Effective Remote Work

We went to our home office during the COVID pandemic and never returned to our original life. Remote working is here to stay with us. So why not look into this topic?

My initial impression of the book could have been better. After a brief history of remote work, it detailed such requirements as a good internet connection or ergonomics of our home setup. Luckily I kept reading, and much later, I understood why it covered such apparent needs. The book is doing its best to cover the entirety of remote work.

It turned out that its most significant benefit is its comprehensiveness. I cannot imagine any aspect that it would not cover. After the basics, it made its most important statement: “Treat everyone as remote”. During the book, this statement gets proved several times. Then it explained the spectrum of synchronousness in our communication. Our previously mostly synchronous communications in the office became asynchronous in remote work. This point was also a nice catch.

The remaining topics slowly but steadily built up the complete picture of remote working. It compared our typical day in the office and remote work. What and how to use tools. How to remotely onboard new colleagues. Communication techniques. How to stay mentally healthy. Including how to deal with our inner demons, such as the fear of missing out or being unobserved.

The book also covers managing teams and advises establishing a remote working culture in an entire company.

What I liked the most:

• Comprehensive
• It contains a lot of exciting references
• While the book is for everyone, it also touches briefly on software engineering aspects too

What I didn’t like much:

• Some topics were lengthier compared to their obviousness