We have a distributed team with members who cover a spectrum that ranges from always being in the office to being permanently remote. Some methods of communication are better than others, depending on the task at hand.
Stopping by can be the quickest way to deal with an issue, however some people may prefer for you to check with them before "popping-in."
For complicated topics that may be better explained in a conversation. Works well for distributed teams.
For messages that are detailed and/or may not require an immediate response.
For quick iteration and discussion with one or more people—great for working through a problem, brainstorming ideas, and building rapport.
Google Calendar is a great way to alert others of your availability. Here are some tips:
Keep your calendar up to date and in your settings allow anyone at UA to see your schedule as free/busy so people who need to meet with you know when you are available and can utilize the "find a good time" to meet function.
Update your settings to reflect your "at work" schedule. If anyone tries to schedule outside these hours, they will be notified that it is not in your normal work hours.
Zoom Scheduler is integrated with Google Calendar and provides an easy way to create booking pages.
For many people, the experience of commuting and entering the physical workplace is a part of a habit/ritual that signals, "I'm in office mode!" Similarly, when you leave the office, the act of physically leaving helps your brain think: "I'm off work!" It can be helpful to recreate these boundaries and rituals while working from home by sticking to a schedule and giving your brain some time to adjust between "work mode" and "home mode."
Mentally "enter the office" by taking a few minutes and a few deep breaths to shift your mind into work mode. Tell yourself, "Now I'm at the office."
It's important to maintain a sense of "teamliness" (positive professional relationships with your peers) while you're working remotely. If you're accustomed to socializing a bit with coworkers at the start of the day, take a minute to greet them online via chat or an informal email.
"Leave for lunch." When possible, take your lunch break in a separate location and leave work alone while you eat. This helps break up the day, which is more important when you're working from home.
Mentally "leave work" at the end of the day. Instead of transitioning immediately from working to evening activities, take a few minutes to "put away" the work day.
If working from home isn't feeling comfortable and productive for you, talk to your peers and supervisor! This is an unexpected and unwanted situation for many of us and you should expect support from your team.
You want a decent chair, good lighting, and ample space for your work stuff. If you’re going to be doing this for the longer term, you’ll want a better desk and chair, ideally a setup that lets you mix standing and sitting.
Why this matters: remote work shouldn’t hurt. It’s really not good for morale if you’re sitting funny and in poor light, unable to easily see your laptop screen and hunched over because your desk/chair setup isn’t ideal for posture.
Connect an external hard drive so you can back up your computer at home. Doing backups over the UA VPN is extremely slow. External HDs are pretty cheap these days, and worth it for the peace of mind.
Streaming video and large downloads can consume a lot of bandwidth, which can disrupt video calls. Make sure your computer isn't doing a big update or download, and ask other household members to go easy on bandwidth-intensive applications during your video calls during the day.
Remind people about muting themselves until they need to speak, to remove background noise
In-person groups who have side conversations should remember to follow up later with the whole group so everyone can be included.