Work From Anywhere, Win Everywhere – Part 1
Remote Work Hacks in less than 5 minutes
Remote work is here to stay, and for us who live outside of major tech cities, it’s the only way to earn more and learn from world-class engineers.
But here’s the catch: some people are terrible at remote work.
Why It Matters
In the past six years, I’ve had the chance to collaborate with companies worldwide and teach my teammates effective remote work.
Although I don’t have any research behind this, I nailed down the key things that if you follow, people will enjoy working with you remotely and wish you never came to their office.
Okay, this sounds weird when I write it down, but hang on!
I’m splitting these tips into two articles so they are more easily digestible and contain small tips you can apply now!
If you’re interested in any of these points in detail, let me know in the comments! I’m happy to do a deep dive and share what I did to improve my work (and life) drastically.
Here’s the first bunch:
💁♂️ Communicate Early and Often
You know you don’t communicate your progress on time when your manager asks you about it.
While in an office setting, your lead can come by, you nod at each other, give a quick update by showing progress on your laptop screen, and exchange 1.5 sentences–this is quite impossible to do remotely.
But what do I mean by communicating early? Do you have to get up early? Luckily not!
When you realize something is not going as planned and must readjust or find a better way, let people know. If you want to go on a side quest to explore another library, but that will eat up your day, let people - preferably your manager - know.
Communicating often simply means that as soon as you reach a milestone on any of these subtasks, give a small update.
No team lead or manager will ever tell you Please give fewer status updates. I am not that interested in what you’re working on.
⌚️ Have a Life - Working Hours
Work-life balance becomes critical in remote work.
But I’m not going to bore you with the importance of daily meditation, yoga, running, and HIIT – all those are important, but you already know that.
Here are the time-related caveats that come with remote work.
For most people, Dynamic work hours mean I can run errands during work.
The same people end up working all day.
That’s because not having a fixed schedule actually means they:
say yes to many optional things that happen during work hours
end up not having time outside work
have fragmented availability that might be bad for the rest of the team
They overwork without realizing it and don’t have the time to fight it–a quick recipe for burnout.
Set strict working hours, even if you work from home.
🌳 Have a Life - Environmental Design
When we work from home, the lines between our private and professional lives become blurry. We tend to work long hours throughout the day and check emails or DMs before bed because our workstations could be in our bedroom or just two steps away.
It’s important to literally “step out” from your work environment when you’re not working, teaching your mind not to bring work into your bedroom.
Make sure:
if you can afford it, set up an office room in your house or apartment
have a separate room or even a desk for work, and your private stuff
check out coworking spaces in your area
Create an office for yourself, even if you work from home.
Teach the mind that work is over when you leave that office.
Do you work remotely?
What’s the one thing that helped you become better at it?
📰 Weekly shoutout
📣 Share
There’s no easier way to help this newsletter grow than by sharing it with the world. If you liked it, found something helpful, or you know someone who knows someone to whom this could be helpful, share it:
🏆 Subscribe
Actually, there’s one easier thing you can do to grow and help grow: subscribe to this newsletter. I’ll keep putting in the work and distilling what I learn/learned as a software engineer/consultant. Simply sign up here:
Some excellent tips over here Akos!
I've personally found the working hours concept and dedicated office space to be the most useful thing during remote work. Without a strong separation in time and place of working, it can get pretty maddening.
Also, thanks for the mention!