Working from Home (WFM) the new normal...

For many, this will be the first time that they have spent a significant amount of time at home, possibly surrounded by family members, kids, dogs, cats and a myriad of other conflicting pressures on time, focus and mental reserves.

Honestly, this been the occasional norm since I started providing consulting advisory services so hopefully, these self-learned 'tips and tricks' of the work-from-home life will be useful. I would like to share them in the hope that they make the day pass more smoothly, as much as it can in these crazy crazy times to help others who are embarking on a similar journey.

Hopefully, there will be some nuggets in here that can help people to ease into a WFH transition.

Headphones (are an absolute must but I would highly recommend getting a set with a built-in mute button):

At home, there are many background noises that may need a quick mute (often at very short notice). With a wife, two girls, two dogs and a cat at home, I often need quick access to a mute button. There's nothing worse than scrabbling around on conference software for the software mute.

Two-Screens:

Most probably home-working will be via a laptop so it is also prudent to invest in an extra monitor or take home a spare from work.

Mac Office Environment (2015)

Expect to be doing a lot of virtual meetings and calls so this will really help. As a vast majority of my consulting time is delivered via the web, I also need to record calls make notes in real-time so I want to keep my notes hidden from the client (when screen-sharing) so a separate screen to work on as I share my main deck is extremely useful. Having two screens also makes life much easier when running webinars and remote meetings. If on a tight budget most computers can use a spare TV as a second screen.

Keyboard and Mouse: Be sure to get a full-sized keyboard and mouse. These will be invaluable when working fulltime from a home office.

Ergonomic Desk and Chair: Where possible use a quiet room as your preferred WFM location, use a comfortable chair and desk to ensure good posture while working.

Ethernet Cable: A fixed cable is highly recommended. Don't rely on wi-fi for running webinars and virtual meetings. A fixed-line connection is far more stable, particularly when there are multiple other WiFi devices vying for bandwidth.

Presenting Slide Decks: One key thing to consider is presentation software. Products like Microsoft Powerpoint can be extremely resource-dependent and significantly slow a machine running a remote webinar. It can also do some weird stuff effectively blocking out screen real estate. We highly suggest windows users export to a PDF and present slides in a PDF viewer. Particularly if you need to hop from the presentation deck to other pages, websites, proposals, etc. It can be a nightmare going in and out of Powerpoint, a PDF is far easier to present and takes up a fraction of the memory resources.

Scanning Documents: If sketching or making notes, these obviously may also need to be shared from time to time. A couple of options that could be considered are Evernote Scannable and Turboscan which can be used on both PC and MAC.

Background Music and ambient sounds: If (like me) you find yourself getting distracted by background noise but find that drowning it out with a radio channel is also distracting, then setting a focused personal playlist in iTunes or Spotify might be a great solution that helps to keep you focused.

Makeshift Whiteboard: These are so handy, it's those static whiteboard sheets that stick to the walls and can be peeled off. If you're going to be stuck at home for several weeks, these are so useful for getting your processes and notes down onto a bigger canvas, you can take a snap with the apps lister earlier too.

Pomodoro Technique: Working from home obviously requires a lot more self-discipline, particularly with others around vying for your time. I like to use the Pomodoro Technique to manage my time and chunk up the day into 25-minute 'sprints' of focused activity and then take a 5-minute break. Works a treat. Some people recommend software products like Focus Keeper on the iPhone. There are loads of websites that also offer similar countdown clocks and timers.

Yoga and Workouts: Keeping up your personal health by doing regular workouts and yoga (from home) is also an option to the 5-minute breaks in the Pomodoro cycle. I generally try and do 2-3 a day. There are thousands of videos on how to do this and loads of smartphone apps which play background music and track progress etc. If you're in this for the long haul, you need to keep your fitness up, it also helps with the mental side a great deal too.

My name is Mike Davis and I have been managing and supporting transformational change within major corporates for over 20 years. I am a keen contributor to the digital agenda and would be very interested in supporting and advising on successfully delivering business transformation change programs. Feel free to review my LinkedIn profile and should you wish to have a brief confidential discussion, a project or program review or engagement for a bid or program delivery please do not hesitate in contacting me.

Hopefully, these are useful and at least one or two of the ideas above can make your WFH life more manageable.

Heartfelt wishes for the weeks ahead.