Following up on Remote Work Experiment

Since I last wrote about this, I've been working remotely on a more regular basis. Working remotely has some clear advantages, including a freedom of interruptions and distractions associated with working in a traditional office setting. I've found that through working at home, I have a whole new set of distractions that can creep in and kill productivity. Instead of walk-up traffic to my desk, I now have social media, TV, dishes, laundry and a fridge full of snacks at my disposal.

It became clear that it would be a spectacular failure, working remotely, if I didn't change something. So, I did what I always do in these cases, I defined my success criteria and put together a plan to work towards those criteria. Why do I want to work from home?

• More time for family
• Fewer distractions from work
• Better coffee
• Be more physically active 

What is expected of me from my current role: 

• Meeting attendance and participation
• Timely response to emails
• Satisfactory work on projects

So I created a framework to see if I could squeeze all this in.

So, the scheduled listed above is my v1.0 template for working from home. It's not the best, but its a starting point. 

Astute readers will be quick to notice that this is not a full 8 hour day. And you are correct. This is only 6.5 hours. By blocking email follow-ups and project work in separate time slots, I'm hoping to make up the time through increased efficiency by reducing context switches.  If your employer is very strict about tracking project hours, then perhaps this schedule might not be for you. 

This also doesn't leave any room for meetings. I can't control how many meetings I have, and when they might be scheduled. That's why I start the day with a  6:30 am planning session. As I said before, this is a template, not gospel. Sometimes I might each lunch later or adapt my activity sessions.

Keeping on the schedule is a matter of discipline. I'm relatively good at staying to a time-blocked schedule if I know when the next time block ends. This is where my Amazon Echo comes in. "Alexa set a timer for 30 minutes."  and I have a nice action to bring my focus on the task at hand and an auditory reminder when it's time to context switch. 

Well, there is. What do you think? Could this work for you?