I’ve been at school and at work, but I’ve actually had a lot of remote work in between. Telecommuting has been popular among programmers, or creative workers, for years. This outbreak has been so sudden that many people with no experience in remote work are telecommuting for the first time, so here are some of my personal experiences that I hope can help.

I think telecommuting productivity can be divided into two aspects, one is working with people, and the other is personal efficiency.

Working with people

Working remotely is not a solo endeavor. You still need to interact with people, and probably more often than you would in a company. Here are four lessons I’ve learned from my multiple telecommuting experiences:

1 Familiar with Tools

How to connect to a remote computer, how to log in to a VPN, how to use various software and so on to understand and do proficiently. The work process is cleared up completely, so as to reduce my repetitive work, save the preparation time before each communication, and ensure that the project schedule will not be stuck by the tools even if the IT colleagues are not in the situation. When you’re working remotely, people aren’t online for a set amount of time, so relying on temporary help from colleagues is not productive for either of you.

2. Proactive communication

Keep everyone updated on what you’ve done, what you’re doing, and what you’re going to do. Everything has a response, everything has a place, not only to verbal notice, it is best to form a work document of their own, the real-time progress update, let others at a glance, but also to give themselves a plan and account. Remote work is not in the company, although in the company is also to do their own things, but as long as you want to communicate can be directly enough, and the cost of remote communication is too high, so we should try to reduce the number of communication, improve the efficiency of single communication.

3 Be honest

If it’s not done, it’s not done. Don’t push it through and then secretly decide to work late at night to get it done. It is easy to fall into a vicious circle: face-saving dead shoulder -> working overtime with psychological burden -> not in a good state and not finished -> face-saving dead shoulder. Technical debt is sometimes worse than gambling debt, and you can’t afford it if you’re not careful. What’s more, this “fake completion” will seriously affect the progress of colleagues and the team. Other people think that you have done it, and then all the plans are based on what you have done. However, if you haven’t done it, it will be difficult to start over again later, which may affect all colleagues.

So it’s better to be open and admit you didn’t finish, even if it was because of a lazy stroke. In fact, not everyone’s productivity is full, so it’s normal to get stuck and not finish the work. Just admit it, and the other person may say, “I’ve had a bad day, too,” and feel happy.

4 Coordination

Arguments can happen in person, and they’re even more likely to happen when you work remotely, so compromise, compromise, and win. It is not to say that we should restrain our personality, but we should try to understand if we can understand it, because a lot of friction is caused by poor communication. It is difficult to express the tone in words, it is also difficult to perceive the expression in speech, and it is even more impossible to know the working state of the other person through these. You’re bound to have moments when you’re interrupted or not in a good mood, so put yourself in your shoes and it’s probably okay.

Their efficiency

Next talk about how to improve their efficiency, this aspect everyone has great experience, I here a simple talk about their own experience, teach a fish to swim.

Have a sense of ritual

When I work remotely, EVEN at home, I get up and change clothes or set up rituals to let my brain know I’m working, not relaxing. A sense of ritual helps you get into work.

2. Create a good office environment

Everyone has a different type of office environment, so choose what you like, not just any place. For example, I like noisy places, KFC and Starbucks, etc. I also like to write code and articles in bed. A comfortable position in the right place will get you twice the result with half the effort.

3 Cutting time

Set up your own commute time and separate your work from your life. This is an important point. If you don’t cut it out explicitly, it’s easy to waste time procrastinating. For a period of ambiguity, we tend to go through it with less effort. Only by clearly telling yourself and your family, “This is my work time, please do not disturb me,” can you ensure that you are really working. And choose your most productive hours as your working hours. Maybe you work 8 hours in 2 hours and leave early.

4 Close social software

As I’m sure you all know, it’s fun to work without your phone.

The tail

In fact, I did a vlog on this topic, but I was too ashamed to be on camera and nervous like myself, so I’ll write it down. Just a little bit of experience. I hope it works. Finally, there are some remote work related books and links. If you are interested, please browse:

  • The book of God: Do-Over 2
  • China Telecommuting Information: github.com/greatghoul/…
  • Best telecommuting community in the country: E-duck Community – a gathering place for Internet workers
  • How to find a remote job for $80 an hour

Link: geekplux.com/2020/02/18/…