Telecommuting tips to increase your productivity
January 30th, 2013 GTD Times Team - Staff ContributorsCategories | Family | Getting Things Done | Implementation
USA Today has an article in their Money Quick Tips section, on how to Make Telecommuting Work for You.
The article points out that ten percent of workers work at home for some or all of their time on the job, so it’s important to make that home office a productive environment. Expect to be distracted, by things like these:
1. Children and family wanting attention.
2. Children, family, pets disturbing work telephone calls.
3. Difficulties accessing office equipment.
You can make your telecommuting more productive by having clear agreements with family members about whether it’s okay to interrupt you when you’re working at home. Ask for as much IT support as your employer will provide, including remote access to files. And be sure to set boundaries on how much time you’ll spend working, if you find you tend to work more hours just because the line between home and work has been blurred.
How has telecommuting affected your productivity?
And if you’re not telecommuting, how much of your job could you do remotely, if your employer supported that option?
I telecommute exclusively from home and getting distracted by family, pets etc. is not a new thing for me. The tricky part is learning how to discipline yourself and bring work-life balance. Although some are against the concept of time tracking, I have used Worksnaps (http://worksnaps.net) and it has greatly increased my productivity. With it, I can always check where my time went while working on a project.
I also telecommute exclusively from home. I started just a few weeks ago, and so far I find that distractions come from family members and pets. The crack under my door doesn’t help when it comes to meetings, but I just make sure to tell the others in my house that when the door is closed, I’m busy. To stay productive, I create task lists using Kona (www.kona.com). My tasks appear on my daily calendar and I can easily check them off when I’m done. I also stay in touch with my team using Kona; it’s very conversation-centric so I feel close to everyone.