My name is Carl, I push bits.

How I stay focused while telecommuting

I’ve been telecommuting for the past 3+ years now, at a recent networking event I had no less than three conversations sharing tips with others on how I make it work for me.

TL;DR;

1. Create a structure. A daily agenda. e.g. shower, coffee, email, work, etc
2. Log your activity in Evernote: notes, questions, meetings, screenshots
3. Use TeuxDeux.com to keep a small, running list of your active tasks
4. Use Pomodoro to stay on task
5. Take breaks!
6. Prefer email/instant messenger over phone calls

Create a structure

Creating the proper structure for your work day is key to keeping you on-task. Making sure you wake up at the same time, and are at your desk with coffee in hand keeps your body tuned to work. If you sleep in here or there, that can snowball into lost time, and just a gross feeling as you realize you weren’t all that productive today.

• Try to get up at the same time
• Shower and get dressed (even if you’re not heading to a coffee shop today)
• Get your breakfast/coffee ready (f$@# yeah!)
• Have an office space that you primarily do work at (don’t work in bed, etc)
• Try to wrap your day up at the same time each day. At least step away at 5pm each day to take a break, and come back later on if you need to. (More on breaks below)

Evernote

I started using Evernote more heavily around the same time I started working remote. It wasn’t *because* I works working remote, but it definitely aided me personally.

I jot down my entire day in little note-snippets.

• Dev log (planning, questioning, ideas for later)
• Meeting notes (phone calls, IMs, etc)
• Frustrations (I feel better airing them out “on-paper” before I speak up)
• Screenshots of progress
• Links of sites that have concepts I want to remember (inspiration, etc)

So not only is it helpful for me, but it’s helpful for my peers and bosses whenever I need to recall what I did, and any feedback around those tasks. Of course, we also have task/bug tracking app that we use, and we communicate on a bi-weekly developer meeting, but Evernote is my first go-to for jotting things down (next to my Moleskine when I’m away from a keyboard).

I also use macro’s heavily via TextExpander for OSX and Texter for Windows. I use the following macros all the time:

• etime => The current time, in square-brackets. e.g. “[8:30PM]”
• ddate => The current date. e.g. “1.21.2012”
• dtime => The current date and time: “1.21.2012 8:30PM”

I use etime each time I start to take notes in evernote, so I can time-sync everything that I’m jotting down. The others are just syntactic sugar in case I go back on a previous note, and want to let myself know that “future-Carl” is making a comment in this area, and it was from date X and time Y.

Evernote is also my first area that I track bugs. I take screenshots, write lengthly conversations with myself (or copy convos with others). I also update my progress to finding and fixing the bug along the way. I find that when I get distracted, this is immensely helpful to retracing my steps because my brain can get quite frazzled and sidetracked.

TeuxDeux.com

I just started using TeuxDeux again, after a year or so absence. I used Evernote to keep track of my most important 5-10 tasks that I was actively wanting to complete that day/week. But then I got tired of copying/pasting those uncompleted tasks to each new day’s notes.

TeuxDeux, in essence, does that for me in their web interface. I add tasks to a day, and if they don’t get done, they move to the next day, etc.

I try to plan only a week at a time, or even just a day or two in the future. I don’t know what’s going to happen, or how far I’ll get, so I try to keep myself from feeling overwhelmed.

I constantly look over my list and sort each day by priority, and move tasks between days quite often. Prioritizing and re-prioritizing on a whim gives me great comfort, but not as much as clicking a task to mark it as “done”.

Pomodoro

The Pomodoro technique seems especially geared for remote workers. With all the distractions of home (laundry, dishes, walking dog, playing with dog, checking Twitter, etc) it’s easy to get unfocused. You can either try to get back into it without structure, which can work, or you can force yourself and get Pomodoro-ing.

I use PomodoroPro on the iPhone, plus the Pomodoro app for OSX. Very simple concept, and these are very simple apps. You hit start and the timer starts ticking down from 25 minutes where I stay focused on just one task. I don’t check email, I don’t answer IMs, I don’t check the CI builds, etc. Just stay focused for 25 minutes on one thing. At the end of your “pomo”, you get a 5 minute break. I usually use it to quickly jot down progress into Evernote (go figure) and prepare for my next pomo. An occasional glance at Twitter also happens, but no time to @reply just yet.

Once the mini-break is over, go ahead and check email, answer IMs, etc, but if you’re still in a productivity slump, get ready to start another pomo.

At the end of 4 successful pomos, you get a larger break, normally 15 minutes. Take the break! Don’t do any work! Don’t check email! Walk away from the computer if you have to! Getting your head out of work for even a few minutes can be refreshing, and bring a few “oh duh!” moments that you can quickly apply to that pesky problem that has been bugging you all day.

That brings me to my next bullet.

Take breaks!

Always take a lunch break, and try to fit in little mini-breaks (pomo or otherwise) throughout the day to recharge. Working from home requires structure, so don’t get sloppy with your breaks.

Like I mentioned in the previous sections, sometimes the solutions to your problems that you bang your head against for hours on end can be solved if you let you brain rest for a few.

I’ve also tried doing “sketch breaks” instead of breaks where I check Twitter, personal email, Facebook, etc. What you do on your sketch break is just that, sketch/draw/doodle. Get a pad of paper, and just sketch something. Get your creative goo going. It can help get your mind off of work, and hey, sometimes it’s fun!

Communication: Do it often

I’ve always thought of myself as a good communicator, but working remotely has improved that in my opinion. Not only am I documenting more naturally via Evernote, but I find that I copy/paste my notes into our dev wiki so that others can admire my greatness, and witty asides. 

Also, if you are putting in extra time, and that’s very easy to do when working remote, make sure people on your team know about it. Update Twitter/Yammer, send emails, forward fixed bug-reports to them, etc. Make sure you are being valued for your commitment. Don’t be a silent hero! And don’t let them think you’ll work indefinitely without need for recognition or compensation. Seriously, don’t.

As a team, we have bi-weekly meetings to just see where everyone is at. Doesn’t take more than 15 minutes most of the time, and it is just a simple check-in. It helps figure out trouble spots, and plan for the upcoming week.

Oh yeah, a summary!

These are some/most of the techniques and tools that I use to stay focused, and productive while working remote. It has been a great experience for me, and it fits my personality, and work-style. I tend to keep heads down working or researching, and then explode my knowledge and progress on my team at random intervals. I’m still working on that one…

Hope it was somewhat helpful, I’d be curious to hear/read other techniques, as there’s always room for learning/tinkering the process.