Remote Working & Meetings - A compilation of tips and advice
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Remote Working
& Meetings
A compilation of tips and advice
This license lets you remix, tweak, and build upon the original work non-
Jimmy Janlén Mars 2020 commercially, as long as you credit the original work and license your
new creations under the identical terms. Anders Ivarsson
Working from home
Go to “work” Set up a workplace Regular work hours Stop working!
Set the alarm. Create a nice and tidy area Set specific, regular, work When your working day is
Eat breakfast. where you can focus on hours. And communicate over - let work be.
Watch the morning news. work. those to your team.
Brush your teeth. Chill.
Get dressed. Don’t work where you Take a proper lunch break,
normally relax (such in the don’t eat in front of the Do something else.
Do a fake commute - take a sofa or in your bed). laptop.
walk around the block
As if you’re going to work :-)
Jimmy Janlén Mars 2020 Anders Ivarsson
Maintaining personal focus
Communicate your plans Pause social notifications Run Pomodoros Take breaks
Summarize your plans for your Get off social media. Or at least Get yourself a timer. Write a list Make sure to take breaks for
day in your team’s slack turn off notifications from of things you want to do today, lunch, coffee etc. as you would
channel. This will help you sort Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, sort them by importance. normally do when you are at the
out your own prioritizes and to etc. office.
increase your own focus on the Set the timer on 25 minutes
most important things. Scroll your feeds during your (one Pomodoro). When it rings, When you’re having a break -
breaks, or save them to your celebrate with a 5 minute break. stand up. Move. Walk away from
Update your team throughout fake commute home :-) Before resetting the timer, your laptop.
the day as you finish your tasks. check your list. You might want
to change priorities. If you run Pomodoros, take a
longer break after top 3-4
Pomodoros.
Today,
my plans
are to...
Jimmy Janlén Mars 2020 Anders Ivarsson
Teamwork
Regard each day Communicate more Ensure your digital board Work out loud
as one-day sprint reflects reality at all time
Never postpone a question. Ask Default to communicate in
If you feel that all targets are it immediately. Delays are When working remotely and open channels.
moving and things keep longer since you don’t work asynchronous it’s more even
changing rapidly - try having physically close to each other. more important that your But, consider keeping a private
two stand-ups every day to Don’t start with a delay from JIRA/Trello reflects true status. team channel for minute-by-
increase communication and your side. minute coordination and team
collaboration. Make the tool communicate chatter. It’s easy to hold back on
status for you! that when you know 100+
Morning stand-up - Plan the people will read.
day. Also make sure the assignee on
cards/tasks reflects reality to
After-lunch stand-up - Sync help everyone see who’s
progress and update each other working on what. If you’re
working on something, make
Once things have stabilized, go sure to assign yourself. If you’re
back to one (or two) week stopped working on something,
sprints. remove yourself.
Jimmy Janlén Mars 2020 Anders Ivarsson
The Daily Stand-up
Start with a check-in Walk the board Set a clear goal for today Allow for longer stand-ups
(don’t do the round)
Make sure to stay connected as As a team, define a clear goal for Sharing progress and syncing
a team and to continue to care Instead of taking turns sharing each day - something you really will take longer.
for each other even when your personal plans for the day, want to have achieved by the
working remotely. Start with a walk the board. end of the day. Also, you really want to allow
check-in question and take time for all questions to raised
turns answering it. Start from the top right and addressed.
ticket/card. What’s the status?
Examples: Who’s working on it? Who
- How are you feeling today? needs to help out?
- What made you happy yesterday?
- What are you looking forward to
today?
- Show something to the camera!
Jimmy Janlén Mars 2020 Anders Ivarsson
Being a good video meeting participant
Camera ON Don’t multitask Mute or not muted? Help everyone be heard
and to contribute
Have your camera on so Be present and active in the Don’t mute yourself if you are
everyone can see each other’s meeting. under 5 people in the meeting If you know yourself to be one of
faces. in order to get more laughs and those who tends to talk a lot -
Don’t read email, reply to slack- feelings in the call for it to feel be mindful of it. Give others
Sit in front of the camera and messages or fiddle with your “real and alive”. time and room to speak and
look into the camera to make phone. share their thoughts and
the receiver feel like you have Mute yourself if you are more opinions.
eye contact and are in the Don’t turn off the camera and than 5 people in the meeting to
meeting together. mute your microphone just so not interrupt the meeting. If you suspect that you’re one of
you can walk around doing the more silent ones, maybe
other stuff. feeling you don’t have much to
contribute - remember that it’s
hard for others to know if you’re
silently agreeing with what’s
being said, or if you’ve check
out. Share your thoughts and
opinions.
Jimmy Janlén Mars 2020 Anders Ivarsson
Being a good video host/facilitator (1 of 3)
Don’t schedule back-to- Extra clarity on desired Do a check-in round Choose a tool for shared
back meetings outcome and structure working space
Example questions:
Click the “Speedy meetings” Present the purpose and the - What are your expectations? Build a shared memory of the
checkbox in Google Calendar desired outcome of the - Most important question to meeting. Select a tool for
Settings. meeting. get resolved? collaboration or notetaking of
- What will you bring to this the meeting.
This ensures everyone gets a To help everyone participate meeting?
proper break before the next and engage, be extra clear on This can be a shared Google
meeting. how you plan to structure the Doc, slides, Jam Board or other
meeting. tools. The simpler, the better.
It’s the nice and right thing to
do. Check that box!
Have the agenda always
visible
During the meeting, have the
Set Working Agreement
agenda visible (or at least
frequently return to it). This will
help the participants focus and Clarify meeting etiquette and
understand where we are in the roles. Agree upon which
process. principles and values to honor
while communicating and
collaborating.
Jimmy Janlén Mars 2020 Anders Ivarsson
Being a good video host/facilitator (2 of 3)
Break up in smaller groups Summarize and Review Take breaks Use visual cues
Good conversations in bigger For long meetings, pausing and Focusing drains energy. Don’t Try using hand-signals or cards
group is hard, even more so summarizing and review what’s forget to take breaks for long for participants to participate
when having them through been discussed and agreed meetings. without speaking.
video. upon so far. This can be valuable
and help everyone be on the
Increase energy, engagement same page.
and depth of conversations by
allowing for timeboxed
breakout-sessions. Distribute air time
For example, you can pair up Make sure everyone gets a
participants and ask them to chance to talk and share their
call each other on video on perspectives and opinions.
slack.
Alternate between discussions,
structured rounds where
participants take turns talking
and breakout sessions. Be clear
on timeboxes and talking time
boundaries.
Jimmy Janlén Mars 2020 Anders Ivarsson
Being a good video host/facilitator (3 of 3)
Do a controlled closure of Do a check-out round Summarize decisions, Share meeting notes
the meeting actions and next steps
Do a check-out round, giving Once the meeting is over, share
Don’t lose track of time so that participants a chance to reflect To strengthen commitments the presentation, documents
you have are forced to abruptly and to digest what’s been said and memory of the meeting, created, the jamboard or notes
end the meeting. and discussed. Have everyone wrap up with a summary taken to the participants.
briefly comment on a questions decision, actions and
Make sure you have at least 5 such as: agreements. Share a summary of decisions
minutes to properly close the - What’s your key takeaways? and actions in relevant slack
meeting. - What will you do now channels or email if appropriate.
immediately after this meeting?
- What new questions have
arisen for you?
Jimmy Janlén Mars 2020 Anders Ivarsson
Hosting bigger meetings
Really test your tech! Question in chat Keep track of speaker Create engagement with
Mentimeter
Make sure you have ample of Answering questions is hard in For bigger meetings, if
time before the meeting start to large remote meetings. necessary, set up a protocol Engage the audience by having
test all equipment. for how participants flag that them reply to questions using
As a facilitator, ask that any the app Mentimeter. The results
they want to be put into the
Nothing makes you more questions are posted in the chat of polls or word clouds can easily
queue of speakers.
stressed than having a lot of for the meeting. be shown in the presentation.
people observing you sorting
out tech issues. Keep track of the questions and Do they raise their hand?
ensure they get answered in the Write their name in the
end, or post them in Slack and chat?
follow-up on answers.
?
Jimmy Janlén Mars 2020 Anders IvarssonHave your tech in order
Test your tech before the Use cord instead of Proper lightning
meeting bluetooth
If it’s to dark it’s hard for others
Check that your camera and To have as good conversation as to see you. Place yourself in a
microphone is working, before possible, and to not talk past bright area or rig a lamp to shed
joining the meeting. each other - you want as little some light on you.
lag as possible. If you experience
lag with your bluetooth headset,
try connecting it with a cord.
Jimmy Janlén Mars 2020 Anders IvarssonSelecting your channel
Face-2-Face Video Slack and Email Jira, Trello, Google Docs
For problem solving, ideation, When it’s not possible to meet Slack and email is great for: Online collaboration tools such
debating and creative face-to-face we resort to video - Coordination as Jira, Confluence, Google
discussions, meeting face to conferences. - Announcing news Docs, Jamboard, etc are perfect
face beets everything else. - Sharing information for:
With proper shared workspace - Asking questions - Planning
Conversations flow easily, tools, more discipline (and a - Tracking progress
everyone can gather in from of little bit more patience) video - Document decisions
the whiteboard and it’s easy to can be as great for problem - Policies and Guidelines
read the expressions of others. solving and discussions. - Knowledge base
Video is also a great tool to
maintain your social relation
with your colleagues.
Jimmy Janlén Mars 2020 Anders IvarssonOnline Collaboration Tools
These online tools are all accessible through your browser. Multiple user can access and edit at the same time and
updates are immediately reflected for everyone. In order words, perfect for collaboration!
Trello Google Docs & Slides Google Jamboard
Simple but powerful
todo-tool. Super simple
Cards can have Whiteboard and Post-it
checklists, images, simulator. Perfect for
tags and can be brainstorming and
assigned to persons. workshops.
FunRetro The most simple tool is sometimes Miro
the best one. Google Docs and Miro is a powerful
Google Slides allow for several virtual whiteboard.
people to collaborate at the same Advanced features
time. If you’ve never tried to pair- for creating mind
write something, try it as soon as maps, roadmaps,
Looks like Trello, but is tailored and you get an opportunity,. Kanban boards, and
simplified for Retrospectives. much more.
Jimmy Janlén Mars 2020 Anders IvarssonContinue to be social
Video company Fika together Be random Have some fun
Have a video link open to a Schedule social activities over Don’t forget to have those silly Share photos of your home,
friend or to your team, just for video. For example, have a video random social conversations your cat, your coffee mug, your
the sake of company. It also fika/coffee break together about nothing and everything. odd pair of socks, etc. in your
makes it easy to reach out to everyday at 3 pm. team’s slack channel.
each other if you have questions Create dedicated “frivolous”
or want to bounce ideas. slack channels for social Don’t forget to have some fun :-)
mucking about.
Jimmy Janlén Mars 2020 Anders IvarssonYou can also read
