A GUIDE TO WORKING REMOTELY: Home Office

Navigating Challenges and Ways to Effective Work at Home

What sounds like a very nice and interesting opportunity for everyone to ideally accomplish your work tasks in an environment you like, may turn out to be a frustrating matter: you may start to procrastinate, one works siloed, or has problems to self-motivate.

People who have been travelling, like consultants, sales executives, etc. are often under “home quarantine” and cannot do anything else but working from home, the plane, train, hotel room, or Starbucks. However, if you have never done this before, or only very rarely, then there are many dangers involved when working from home.

This guide should give you some orientation on how to structure and organize home-office best, and will also explain a bit why it can be difficult to be disciplined at home.

I.             Why self-organisation matters

The famous British sociologist C. Northcote Parkinson researched in the 1950s why some people are able to accomplish the same task in a different amount of time than others. His example was the following: an elderly lady who takes half a day to send a postcard to her niece (postcard selection, search for glasses and address, text constitution, decision whether to take an umbrella with her on the way to the mailbox). The contrast is provided by the busy man who completes the same task at his desk in three minutes. How can that happen? It seems that work does not expand in time by its complexity. Therefore he followed:

 “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.”

(known as “Parkinson’s Law”, 1955)

Why work expands to the amount of time we have in order to accomplish it, depends on a lot of different aspects, e.g. whether we have a monochronic or polychronic understanding of time, as the anthropologist Edward T. Hall (1959) stated. He assumed that people with a monochronic understanding can better than others accomplishing one task after the other, they can focus better, are accountable for their work, orientate their work on routines, plans, structures and methodologies, whereas people with a polychronic understanding are better in multi-tasking, potentially communicating, dealing with uncertainty. One thing should be mentioned here: We should not make the mistake and trying to put our colleagues in different boxes. Monochronic behavior can be learned, and being in Home-Office requests some monochronic tendencies from us :). 

II.           What does self-organization mean? 

At the strategic level, self-organization involves the development of time-related strategies that are to be implemented at the operational level by means of concrete measures. Therefore, methods are to be applied that systematize time management:

1. Determine the tasks to be performed: First, all tasks to be completed by a certain date are catalogued.
2. Plan the length (duration) of time required for this.
3. Consider buffer times: For unexpected job stoppers and malfunctions, time reserves should be planned in. These are free time windows considered in the schedule, in which no other tasks have to be completed.
4. Decide on priorities: the catalogued tasks are to be prioritized with regard to their importance and urgency. A good tool to do this for oneself is the well-known Eisenhower-Matrix (see below).
5. Perform a follow-up check: A target/actual check after the work result or at the end of working hours ensures whether and to what extent time management has worked.

III.         Principles of self-organization when working remote

1.    Keep your routines: as mentioned above, working remotely sounds intriguing but very often, only after a couple of days, we realize that it can be pretty annoying: we are detached from the office grapevine, we can not solve problems too quickly since we are alone and potentially can’t gather all of the needed colleagues immediately (we do not see them, they are not responding to your calls; no one knows when they will be back). Additionally, we do not have this clear separation from office life (getting ready, dressing, taking the metro/car/taxi) to work and our private life, how we are celebrating it on the weekends / public holidays and vacation days. Keep here also your routines.

Lifehacks to keep / adapt your routines:

• Get up at the same time
• Get ready as if you would go to the office (clothing!), this will give you a different feeling, sense of professionalism and will help you to embrace your role at home
• Separate leisure spaces at home from work spaces. If you are not used to work from home, because you never worked as a traveling sales executive, or as a consultant, you may not be able to perform on the sofa, or in bed. It’s recommended to decide for fixed workplace at home (either a desk, or the main dining table)
• Create your workspace: decide for the right chair, monitor, infrastructure, etc.
•  Find the ideal spot at home: you may not be at every place at home productive
• Do not start your work later, just because you are at home. Since you do not need to commute, you can even start earlier.
• This also means, that you need to plan your workday: when does it start, and when does it end

2.    Reduce your tasks (and for managers: delegate): A core competence within self-organization is to take care only of the most important things (see Eisenhower Matrix) and either delegate the less important things to other people or not to do them at the same time, since polychronic behavior (I.) may not help. Delegating, however, requires trust in your people, and the ability of them to not misuse the trust.

Lifehacks for your tasks:

• Prioritize your daily tasks in the morning, e.g. with the Eisenhower-Matrix
• You can also think about a Kanban-Board (digitally, or even a poster), if it helps you to get a better overview

3.    Create daily schedules: daily schedules will force you to structure your daily routine, to reserve time slots for certain activities and to plan for time reserves. The goal of a daily schedule is to have a complete list of your activities planned for that day without leaving the workplace later than planned. To achieve this, it is necessary to realistically estimate the time required for all activities, and it is recommended that 20% of the working time be kept free as a reserve. This time reserve is not to be used for recreation, meals or the like - it is only there to absorb unplanned events and delays.

For daily plans, both your individual daily performance curve and the priorities must be taken into account. You may tend to postpone unpleasant or difficult tasks and do the least demanding tasks first; while the easier tasks can be completed even when the mind is tired and tends to be distracted in the late afternoon, the difficult tasks you should complete most quickly when performance is still high enough in the morning; this will also boost your motivation for the day.

Lifehacks to create daily schedules:

• Plan 60% for planned activities, 20% for spontaneous request and 20% as a buffer.
• Use Outlook Calendar / iCal to structure your day, and if you have the feeling that this may not help because its “hidden” in the software print it
• Mark finished tasks as accomplished – this will increase your motivation along the day

 4.    Avoid distractions: various blogs point out that interruptions (e.g. any kind of push notification, let it be whatsapp, VK, IG, FB, Tinder J, i-Messages, as well as e-mails and telephone calls) disrupt the flow of work, so that you have to get back into the context of the activity you actually intended. One technique is to hold a "silent hour" in the morning, in which all external influences are eliminated (by putting your phone to the flight / or night mode), or to use existing undisturbed time windows

Distractions - may remotely of course - also occur when you are taking care of your children, or when working together remotely. Try, as good as possible to agree with your husband/boyfriend and wife/girlfriend on slots where you need your time. You can also use artefacts or symbols to support your needs, such as closing the door, a paper-hanger at the door (do not disturb). There are also some fun gadgets available, like this “Busylight”.

However, distractions also include meetings. On the one hand, they are necessary, but on the other hand, the topics of the meetings do very often fit into one e-mail and do not always affect everyone’s presence, thus rob working time. Meetings should therefore always be announced with a list of topics and a timetable (more likely shorter, than longer; better plan a follow-up), this is very important. Especially when working remote, you should always give feedback to a meeting invitation, to either accept, or decline (with a reason, or suggestion!) to avoid inefficiencies. When working at home, the chance that you randomly meet a colleague within the day at the floors of the office is low. Therefore, communicate clearly and user-centered. A meeting request is a request, which asks you to act: accept, or decline (with a reason).

Lifehacks to avoid distraction:

• Make use of silent hours, when your phone is off or in flight-mode
• Communicate appointments / calls with your colleagues early and upfront so that your colleagues can plan their days efficiently
• Find a good working spot at home, and discuss with your family your work routine; make use of symbols, and artefacts (see the pictures)
• Clearly separate private and work-related tasks (food cooking and shopping vs specific tasks, which may have a dependency to your colleagues)

5.    Subdivide tasks in order to stay focused: longer activities can be divided into smaller, manageable steps for which the time required can be reliably estimated. The progress of the work can also be observed more closely; feedback to superiors, colleagues and customers is therefore more reliable.

We also suggest to think about breaking tasks into short blocks with subsequent breaks. Francesco Cirillo developed in the late 1980s a concept for that: the Pomodoro Principle, which is a concept of timeboxing. The idea is technically that you divide you always work for 25 mins, and you are structuring your tasks along these 25 mins slots. After each 25 mins, you are making a short break of 5 minutes, these 25 mins, followed by a 5 mins break is called “Pomodoro”. After 4 Pomodori, you should make a longer break of 15-20 mins. 

An important goal of the technique is to reduce internal (digressions) as well as external (telephone, e-mail) interruptions. These interruptions can be written down for later processing and analysis.

Another advantage is the timeboxing of the task, which should reduce the internal resistance. Especially large tasks are often not gladly tackled due to their size. The fixed time frame of 25 minutes is intended to enable a start or continuous progress. 

The name Pomodoro for this principles originates by the way from Cirillo himself who used a tomate-shaped kitchen-timer in the 1980s to find the ideal time.

Lifehacks to stay focused:

• Consider installing an app or browser extension on your phone or computer to keep you away from time-wasting apps and websites. Apps like StayFocusd (https://www.stayfocusd.com/) and Strict Workflow (https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/stayfocusd/laankejkbhbdhmipfmgcngdelahlfoji?hl=en) are great for keeping you on task.
• If you affected by an additional information which needs your attention and is not super-urgent, write it down on a list.

6.    Overcommunicate: as mentioned briefly above, being at home means not only that you are disconnect from the office grapevine, but also do not have the ability to see whether your colleagues are around, whether they are occupied; you do not get a feeling for the mood of them, or of your boss. You also can not quickly solve problems since you do not see whether her coat is still close to her desk, you also do not know whether she is around anymore or not. His or her colleagues may also not give you a brief information, whether she or he will be back soon, if you can not reach him or her via phone. Therefore, it is important that you are now overcommunicating in order to actively show people that you seek to connect and to pass on information.

Lifehacks to communicate remotely:

• Be reliable and accountable: plan interaction in advance; respect silent hours of your colleagues
• Answer to every e-mail, e.g. “I am on it”, or “I will come back to you”, even better: “I am on it. I will be send you the preliminarily results today around 4pm”, or “I will come back to you, please give me time until Friday, April 24th, 1pm”. With this additional information, your colleague gets a feedback, that he read your mail or request, plus he gives you a clear feedback you can integrate into your daily schedule. Never forget “as soon as possible” is not a solid answer, it’s insolence.
• Make use of corporate systems to share your knowledge and deliverables, such as confluence, Jira, etc.
• Test the infrastructure you need in order to communicate with your team
• Make sure that all your devices or charged, when they are not connected with the cord.
• Especially when you are not at home, make sure that your devices have enough battery to make scheduled calls, be reachable, or take your charger.
• Also make sure that you know how to access meetings when you are on the go. If a conferencing tool is being setup, it would be not helpful, if you call the organizer on WhatsApp or vice versa.

7.    Managing Remote Teams: Managing teams remotely is strongly connected to the aspects we mentioned above. However, more than usual, you need to make sure that you communicate clear, direct (emotions can not be seen; there are less chances to ask, if things are unclear), and manage the expectations right.

Lifehacks to manage teams remotely:

• Start the day with an online meet-up where you share your plans and to-do list for the day (15 mins, call-in; the iPhone is offering a conference mode with up to five people), or a virtual morning coffee, via Zoom/Skype or others (see below)
• Remember to provide quick status updates to your team via email or messenger 
• At the end of the day update task status in Trello or other app that your team uses for tracking work in progress. Take advantage of multiple forms of communication, such as email, chat programs like Slack, your phone, or video calling programs such as Skype or Zoom.
• Focus on outcomes, not on activities.
• Resource your teams: Remove any technological or organizational hurdles so that the team can work most effectively
• Staying in touch can also help working from home feel less lonely and isolating.

8.    Reflect: Take the time at the end of each day for 10 minutes and think what went well and what not. Here it is not too important, since you are only doing it for yourself, that you are boasting about your results, but moreover how you felt within the day. Try to get a feeling whether you are emotionally satisfied or not; try to make a list, what went well, and what did not went too well. Ask yourself especially what you would have needed in order to feel better. This is an opportunity to address your needs to your colleagues / family or management.

Lifehacks to reflect:

• Taking care of your own motivation and professionalism is a very important aspect, people like to skip, since it is not related to your performance review. However, we strongly recommend to dedicate time, as a fixed routine for this. 

Two hygiene factors:

• Take into account that your hard working colleagues may see your private Instagram account and get see what you did the whole day ;-)
• Schedule your sport routine (due to Covid-19) potentially at home. There are some great resources and apps (such as Freeletics.com) how to stay fit in times of quarantine.

IV.         Tool-Landscape (and make sure that your local IT supports it!)

Communikation:

• Slack-Team communication https://slack.com/
• Hangout Chat: https://hangouts.google.com/
• WhatsApp

 Video-Communikation:

• Hangout: https://hangouts.google.com/
• TeamViewer: https://www.teamviewer.com/de/
• Zoom: https://zoom.us/
• Skype (Business): https://www.skype.com/de/business/
• Facetime (built-in)

 Collaboration:

• Meistertask: https://www.meistertask.com/de
• Mindmeister: https://www.mindmeister.com/de
• Todoist: https://todoist.com/
• Asana: https://asana.com/de
• Trello: https://trello.com/de
• Confluence: https://www.confluence.com

 Time Tracking:

• Toggl: https://toggl.com/
• Meistertask: https://www.meistertask.com/de

 To-Do/Note-Management:

• Evernote: https://evernote.com/
• Google Notes: https://keep.google.com/u/0/
• One-Note: https://products.office.com/de-at/one...

All of these tips and suggestions, are of course suggestions to increase your awareness of working remotely.

What are your tipps?