Saturday, March 28, 2020

Pandemic 2020: Work from home practices

Team Practices

  • Have daily calls with your team

  • Meetings towards the start and end of normal working hours encourages the team maintain similar timings 

  • Over-communicate in initial stages to make sure there is clarity

  • It is always good to ask the person on the other side of the line if they can talk when you call. Or better still, fix times for calls as far as possible.

  • Utilize technology for better communications. Video calls work well. Screen sharing helps.

  • Get to know your team members 'environment and see how best they can be helped. Sometimes even listening helps.

  • Create some lighter moments through virtual games, general discussions or sharing some interesting thoughts. It can just be a short 15 minute exercise when possible. We as a team share an interesting thought by rotation everyday. The other day we played a 15minute virtual hangman, it was enjoyed by all.

  •  Have detailed discussions with subteams and encourage team members to work in subgroups and continue discussions within them.

  • It helps when team members self declare productivity. They add their key tasks and productivity percentage everyday. Enter yours as well in the same folder. In the beginning, reminders for calls and entering tasks may be required

  • Above all, trust them, they won't suddenly change due to work from home. Similar time taken for similar tasks also prove the same.


Individual practices


  • Maintain the same working hours as far as possible

  • Have more calls

  • Keep buffer for setting up

  • Keep a fixed workspace

  • Take regular short breaks. Tea, lunch, a short walk even in the house or light exercises

  • Find ways to make it more fun

  • Keep some time without calls, when you can just focus on the task at hand 

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