Inbotiqa’s Vishal Shanbhag and Sara Hartland share our best practices for team remote working

  

The whole world has had to adapt to the sudden changes and new norms that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought. The necessary explosion in working from home – as individuals and as teams – has been a major cultural adjustment for many companies and staff. 

At Inbotiqa, remote working is part of our DNA. From the outset of writing our first prototype YUDOmail software, we have been working remotely. Today, with a larger team now spread across three continents, the blend of remote working practices we have followed and learned throughout our journey continues to help us be a productive and tight-knit team that delivers, and with a spring in our step. 

During this challenging and indefinite period, we wanted to share our best practices for team remote working in case all or any may be of use.

Stay safe and healthy

First off, we’ll reiterate the importance of self-isolating and social distancing to break the chain of the spread. We are all helping to keep each other safe and healthy.

Develop a routine

A work routine at home is naturally going to be different to an office one. We encourage embracing this and making the most of the opportunities and flexibility working remotely offers, but also to find a personal daily structure to help maintain focus and productivity. Experiment to figure out what works best for you then maintain your optimum work/life balance. 

For team members with children, work routines will naturally need to be more flexible. Devising a routine for children that compliments work times helps provide stability and a timetable for schoolwork and exercise plus clear time for you to be productive or join video calls. Colleagues are understanding and even if routines can’t always be stuck to, they provide something to work around. 

Communicate, communicate, communicate

Communication is perhaps the most important part of being effective as a team.  When working from home this becomes very different from in an office. Fortunately, we live in times where there are various modes of communication – Email, Chat, Voice, Video. It’s important to use them in synergy otherwise it’s easy to succumb to over-communication hell.

Quick questions? Use Chat

We respect other colleagues’ time and always start with ‘do you have a moment’. Keep conversations short, to the point, and only to get your questions answered. Avoid forwards, good morning messages, and such. 

If it’s formal, use Email

Naturally, Email is a communication tool that’s close to our team’s hearts, and its benefits truly shine when it comes to conducting official internal and external transactions remotely. Over the years, Email has become a de facto tool for formal communication – agendas, minutes of meetings, organisation notices, requests letters, and so on. Remote working doesn’t change this.

If it’s urgent, pick up the phone

Phone calls can be distracting and break focus so use them only if it’s urgent. Before you call your colleague, consider the urgency of the call. Can it wait? We also encourage messaging just before calling to give your teammate a heads-up.

Face-to-face meetings

It’s easy to underestimate the power of face-to-face meetings. A large part of communication is non-verbal and video calls allow us to maintain that impact. Being able to see colleagues can expedite outcomes, strengthen our sense of connection and enhance team social times. Not every team member needs to be on every call, though. We keep it to key personal for each task and share relevant outcomes with the wider team later.

Planning and to-do lists

In these trying times, it’s just as important to have definitive plans, to-do lists and due dates as we do in regular circumstances. There are so many tools out there to help with planning – spreadsheets, task tracking, workflow tools, wikis, shared documents, Email, Chat, online whiteboards, etc. A combination of these is likely necessary but be wary of utilising too many different tools as this can end up making tasks and projects harder to keep track of.

Find your zone

The current period offers an opportunity to find your zone. It’s important to be conscious of our environments and different people work better in different conditions. Natural light and tidy surroundings are known to help with focus, though. There is the chance now to experiment with what helps you get in the zone, to curate your surroundings to improve productivity, innovate and learn new tools or skills. 

Social conversations

Last but not least, in the present climate it’s all the more important to bolster our human interrelatedness. Social interaction is a crucial aspect of our remote-working practices and we encourage friendly banter in team meetings. Check in with colleagues as you would swivel your chair round in the office and ask how their weekend was. Keep everyone engaged and involved with dedicated online social gatherings. 

Working remotely as a team is not just manageable, it can be highly successful and enjoyable. The Inbotiqa team has developed practices that work extremely well for us, and our experiences have even contributed to the development of our combined Email and workflow tools solutions. So, embrace the opportunities of working from home, build a routine that works for you, stay connected, and check in with your colleagues. You’re all still one team, no matter where you are in the world.