Be proactive about turning any chat into a short video call. The great thing about wfh is you don’t have to worry about meeting room availability and you don’t have to worry about a conversation interrupting others in your open office environment.
Consider making sure your team has enough chat channels. You want to be able to have “off-topic” conversations without people worrying about cluttering up the “official” channel.
I’ve had great luck with a logitech C920.
I recommend having the camera mounted in the middle of your primary monitor. That way it feels like you’re looking at the person onscreen.
Test your audio. Make sure it’s not ridiculously loud, quiet, or full of static. You don’t want to join a meeting and waste everyone’s time messing around with settings. Don’t plug in/remove a monitor in the middle of a call. I’ve seen lots of audio setups break when hotplugging HDMI.
I recommend wearing unobtrusive headphones. I find giant over-the-ear models visually distracting. You want people to not have to think about the fact that you’re WFH. I use wired headphones so I don’t have to worry about battery levels.
Make sure your lighting is not distracting. I don’t have a nice studio or anything, but I make sure to have a lamp in front of me and to turn off the glaring light above me.
Learn shortcuts for being productive with video conference. For example: Control-D to quickly mute/unmute in hangouts.
You generally need to be more intentional. It doesn’t just happen as you wander through the MK. In non-covid-19 times I’d recommend meetups or planning lunches with other remote folks. During this time I suggest being proactive about video conferencing. Some teams will setup a long-running video call that anyone can join in and leave.
Different things work for different people. I generally try to have a room with a door that closes and a desk. Personally I find a small change of scenery can get me out of a mental rut. If you’re feeling that way, try a move to a couch or a few hours outside if the weather is nice.
Consider having an explicit conversation with your family about expectations. Even though you’re “home”, you’re working. Enjoy the ability to eat lunch with your family or say hi on a coffee break, but try to keep a firm boundary. This can be harder with kids and I don’t have any advice there. If you have a block of meetings overcommunicate and let your SO know “I’m in meetings for the next 2 hours” so they don’t wander in and ask where you want to go to lunch.
Also, think about the field of vision of your camera. Will it accidentally capture your SO walking around in sweatpants at a time when they don’t expect your coworkers to see them that way? For this reason a door that locks/closes is best.
Probably not much you can do about improving your internet quality in the short term. Hopefully you have fast internet. Also try to have multiple internet connections. For example I have home internet, and can tether to a work phone in a pinch. If you have video calls while on mobile internet, you can turn off your camera to conserve bandwidth.
One common failure mode when WFH is assuming that you have to be at your computer responding to every chat instantly or people will think your slacking. If you were in the office would you go get coffee from the break room? Leave your laptop while attending a meeting or two? Truth is in a normal office environment you might take a couple hours to get ahold of someone who sits right next to you. When WFH you do need to overcommunicate, but it’s ok to go make coffee or take a little walk or go to the gym like you would onsite.