As much as the Product Guru gang enjoys office chats and sharing ideas over coffee (and sometimes, ok, always cake), we’re working from home at the moment. Because our platform is cloud-based, it’s something we’re used to doing so we thought it could be useful to share some of our tips for working from home, if it’s not the norm for you. Here’s what a few members of the team had to say:
Keep super focused. To help you achieve what you set out to, have a clear plan so that you don’t drift from one thing to another.
Where possible, plan your environment. It's different for everyone but sitting on the sofa in front of the TV while you’re trying to work is probably not effective for most people. If you can, have a space to work, without distractions.
If you don’t work well with too many interruptions, close your email inbox for part of the day. Set regular times to check your messages. Find what works for you.
Use web-based technology to make your life as easy as possible and to let you get on with growing your business, even when you can’t be in the office.
If you’re used to starting your day at the office at 9am, do the same at home. Treat your day like a workday. Get up, get showered, get dressed… don’t sit in your pyjamas all day.
Set up communications channels to stay in touch with your team and colleagues. There are lots of ways you can do this- think about a Whatsapp group, using Slack- an online collaboration space or, Microsoft Teams- another online space for chatting, collaboration and video calls.
Keep your workspace tidy. Tidy desk = tidy mind.
Carve out your days. Have a plan for starting and ending the working day, arrange video calling with your team, decide when you’ll be focusing solely on that piece of work you really need to finalise and also make sure you plan for a break for a quick coffee or for lunch.
During your working hours, turn off personal notifications. All the notifications will still be there when you stop for a break. If somebody really needs to speak to you, they’ll call.
Think about when you’re usually most productive and plan around that. Early bird? Get your teeth into that big project first thing when you’re feeling sharp.
Make sure that people you share your home with know that working from home, doesn’t mean you’re home… so you won’t be making lunches, tidying up or running errands while you’re working.
Be sure to take care of yourself when you’re working from home. Get up, move around, stretch, get fresh air, rock out to your favourite song… whatever helps you take a break for a couple of minutes.
Anything we’ve missed? Let us know. As always, get in touch with us through our platform or our social media channels and take a look through our blog for some inspiration.