Working from Home, #wfh

All of a sudden, we need to work from home. I’m quit an expert on that as I have been working from home for the last 7 years. Inova Solutions, my employer, has no Office on Aruba and I happen to live there.

Working from home is totally different than going into the office and get stuff done in that location. Expectations employers and employees have for whom working from home, may not come true. My experiences described below hardly take the current crisis into consideration, it will be a lot harder, being at home with your entire families and your work. So, have some compassion with yourselves.

We are heading into week 3 or 4 of the Working from Home era and it is very likely it will be like this for weeks to come. The first signs are here, that people start to get mental issues. Both employers and employees need to be aware of that and show compassion and empathy.

The Rhythm

Rhythm, create rituals and new habits. People will find out very fast that the rhythm and pace while working from home will move away from the 9 to 5 thing with your regular lunch break. I work between 5 AM, when I switch on my PC, and 8.30 PM, when I switch off my PC. Read carefully, I do not work FROM 5 AM till 8.30 PM, I work BETWEEN 5 AM and 8.30 PM. Because other things are also happening in my home, around my home and away from home. Obligations and distractions that are not there in an office. That works the other way around as well, of course, no coffee machine gossip or printer room talk. The main point here is: Do not feel guilty doing what you are doing if it is not work related and it is between 9 and 5. It is a transformation, losing old habits and creating new ones. Get the work done and respect the time of your family members, colleagues and customers. Have agreement on your availability, plan your meetings. There is nothing wrong sharing with employers, colleagues and customers that you have trouble focusing or that you are distracted. You will find the timeslots for your focused work overtime. Please realize, during the day and especially near the end of the day that enough is enough. I am noticing in my mailbox that people are starting to send emails at really weird times, don’t go there. One of my best practices: the first hour, after waking up, NO screens! The last hour, before going to bed, NO screens.

The Workplace

Make sure you have a good physical workplace. The kitchen table is just not good enough for a full-time “work-from-home-experience”. Nor is a kitchen chair. This will not be for just a week or so. Do not compromise on your workplace and its environment: lighting, temperature, fresh air, noise. Make it clear to your employer, colleagues and maybe even customers if you cannot create that “perfect” spot in your house if that is a reality. Again, compassion and empathy.

When you do online meetings a lot, wired connections are preferred: network and headsets. Eliminate anything that can deteriorate quality. Set up a “fair use policy” with family members on your available bandwidth. If you do a lot of video conferencing, make sure your webcam is on the same screen you are watching or sharing, don’t let the other participants look up into your nose or ears. Mute when not talking, for quality you can even switch of your camera when not talking (make sure you have a decent avatar in that case, not just your initials).

The Work

What about The Work? Sure, the show must go on. And, these are uncertain times. Employers must create virtual “hangouts”. Employees should call or virtually meet each other daily, aside from work topics. Normally, I travel a lot and meet lots of peers, nerds and geeks. Not so much now. I call them now, talk about our profession, the technology, how we are coping. Social closeness instead of social distancing. The work, you know what needs to be done, you know what can and cannot be done. Take responsibility and communicate. It is NOT business as usual. It is NOT.

#besafe #stayhome #wfh #behappy

Integrated Solutions for #WFH

Now that the initial smoke has cleared a bit on the COVID-19 situation, the time seems right to think ahead when it comes to “Working from Home”.

We have seen all the “ad hoc”, almost panic-like, trials and errors on facilitating our employees to enable them to stay somehow productive. I believe it is chaos out there. The list of communication and collaboration tools is endless. And, some truly relevant ingredients are totally lacking; integration, security and governance. A lot of these tools could be set up for integration (through API’s for example) but that requires time and expertise. On the security and governance level I seriously have my doubts on most of them. Mainly because they are more “consumer based” than “enterprise grade”.

I have been “preaching” Office 365/Microsoft 365 for years now, and of the last 2 years or so, focused a lot on security and governance. Integration, security and governance is right there, out of the box, Built-in instead of Bolt-on. We should be starting to deploy that in a controlled environment, enabling our workforces to work from home effectively, safely and secure. While the Organization stays in control. It may take a couple of weeks to get it up and running, true. But if we don’t, the chaos and spaghetti that is being created right now, will only become bigger and bigger. No control, bad actors out there, no clue on who is doing what and how and where and when.

We should not forget that most organizations have their Line of Business applications and their File repositories in their local Data Centers without having proper remote access facilities configured. There are plenty of solutions out there to enable access to those resources remotely. We need to look at short term solutions and plan for long term solutions in parallel. The times of “ad hoc” and “panic” are over.

Now is the time to sit down and make a plan that enables Organizations and individuals to achieve more, even in these weird times.