As pointed out by Didem, we at ThreeFold have a lot of experience with remote working. Now, many in the world are heading in a similar direction in the short term, with potential long-term implications.
Let’s share some of our own knowledge here to then be able to communicate it with others who can benefit from it.
I’ll start:
Remote working of course has its hurdles and I still believe that today nothing totally replaces being in-person with others. That said, it has countless advantages and because of technology, it can be just as productive as being together.
Video conferencing is a savior but can be a big time suck / distraction. That said, even in-person meetings can and usually are the same. So, the same rules apply for video meetings. Say hello, then keep them short and focused. Agendas help. Set the meeting for half as long as you think you’ll need.
Our team also tries to book an hour every couple of days to open our video conferencing and work together while on mute. People can ask questions as they have them or the call can be silent the whole time. Just nice to replicate the feeling of being together, without having it open all day & being too wasteful on bandwidth. It works for us, but it might not work for everyone.
We should make the zoom alternative made by threefold available to everyone ASAP!
I believe this initiative was paused due to prioritization, as we needed resources for other more urgent solutions. But for sure decentralized video conferencing is needed.
As some of you might know I have 4 kids with ages between 4 and 15 years, I have taped a red paper to a green paper, so red one side and green the other side. It is standing on my desk, when I am in a meeting or when I don’t want to be disturbed it is red, otherwise it is green, so they know when they can ask me a question.
Introducing this soon!
@joris thank you for this! It’s not always easy to work from home with (especially young) kids, so I will definitely introduce this.
What I learned as a mom of a 4y old, is that it’s not realistic not to take more breaks when working from home as a parent. So I usually work for 45 minutes, and then close my laptop for about 10min to play together. Then I start working again. Kids also understand a lot more than we think, so whenever I start a meeting I explain to her that I will answer her questions as soon as the meeting is over.
Wether you’re a parent or not, it’s also important to go for a walk once in a while and get some fresh air when working from home. Helps the creativity and keeps you sane 
One of the main things I tend to do when working from home, is dance with my kids.
When they visit my office for a little #dadtime and I’m not in a call I unplug my headphones, and I put on some silly, funky, or even hard music to dance to with my kids. Helps me get my heart rate up a bit, gets the blood flowing, and most importantly connect with my children even if just for a minute. Almost like a cup of coffee without caffeine, but full of “the Carlton”.
Lots of good advice for parents! Love it.
A really important element of remote working is making sure everyone stays productive. The way we approach this is having teams (circles) collaborate on a kanban (scheduling system) where stories for each week are laid out, members of the team take ownership, and move their stories from “new” to “done.” Each morning, the team spends 5-10 minutes to update the rest on what they are working on and if there are any blockages. It’s a super approach.
Happy to show this tool / way of working to anybody who is interested.
Mine will run away as fast as they can - but then again they are teenagers and everything that Dad does is not cool and therefore daft. Enjoy it while you can!
Hey Guys, Would like to share some of the lessons I learned while working remotely for more than 2 years, Living and traveling around China/Asia, and living out of Crypto.
It took me some time to learn and discipline myself, but one simple thing that really changed my performance throughout these years is to literally put a timer for every task on a daily basis, and set up daily goals every morning and weekly goals every Sunday evening. It helps you be fast and effective.
VPN at all times
Whenever you would feel getting tired or loosing focus, get up of your chair, and do as many push-ups as you can, it really helps get your energy pumping again.
Go Take a walk alone, whenever you can, listen to music, and just daydream/brainstorm, and get your positive vibes flooding your mind and body.
Maintain constant communication with your team and colleagues
Empty your mind, and meditate before you sleep
Thanks for all the updates. Really helpful. We in Vienna are in shutdown since a bit more then 3 weeks and all pray to see a Light at the End of the tunnel soon.
I have prepared an article for my Blog which I would love to share here upfront.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1w9IEsqi0PYImKIUVnGwC2FB_cHU9BVnG8eFwZXtrBX0/edit?usp=sharing
Hope you like it, #staysafe Big Hugs, Gregor
Most things are in my daily routine, just have to fit in the endless push ups. I like a midday jog!
Continuing the discussion from Remote Working & How Best To Do It:
Hello all, I dont knowif I am now posying in the forum, hope yes.it has been a challenge to adopt to the new state of living in many regards; I should first say that I feel for parents with kids now at home rather than school. The life has tremendously changed for them with kids to entertain, meals to cook and continue working remotely at home. I feel very blessed, first and foremost of all for being healthy and my loved ones being safe and sound. Plus being with my son is a treasure. And that I have been working remotely for the past few years , with now very established discipline for that. What worked for me during these days is to 1. Avoid looking at news except before dinner and whatsapp group conversations that are mostly about COVID19, some sad some funny some (a very little sum) informative. 2. Ramped up Indoor exercising - in addition to early morning yoga, I bought a ballet bar and returned to my old days practicing 3 days a week religiously (last time I performed was back in the 80s :)), 3. Limited online grocery shopping to 2 days/week in order to avoid disinfecting and opening bags all the time so I have a meal planning thing going, pretty cool, 4. To decrease interruptions of cooking, I cook on Sundays and wednesday nights for the week, 5. Video Calling only limited to work, my parents and a couple of buddies to really lower the additional screen time during lock down, 6. In addition to morning meditation, doing the echart tolle way a few times a day just being in the now seems to help with self motivation as I hear my son saying why are you so high all the time:), and last but not the least is music and live flowers; love to all, stay safe and healthy
Another one I am implementing more and more is “if you get up, you get fit”.
I put a 20kg or 28kg kettlebell (weight) in my office. And everytime I need to get up for: a coffee, lunch, break,… I do 3 x 3 exercises on left and right. Some days it even motivates you to stay in your chair 