The first thing that comes to mind for myself and all those with kids and homeschooling is flexible work hours. Not all work needs to be done during business hours, as long as the work gets done and milestones are not compromised.
What do you think? How can we create a better balance to remote working?
Totally agreed in regards to meeting deadlines. To me flexibility has been a key. When I need to spend time with family or deal with appointments, urgencies then come back to work and cover the time away is helping us a lot.
Also, having clear weekly catch-ups with the team about the priorities has been very important. Sometimes we might get dragged into tasks that by the end of a sprint became obsolete or downgraded in the priority list.
I've always been keen for full time remote work when possible, with office presence for critical meetings and deals, so, I hope the lessons we're having keep helping on better ways of working.
Cheers.
Jose
Interesting discussion! My kids now understand that Dad at home doesn't mean he is free. 😀
With work flexibility, I am able to manage family and work much better than before. However, I think work from home needs lots of discipline, otherwise, things can fall out of place pretty quickly.
Since there are no more coffee breaks, it's also important to take care of physical and mental health too - Take regular walks, drink plenty of water. :-)
IDM implementations can be stressful at times, so
Shout for help whenever needed. Use this platform to your advantage :-)
Message if you feel like talking
Use technology to help you when needed. I use Todo app to track all my tasks.
Cheers
-Mukul
@mukul totally agree with all the points. Discipline is definitely key!!
Life has become a more interesting balance with the Monday-Friday 9-5 pattern that has been corporate life based out of an office or client site. Instead there has been a big change in the degree of flexibility where you balance client meetings, work tasks and personal life too.
And with the NZ border being pretty much closed (very much so on the first day of a new lock down in NZ), there is even more of a movement to having project members around the world, split over multiple time zones and all the challenges that can bring too, like trying to avoid people scheduling meetings when it is 3.30am for someone when they naturally won't be at their best.
The biggest challenges will not be for those with extensive experience, but for those people new to a company or solution set as it is so much harder to have those three minute conversations or where you jump into a meeting room with a whiteboard to get up to speed with how something really should work.