Many bosses believe that working from home is not a job, but in the end, they were put against the wall by the situation in our country and in the world. The home office has suddenly become an expression changed by all cases. So how do you live in this situation?

Contrary to what may seem, working from home is not so easy. Quite recently, moreover, I already wrote about it in the Home office light and shadows. Now I would like to expand on this topic a little.

Work from home
Work from home

Work from and communication

Working remotely for a long time, I have gained some habits/solutions, which are important to me and make it easier. Of course, they do not make sense to everyone, but I hope that some of them will be useful to you:

Hardware to work from home

  • I know many of you work from home on a laptop, but if you can, connect an additional monitor. It really makes a difference. Personally, I can’t imagine working without two monitors – I use IIyama for players myself: G-Master GB2560HSU
  • Install a good camera and buy dedicated headphones with a microphone if possible. Sometimes when I talk to people, I can barely recognize them on the screen or hear them. Personally, I recommend the Logitech Brio camera. The price is high, but it is sensational, and the Windows Hello option makes life a lot easier. And if you can survive a poor camera, working with a bad microphone is a way to nowhere

A few simple rules that make the difference

  • If you’re not talking, turn off your microphone. On the one hand, it reduces noise, and on the other hand, it avoids surprises like a child demanding dinner
  • It’s worth having a mobile phone with applications that you use for communication. It happened more than once that something on the computer stopped working, and I ended the call on the phone
  • Turn on video during calls. Personally, it makes me crazy when I can’t see the person’s face on the other side of the microphone. Man is a being who draws a lot of knowledge from the face of his interlocutor.
  • Remember time zones (and common sense) !!! Just because you work until 20pm doesn’t mean that I feel like it. Those who know me know that I have always cared about working hours, even obsessively. Home Office does not mean I should be on the phone and at the computer constantly. We know in IT sometimes there are crisis situations, but for God’s sake it can’t be permanent!
  • Remember about the delays. It’s such a charm of all these chat programs :). Speak calmly and slowly so that your recipient has a chance to understand you
  • If you are doing a large conf call/ webinar, it is worth having a second person to help you. In the sense you speak, but the other person supports chat and enables/disables the microphones of the participants. It really helps a lot
  • Before you start, make sure that everything works
  • Do not work on the toilet. Work should not cause gag reflexes, so the dinner plate next to the keyboard looks weak

Microsoft Teams Rules when you do home office

Such a digression at the beginning. Microsoft, in the fight against coronavirus, now gives us access to teams for free for a period of 6 months. Returning to the topic, I am begging you, do not crucify me, but Microsoft Teams are great for me. When we the time of the coronavirus epidemic, we have to work from home, it is one of the best tools, if not the best, for group work.

In my previous work, I could never understand why Teams are not widely used, despite having a license. Fortunately, the new company and new rules :). Now for me, it is a basic tool for communication and cooperation, meaning more often used than email.

  • Working with Microsoft Teams is very intuitive. Starting a conversation or chat is a matter of one click. A dozen or so months ago, many issues could be attached. It just works right now.
  • Everything is in one place. For me, as a person who works with people from all over the world, it is very important that after adding someone to the team that person has access to the entire history, events, and documents. You do not need to resend the heap of files, some of which you will forget.
  • They are constantly being developed. In fact, I am not exaggerating to say that now it is one of the most important Microsoft products. Microsoft Teams is an application with immense potential for modification. And apart from the available extras, you can always create your own. It is worth mentioning the possibility of automation using AI. The sky is the limit 🙂

Work is not everything

I wrote it many times. I don’t know why many managers think that home office people are sitting and doing nothing. Honestly? Personally, I think the opposite. Working from home is so easy to lose yourself in when we work and when we have free time. Remember to leave this house even for a moment. As you know, gyms are closed, but an hour on the bike can be beneficial to your psyche.

And finally, about the virus itself

Maybe this is my age or common sense, but for God’s sake, let’s not go crazy !!! Coronavirus is not the end of the world. When I hear about cutting off Warsaw or the miraculous effect of vitamin C on him, it just hits me. I remember Chornobyl, which was more terrible because nothing was known then. I remember a commune where oranges were only for Christmas. And what? And I live

People every year, more people die of cancer. Ordinary flu haunts us every season, and somehow no one falls into it amok. We know you must use common sense, but let’s not exaggerate.

By the way, I wonder what anti-vaccines will do when the vaccine appears …