COVID-19: My 7 tips to improve working from home experience

In the last weeks, and for some of us months, most IT companies introduced a work-from-home policy. My company was not an exception, and I also had to change my work routine very rapidly.

At first glance, it might seem that working from home doesn’t change that much for IT engineers. We keep on sitting in front of our computers, writing user stories, beautiful code, and elegant test cases. All our meetings and kitchen chit-chats have been shifted to Zoom, Teams, and other communication platforms. It’s not so bad, isn’t it? It feels almost like in the office. Unless it’s not.

The first week of the home office was not easy for me. I felt tired more than usual. But after a couple of weeks, I found my way to a balanced work routine. I would like to share it in this article. Who knows, maybe it will be helpful for someone else.

1. Watch your working hours

The home office gave us the possibility to have fast access to work 24/7. It’s good that we can save time normally spent on commuting to the office. We became more flexible with time in general. However, it became easy to blur the border between work and private time. Many of my friends keep on saying that they work at home the way more than in the office. Moreover, more and more weekends turn into working days.

It might be good for the company, but in the long term, it leads to increasing the level of fatigue and stress. And at the time of a global pandemic, we have enough stress already!

We should define clear working hours, close our laptops when the work is done, and spend time with our family.

2. Get a proper desk and a chair

This is a very important point. Not many of us were ready for switching to the home office so rapidly. And not many have a good working environment at home. Sitting the whole day on the kitchen chair is very hard. If you can contact your work and get some office equipment delivered to your home, just do it. It can be an office chair, a second monitor, or even little things such as a keyboard and a mouse. Good office equipment makes a difference! And when we are talking about a desk and a chair, it directly affects your health. Keep an eye on your posture and arms and legs position.

3. Communication is the key

To stay connected with my team, I try to keep clear communication about my work. I inform the team about my working hours if they differ for some reason. I regularly send a status update of my tasks.

It’s also a good practice to update your online status to “lunch break”, “busy” etc. The more transparency about work-related activities, the better.

Another little thing that works for me is keeping my web camera on for all the meetings. Seeing my colleagues during online calls helps to personalize the meetings and keep on the team feeling.

4. Stay focused

Some people can focus better at home and feel more productive and creative. However, others keep on being distracted by social media, a fridge, family members, and so on. As for me, I found, that I have waves of being mega focused or completely distracted.

To organize my day more productively, I started to use Pomodoro technique. It is a simple method for time management. The idea is to use a timer and break your work in 25–30 minutes intervals with short breaks in between.

This focus-break balance works very well for me. There are different Pomodoro apps available, I use Marinara Chrome extension.

5. Start a todo list

Another good way to keep me organized is to have a todo list. It doesn’t have to be a fancy Bullet Journal. If you are not used to the todo list, don’t overcomplicate it, but start simple. I use the VS Code extension Todo++, and it works for me just well. Every morning I start with opening my list, reviewing all points from the previous day, and adding new tasks. This way I know exactly which tasks to work on during the day. It’s also a very satisfying feeling to cross out a finished task and see at the end of the day, that all planned tasks are done. And if not, I simply move it to the next day.

I like this way of working so much, that I started to use it for my outside-of-work activities. To my private todo list, I add such tasks as doing laundry, grocery shopping, paying bills, going for a walk, and sending birthday wishes to my grandma. And I have to say, that I became the way more productive and don’t have much time to procrastinate 🙂

6. Don’t forget to move your body and do some exercises

After sitting the whole day in front of the screen, my body aches a lot. To avoid it, I force myself to move. Again, Pomodoro method helps a lot. Every short 5 minutes break I stand up and do fast stretching, sit-ups, and other easy exercises.

Besides that, I try to spend 15–20 minutes on a workout at least once per day. It can be any type of exercises you like. Usually, depending on the mood, I search for a flexibility or power yoga routine on Youtube.

Also, if your lockdown rules allow you to go for a walk, go out every day for at least one hour walk. Keep on moving!

7. Stay hydrated

Another thing which is so easy to forget at home is water. I have noticed, that when I’m sitting at home I drink the way less water than I suppose to. My way to fix it is to prepare a bottle of water in the morning, before the workday starts, and place it at the table next to me. This way I know, that I need to finish it by the end of the day.

That’s my way to handle the home office at the moment. Following those steps, I adjusted my work routine and I feel more productive, focused, connected with my team, and I don’t forget about keeping an eye on staying healthy.

I will be happy if you find some of these ideas helpful. Thanks for reading!