My Remote Working Experience - Conclusion

My five week trip is coming to an end. I'll be back within days and whilst I know what lays ahead is going to be tough, I've managed to unwind my creative core whilst being here, ready for the year. In my previous post (below), I discuss the importance of being "connected" to your working life back home. What I failed to mention is that one should plan smaller trips just like you would back home. Expand your reach and make some lasting memories. I managed to steal a weekend away in the Eastern Karoo to see an old friend who's running a sheep farm. During which, I constantly thought about being connected and could I continue my work here. People who live in super remote locations, that have web access, don't use it in the same way we would. They are fixated to the real world, real dangers, life and death stuff. Certainly opened my eyes and pushed my fear boundaries to the limits. I came to the realisation that working in that remote location would have proven very difficult. The raw unhinged wilderness, despite decent broadband, captured all of my senses to the point of exhaustion. Compensated, of course, by very fresh produce and the affection from an adopted Meerkat.

No doubt I will do a follow up in the coming weeks as I readjust to old surroundings, but for now... here is the full version of my previous remote working experience piece.

Posted on Feb 2, 2015

I’m approaching this post like a school child would having to admit that their homework wasn’t complete: the dog ate it, or the goldfish died and I really liked that silly fish. I completely anticipated the fact that writing regular posts was not going to happen and I promised myself that I would only write when I had something to say. Not just write for the sake of writing…. I’d have to do some work at some point.

OK, that junk out the way. Moving on:

For more than 18 months now, I’ve had the feeling that working from a single geographical location was somehow alien. Humans, at their core, are nomadic, moving from place to place, following food, resources or members of the opposite sex. Many of us, myself included, have settled down and grown roots in one place, pinned for whatever reasons: family, work, a mortgage, laziness or whatever. In my process of rationalizing these core traits I began to think about my own occupation and how could I “design” it in such a way that my location was no longer an issue. This would allow my family and I free reign over this globe, allowing us to experience things we wouldn’t normally have done. As in previous posts, you would have noticed that I’ve packed in my 9-5 desk job and begun a new adventure that is designed to achieve just that. I’m seven months (or so) into this new venture that has allowed me to: continue my design work which I love, design and manufacture my own products to sell and free up my mind to realise the more important things that drive us.

Right now, I find myself in the middle of a five week stay in Cape Town, in the village where I grew up, 100 yards from the beach. Part of the conditions I’d set for myself before coming here was that I continue working as I would in the UK. A perfect scenario to practice what I’ve been burning my brain out with for over a year.

Here are the six things I’ve found to be the most important:

Location
If you’re planning this like a holiday, then you’re in control of where you want to spend your time. Where can you feel that you can be the most productive. Considerations should be made on what season you’re landing in and the local political situation etc. You’re going to struggle if you choose somewhere that’s prone to hurricanes and the occasional revolution thrown in for kicks. For me, it was a choice between my dads house, in the burbs or at my brothers house, at the beach where I grew up from being a small boy. Tough choice. I do however have a great view of the sea from the Mac

Equipment
As with all designers, you really get to know the machines you use to complete your tasks. You know what it can tolerate and what will kill it. Due to me not being a fan of laptops, I couldn’t bring my 29 inch Mac on the plane. Fortunately my brother has a similar machine here that he happily installed all my favorite software on. It’s served me well these past two weeks and I’ve been doing some pretty heavy design work with minimal lag. As for the peripheral stuff, iPhone, iPad and a local phone for local folk should be a standard. Don’t forget to bring the chargers…. and an adapter (Jamie didn’t bring adapters).

Communication
Now this topic is a major concern for many because not being “connected” is the source of so much anxiety in todays working environment. Safe to say that most developed counties have adequate networks in place to maintain a connection to base. If being connected is critical to your working setup, then choose wisely, do the research and have a back up plan. One thing I have noticed, being here, is that the UK is spoilt for broadband speeds. Back home I hardly notice any lagging in downloads or video calls etc. It’s only when you’re somewhere that has slower speeds that you begin to appreciate the networks back home. Moving around, I found it easier (and cheaper) to turn off roaming on my iPhone and buy a local data SIM for my iPad. Tethering the two has allowed me to stay connected when being out and about.

Apps
We’ve got so much choice nowadays and I must mention that I”m no authority on Microsoft, Android or Google devices. My equipment of choice is and always has been Apple. Currently using Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger, FaceTime, Skype and good old fashioned emails. If you’re an O2 customer, there is a handy, undiscovered, app for the iPad called TuGo. It’s a clever little thing that allows you to register your mobile number and creates a virtual mobile in the UK. All local UK calls, texts and voicemail gets pushed over the net to your location. You can make calls too as if you’re still in the UK. It’s actually pretty awesome and almost negates having a mobile phone altogether, but don’t tell them I told you. As long as you have wifi or dat on the iPad, you can make and receive calls. By using all these different methods, I’ve reduced my cost of being connected to roughly ￡20.

For making and receiving calls local to where you are, I would suggest finding the cheapest phone and plan as possible. If you have no-one local to call…happy days.

Transport
If you’re like me, not having transport is a pain. You’ve all been on holiday. You’ve all hired cars. You know how this works.

Distractions
Working back home, I often find it hard to “turn-off” at the end of the day. Working abroad, I’ve found it hard to “turn-on” work mode due to the new and exciting things that capture my gaze. The lure of the sunshine and vistas over the sea from my Mac are too tempting. In a house where there are usually 3 adults, 4 kids, 3 cats, a canary and a Great Dane called Bobby, I usually gravitate towards work when the house is quiet. Much like now. The humans are at Church, canary (Burt) and Bobby are in the conservatory and the cats are outside either terrorising a lizard, catching frogs or mating on the roof directly over my bed. I can generally get about 4 hours of meaningful work done a day. Concentrating the time like that allows for maximum output whilst I correspond continuously throughout the day as I have clients in 4 different timezones.

The trick is to be kind to yourself. Get out of your experience what you wanted but don’t lose sight of what you need to do. My work had definitely improved and the valuable head space, I desperately lacked, has allowed me to look further forward than I’ve been able to previously.

I’d love to hear your experiences doing the same. Feel free to email me: jamie(at)pickledspider(dot)com or send me a Whatsapp, Facebook message or Skype message.

Peace out, the pool awaits.

Jamie
Pickled Spider