How to work remotely

The reasons many people struggle to be as productive from home or a remote office are wide and varied. Having a dedicated workspace, keeping to a routine and staying motivated when surrounded by umpteen potential distractions are just some of the reasons people struggle to fully embrace remote working.

When I started at Asana, I was lucky enough to be the first person in the region. However, the challenge of being physically remote from my co-workers for three months whilst we built a team provided challenges I wasn't anticipating.

For me personally, I thrive around the buzz and interactivity of an open office environment. Therefore, what I actually found to be the biggest challenge was the lack of interaction and ability to engage with co-workers, whether it be to bounce ideas off or simply have a quick conversation around what they got up to on the weekend.

To combat this, having the ability to collaborate via different channels and methods became critically important. I use the word collaborate here specifically, because as Simon Ashton pointed out in a recent article:

"Often we use communication and collaboration interchangeably, yet it is important to understand that they are fundamentally very different."

One critical collaboration tool I've used for years is Slack. This is my go to for "water cooler" chat and allows me to feel personally engaged in a wide range of topics from sport to politics and everything in between all whilst building up important relationships.

Using Asana changed my world from hoping people would respond to random emails and messages to driving huge complex bodies of work across geographically dispersed locations and timezones. The ability to know who is doing what and by when, replaced me constantly polling people across the office for updates and the ongoing requirement for time consuming meetings.

For those times where written asynchronous conversations need a little more nuance and subtlety, Zoom and the interactivity of experience allowed me converse in a way that is critical to human social interaction and our desire to talk to others.

Of course, other tools are necessary for work, whether it be your CRM, LinkedIn, mobile, old fashioned email or the latest app, but for me these three are by far the most critically important software tools to being able to work remotely.

Feel free to let me know of other tools, tips and tricks to help stay connected!

Reference: Quote from: https://www.trainingjournal.com/articles/opinion/does-technology-help-or-hinder-communication-workplace