How DevResults has worked from home for over a decade

by Aasit Nanavati

In the last ten years, DevResults has given trainings in over 20 countries and has attended conferences worldwide. But most of the time, the entire DevResults team works remotely. With many folks’ travel plans suspended and organizations instituting telework, we want to share the processes and tools we use on a day-to-day basis to maximize the benefits and minimize the downsides of working from home.

  • For all internal meetings, use video conferencing tools to prevent isolation and ensure face-time. If your laptop doesn’t have a camera or it doesn’t work well, you can order a cheap webcam to make face-to-face interactions as natural and realistic as possible.
  • Large team meetings can be tricky to manage remotely if you’re not used to them. Consider using the “gesture system” and establishing meeting roles to make things run smoothly.
  • Recreate the social environment of an office in creative ways. We have a #watercooler channel in our Slack environment for chats as well as ‘co-working’ video calls.
  • Pair-up with random colleagues on a regular basis to talk work, life, books, or whatever you want. This one-on-one time is crucial for building trust and can often be a source of good ideas (we use the Donut plugin in Slack for this purpose).
  • Establish norms and expectations that people should not be electronically available for 100% of work hours. We’re a small company and the e-chatter can still be disruptive. Encourage each other to silence notifications or log out of communications tools for chunks of the day. You’ll get more work done if you can eliminate distractions.
  • Instead of expecting 9-5 availability, stay accountable and well-coordinated with daily stand-ups (to share what you did and plan to do that day), weekly check-ins, and communication tools that allow for synchronous or asynchronous collaboration.
  • Other tools: We love Zoom for meetings, Asana for projects and tasks, and Google Docs/Sheets for collaborative work.

Aside from pausing on new training plans, it’s business as usual at DevResults. We’ll be here to help with any questions or concerns, as always. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at info@devresults.com.