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Making Remote Work Work

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Re: Making Remote Work Work

#41

Post by dba7dba »

I used to be on the other end of the remote working, meaning I was often the guy that had to go to make sure projector/phone was working etc. Since I was IT, it was part of my job. But it get pretty annoying. I can't imagine how annoying it would be for non-IT guy who keeps getting called in to do it.

So if you are a remote worker and you end up using someone else's body often for remote meeting set up, please don't forget to send a little thank you gift, like $10 amazon card every once in a while. Don't forget, everyone else is already jealous/upset that YOU get to work from home and enjoy all the benefits while someone else is stuck in office and on top of that has to act as your virtual hands/feet.

Re: Making Remote Work Work

#42

Post by dba7dba »

randlet wrote: post #6

"If your office has a phone system that uses short extensions internally, have your IT department set one up to redirect to your cell phone. That way you can tell your coworkers to dial “5555”, instead of your whole number." Fantastic tip! Super simple but I really think this idea will make you feel more available to your co-workers.

A decade ago I was trained on pbx system in the office and one thing the trainer mentioned that I remember is that this extension forwarding should be avoided. Reason? A rogue employee can set it up to forward to a foreign country and make expensive calls on company dime. So we just turned it off.

Re: Making Remote Work Work

#43

Post by house9-2 »

yawz wrote: post #32

Any remote-working developer who's pair-programming ? I'd love to hear about your experiences? I know there's been a few attempts at creating remote pair-programming tools but I'm not familiar with any particularly successful one.

I have not done much remote pairing, but there is a really good list of tools and resources here: http://www.pairprogramwith.me/

one that looks very interesting: https://www.nitrous.io/

Re: Making Remote Work Work

#44

Post by yawz »

For the ones who require some extra motivation to remain disciplined, you can use a tool like SelfControl (http://selfcontrolapp.com/) to keep you away from casual browsing.

Also, FWIW, I find Pomodoro's time slicing technique pretty productive (there are many apps that support it - I'm using PomodoroApp on Mac (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pomodoroapp/id705103149?mt=1...). I usually go with 25min + 5min cycles. (If only all meetings fit in that 25 mins I'd be the happiest man on Earth).

Re: Making Remote Work Work

#46

Post by shrikant »

mojuba wrote: post #23
rjzzleep wrote: post #2

since i spend a lot of time in the console i have a few very simple aliases, for the following and some other time zones i use frequently. cst='TZ=CST6CDT date' est='TZ=EST date' berlin='TZ=''Europe/Berlin'' date' then i can just convert times and needed. berlin -d '4:00pm EST'

Excellent idea. This, and I wonder when will I finally see a simple, practical web site that does just that: helps to schedule inter-timezone conf calls with minimal clicks. One such web site was once posted here on HN but it was unfinished at the time (didn't allow to add custom locations) and probably doesn't exist anymore.

I've used http://www.worldtimebuddy.com/ for this in the past and it's worked really well.

Re: Making Remote Work Work

#47

Post by ehPReth »

mojuba wrote: post #38
mbesto wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use: http://www.thetimezoneconverter.com/ http://everytimezone.com/ http://time.is/

Thanks, but: http://www.thetimezoneconverter.com/ - allows only two locations. What about scheduling a conf call across NY, Dublin, Berlin and Moscow? What is the best time for all 4 locations? http://everytimezone.com/ - awesome interface, but doesn't allow any customizations, e.g. pick just the locations I need. This was on HN, I remember I made some suggestions which the guy never implemented. http://time.is/ - sh…

Try this one by Armin Ronacher: http://timesched.pocoo.org/ - it's open source as well

Re: Making Remote Work Work

#48

Post by d0 »

sneak wrote: post #37

Create another local user account on your computer for being at work. Change the desktop background to big work logos. Don't configure your personal instant messenger accounts and whatnot. Set up the email client to only check the "work" account so you don't fall down personal email item rabbit holes. Configure the WasteNoTime Safari extension appropriately (more strictly than your personal account's config, with sit…

You dont need to do any of this. Walking away from a problem and doing something else ends up in faster more elegant solutions every time than avoiding distractions on the machine. I'll tap out a tune on my piano, play with the kids or sit in the garden for a bit whilst working from home. Then I'll do an hour or two of work and repeat.

I deliver more finished higher quality code and solutions than anyone else chained to the keyboard all day.

Re: Making Remote Work Work

#49

Post by mscman »

sneak wrote: post #35
rjzzleep wrote: post #2

since i spend a lot of time in the console i have a few very simple aliases, for the following and some other time zones i use frequently. cst='TZ=CST6CDT date' est='TZ=EST date' berlin='TZ=''Europe/Berlin'' date' then i can just convert times and needed. berlin -d '4:00pm EST'

SO THAT'S HOW YOU SET ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES IN ALIASES! THANK YOU! (I'd been making the slight-environment-change aliases into bash functions as a workaround. You just helped me so much.)

This works in a normal bash/zsh prompt as well if you want to set a variable only for that single command. It's why a lot of times you'll see build instructions like:

# CC=gcc make

After the command runs, CC will go back to whatever it was set to before (or unset if it wasn't set). Very handy for some operations.

Re: Making Remote Work Work

#50

Post by mscman »

d0 wrote: post #48
sneak wrote: post #37

Create another local user account on your computer for being at work. Change the desktop background to big work logos. Don't configure your personal instant messenger accounts and whatnot. Set up the email client to only check the "work" account so you don't fall down personal email item rabbit holes. Configure the WasteNoTime Safari extension appropriately (more strictly than your personal account's config, with sit…

You dont need to do any of this. Walking away from a problem and doing something else ends up in faster more elegant solutions every time than avoiding distractions on the machine. I'll tap out a tune on my piano, play with the kids or sit in the garden for a bit whilst working from home. Then I'll do an hour or two of work and repeat. I deliver more finished higher quality code and solutions than anyone else chained…

I feel some of this is based on personality. It's great that you're able to step away from work periodically and then focus again (I do the same thing working from home). A lot of people have trouble getting back into the work mode again after taking that break. That's what the "work account" idea is designed to help.
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