How to work in conditions of complete remoteness?

When the active phase of Covid-19 began two years ago, the entire ARTJOKER company was forced to go remote. In just a couple of days we adapted the basic processes of the company to the remote format. Part of the processes were moved into chats, thereby we were able to reach constant communication with the teams, and continued to work in our main project management service - “worksection”. In this mode, we were able to work effectively until the removal of the strict restrictions.

Today, with the war in Ukraine, we are again forced to work in remote format. 90% of our colleagues left for safer corners of Ukraine and Europe, because of active hostilities in our city and region from the first day of war.?

Of course, the "quarantine" experience helped us a lot in adapting to the new full remote faster. It gave us the opportunity to bring all work processes back to an active phase more quickly and immediately focus on the most important managerial blocks.?

The main recommendation when going to remote is to formulate a basic focus.?

From the moment we went into full remote, our main task was to organize the workload and get the entire team into the workflow.?

After all, only after the production process is up and running can the focus be shifted to secondary processes and tasks. For example, on the managerial blocks - team communication, quick feedback, administrative support (help with tax payments, etc.).

The main "problems" were:

? Formulate a working day and schedule so that the necessary teams work as normal;

? Load - prepare and provide specialists with the necessary amount of workload;?

? Track performance, get the necessary tasks completed and record the results;

? Training - bring back and run processes for internal training as well as roadmap execution in units.? You can't allow a workflow without training and increasing your skills over long stretches of time.

On the impact of remoting on the team and performance.

The remote work format greatly affects team spirit. Since there is no personal eye contact, no visual emotion, no shared leisure time.?

Under normal conditions, obligatory:?

? comfortable office;

? comfortable meeting rooms;

? personal meetings;

? opportunity to drink coffee or tea together;

? opportunity to listen to each other and hold each other, if necessary.

The absence of these factors makes it very difficult to maintain "human" relationships.?

Therefore, to maintain the emotional and psychological state, every week we hold events in online format: online team coffee breaks, sports challenges, lectures with psychologists, yoga classes with a coach, online team games, etc ??. Our HR team really works hard to keep the team connected.

If we talk about productivity and efficiency of work, then you can see exactly the opposite.?

Some guys are more comfortable working at home, in a co-working space or any other location and still be very efficient. And for the other group of people, the office, the office atmosphere, a lot of communication, and contact with people are still very important for effective work.

To address the "second group" issue, we regularly update the geography of our guys, based on which we look for alternative options for offices in "safe" cities.

The main lesson we learned during the remote - don't get hung up on small problems and focus on short-term strategies. Move in daily iterations with daily results and display them on the overall dashboard. As a result, it's possible to adjust those results as quickly as possible.

Are we planning on getting out of remoteness?

Yes, of course! We know how important our culture and office is to the team, where we have created a comfortable and "home" atmosphere for everyone together. So as soon as there is an opportunity to return to our headquarters, we will be ready to go back ?? But only if it is safe for our team.?

We will definitely win and we will definitely be back??

What do you think about working remotely? Was this article helpful to you? Write your opinion in the comments.