100 Days Working from Home

Yesterday marked my 100th day working from home. I only counted the days I worked from home since I had filed some sick leaves in the last five months. I celebrated my 100th day working from home with 7 meetings in the morning and five more in the afternoon with one interview. Good thing I blocked my calendar by 4pm because I didn't have energy anymore for more meetings.

I worked from home for more than 5 years, but I would go out several times a week for meetings. After my stint at a corporate job I really wanted to work from home so that I'd be home when Miguel arrived from school. When I started I only had dial-up internet. I had to go to an internet cafe if I had to send out or email huge files. My manager back then would call me on the landline to catch up. It was months later when my friends set-up a proper router and wifi for me.

I move to the balcony when I don't have meetings.

In those early days I had a proper office at home. Now I work on the dining table. Sometimes when I feel I need something different I move to the couch. My dining table has mirrors surrounding it so it reflects my living room. Mr. Stormtrooper who's standing behind the couch is quite famous now across the world haha. And everyone now knows I collect Yoda.

Work from hotel. This was during a work trip in Japan.

I'm used to working from home, but I must admit I miss the office. I miss my desk, nagging my seatmates. Finding different areas in the office where I can work. When I was having severe back pains I found a nice chair at the third level where I can work without back pains. I oftentimes look for a different work space when I need to work without getting disturbed (aka getting pulled into more meetings). Sitting in other areas also allow me to see and say hello to colleagues I don't see often.

The reality is I'm stuck working from home until the pandemic is over. It's not as easy as it looks, but I am grateful to have work. Staying home also means I can keep safe. What about you? How are you coping with working from home?


CB//141 #StuckAtHomeDay/171 #StayHome #BeKind 

Your Survival Guide to Working from Home

Gonna miss the coffee at work huhu.

The last few days have been stressful for everyone back home. I saw a lot of worried posts, but it looks like things are settling and my childhood friends were sharing what they baked today. Most of them are just at home and just naturally re-connected via our chat group. It's just like the old times. I guess without the pressure of commuting to work and being busy at work people are finding time to connect again.

I was busy all day though with work and only saw their messages in the evening. It gave me the boost I needed since I had been in meetings since 8 in the morning with no breaks! Anyway, I thought I'd share this short list of things you should prepare when you work at home.

(1) Your devices - I use a Chromebook, all day everyday (and night!). I also survive just using my phone for meetings. I also tried using a tablet, but it's easier if you have a keyboard for it.

(2) Connectivity - if your work is dependent on using internet it's really better if you have wired connection at home, but 3G/LTE is also useful. I've used it for hangout meetings, just turn off the video.

(3) Your communication/collaboration platform - my work requires me to be in meetings with people from other countries and I always need to share and collaborate resources (i.e. documents, spreadsheets). Of course I use Google! Google Hangouts/Meets for meetings and Google Drive for collaboration. I've also been asked what to use if you want to use an online whiteboard. My suggestion is for you to try the Google Jamboard app and you can share it with others to collaborate on.

(4) Keeping hydrated - I found that it's better for me to use my water bottle even at home. That way I have it beside me while working and since it has a cover I'm not worried that it would topple over my laptop. I also refill it after lunch which ensures I drink more than 2 liters of water everyday. We also bought a bunch of beverages after Chinese New Year (it's usually super cheap at that time in Singapore). I'm glad we have a stash of colored drinks I can just grab in the afternoons.

(5) Keep nourished - I tend to forget about lunch! My seatmate has been pinging me every lunch time to check if I've eaten. He started to share with me what his lunch was today since he started working from home too. I normally eat leftovers from dinner or whatever Sweetie leaves for me in the fridge. It's better if you plan your dinner the night before so that you can just grab it from the fridge and microwave for lunch. Sweetie also prepared a snack bar for me. The snacks are a collection of odd stuff we pick up from the supermarket and pasalubongs from trips. Most important item I have on it now is... Skyflakes!

Don't forget to take breaks in between! :D

Online Learning and Working Remotely

There is a lot of concern now across the globe because of the coronavirus. In my home country I saw some areas don't have work and school for a few days this week. A few weeks ago we had a work from home drill to practice for a worst case scenario.

Working from home is not new to me. I worked remotely for five years for my current company. I even used dial-up connection for the first few months. I would go to an internet cafe if I needed to send larger documents. The conditions to work from home nowadays is much better and it also works even if you're just using mobile connection.

Multi-livestreams hosted by Google Educator Groups across Asia Pacific.

Some countries have also opted to close schools for the meantime. Learning continues for students even with schools closed. I see my Japanese teacher friends share how they have been managing. Aside from continuing their lessons, they are also required to check on all their students every day.

Here's what I use when I work remotely (and I'll put some notes at the end on what you can use if you're a teacher/student):

Hardware - I use a Chromebook. For work I use whatever is issued to me. For personal use I still use my Samsung Chromebook (circa 2014). I do everything anyway on the cloud and don't use fancy expensive apps. (more about Chromebooks here)

Communication -  Your Gmail account is all you need. It has everything I need to communicate. I use Gmail for sending emails/emailing documents with attachments. Google Hangout for video conferencing and calling (I use it to call my Mom on her landline). If you have a company then you should use GSuite for Business to make it easy for you to keep your data within your company.

Collaboration - Google Drive is your best friend when creating documents (Google Docs/Spreadsheets), presentations (Google Slides) and it makes it so easy to edit a document at the same time as your colleagues.

Productivity - My meetings are most of the time done with colleagues from other countries. I go around the globe everyday. Usually start in the US/Australia early in the morning, then I progress to North Asia countries, then Southeast Asia and then Europe by late afternoon. Sometimes Latin America too. Managing timezones and setting meetings has been easy with Google Calendar. When you set-up a meeting, add who you want to invite and add a link for a Google Hangout. When it's time for your meeting just join the Hangout link from the Calendar invite. Then to keep tabs with things you need to do, you can opt to take notes using Google Keep (which you can also easily share with someone else).

For Schools - I know a lot of schools have just been using personal Gmail accounts, but it's much better if you use GSuite for Education so you can control better the platform your teachers and students use. It's a free tool that Google provides for schools (just sign up here). If you need help to set up your account you can contact any of the Google for Education partners.

For Teachers - My teacher friends absolutely love Google Classroom. This makes it very easy for them to manage their class. You can easily set-up homework/assignment for your students and even run quizzes. And the best thing about it is you can easily record grades and share updates for parents. To run activities for your students, you can use Google Jamboard and watch them contribute live during the session. If it's too much for you, you can also just use Google Docs. [Google Classroom Tutorials, Forms tutorials] *And yes you can also use Google Classroom if you just have a consumer Gmail account.

If you want to run live lessons, you can opt to do a class using Google Meets. If your school is using GSuite for Education, you can host up to 100 students in your Google Meets session (and up to 250 until July 1, 2020). If you're just using a consumer Gmail account then you can host only up to 25 participants. It is best to put your students in a Google Group so you can just use the group email address when adding a Calendar invite.

When hosting your hangout you can also easily share your screen. Depending on your connectivity you can also show videos to your students. If you feel that connectivity is an issue you can ask everyone to just turn off their video and keep it as a voice call. I oftentimes join meetings on my phone even when I'm traveling. If you're hosting a larger class, you can also use Youtube Live.

You may be worried that there may be a lot of things to learn. Using the tools I mentioned above are tools you are likely already using during your personal time. Just try and explore, it's easy to learn :)

More resources you can check out -

Google initiative for school closures
Google for Education YouTube channel (demo videos available here!)
GEG Program YouTube channel (teacher made demo videos, Mandarin/Cantonese/Japanese videos now available)

Distance Learning Page

Distance Learning Tips 

How to sign up for GSuite for Education

What's the difference between Google Meets and Google Hangouts