How to get the most out of home working.
We have been working flexibly from the very beginning. With clients around the world, we have had to become extremely competent at working effectively whilst remote.
Below are our top bits of advice, tools and techniques to get the most out of remote working.
Meetings
1) Zoom or Microsoft Teams
When it comes to meeting with clients or colleagues, there are really only two contenders: Zoom or Microsoft Teams. With its intuitive interface, Zoom is great for quickly setting up meetings without ever having to faff with technology. However, with some concerns surrounding security, for confidential meetings we prefer to use Microsoft Teams.
Microsoft TeamsCollaboration
2) Milanote
Whether it's collaborating on ideas, mood boards, contracts, or work flows, we love using Milanote with our colleagues and clients. We have found its the best way to get what's in our heads out into the world as easily as we would in any office.
MilanoteHeadspace
3) Going outside
Going to work, interacting face-to-face with clients, and getting outside your home all comes with a healthy amount of mental stimulation and exhaustion. There is a real separation of work time and home time. Maintaining a healthy work-life balance is important, and ensuring you take regular breaks outside your home is still important. Working and relaxing in the same environment may hinder sleep, so in the words of Lynda Baron, "Go Outside".
Managing Calls
4) Virtual Landline
One of the best ways to ruin the healthy separation of work and home is by calling clients on your personal mobile or landline. One way around this is by using Virtual Landline, a company which for a monthly fee allows you to choose a phone number from a wide range of access codes. You can call redirect and forward this number to your phone, or use their app to call outwards using your new number.
Virtual LandlineInstant Messaging
5) Whatsapp Web
Emails are great, but they're slow, formal, take ages to compose and read. Whatsapp Web is our favourite instant messenger which you can leave logged on, and quickly respond to messages from clients and colleagues.
Whatsapp WebEmails for Mac
6) Spark Mail App
We love our apple products. But what we do hate, is the pre-installed mail app. It's clunky, and not very intuitive (at present). That's why we prefer to use Spark Mail App. Not only does it look pretty, it's simple to use, and can even set up 'Teams' to enable collaboration on responses.
Spark Mail