I have been working remotely for several years. I started collecting resources to share with others and it’s getting to be a long list! Don’t try to read everything!
Pick something that resonates for you and if learning is what you need, start with a training or a course. This is a marathon, not a sprint, so pace yourself.
Getting Started
How To Switch To Remote Working Quickly, For Both Employers And Employees (Forbes)
How to Be a Happy and Healthy Remote Worker (Trello)
Working From Home? 12 Guides To Help Navigate The Remote Life (Trello)
How to Embrace Remote Work (Trello)
8 strategies to set up remote work during the coronavirus outbreak (Fast Company)
How to Work From Home Now That Your Boss Doesn’t Want You Coming In (New York Times)
Resources For Teaching and Learning During This Period of Social Distancing (KQED)
Includes guidance on a home-work routine
23 Essential Tips for Working Remotely (Inc.)
I’ve worked from home for almost 20 years. These 6 tips make it awesome (Fast Company)
7 Essential Tips for Working From Home During the Coronavirus Pandemic (The Muse)
9 Creative Ways to Stay Connected to Your Coworkers When You’re All Working From Home (The Muse)
The Ultimate Guide to Remote Work (Miro)
Greater Good’s Guide to Well-Being During Coronavirus (The Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley)
Remote Work Resources from Google https://grow.google/remotework/
15 Questions About Remote Work, Answered by Tsedal Neeley (HBR)
Thrust Into Working Remotely? Try This Attitude Adjustment by Mark C. Perna
History shows that working from home is actually the oldest model of human productivity
Resources for managers
Managing Remote Teams (Inc.)
4 ways to manage remote workers when you don’t know how long they’ll be working from home (Fast Company)
How to Manage Newly Remote Teams (Vital Smarts)
A Guide to Managing Your (Newly) Remote Workers (HBR)
How companies can support their employee caregivers during the COVID-19 outbreak
https://www.fastcompany.com/90480199/how-companies-can-support-their-employee-caregivers-during-the-covid-19-outbreak
Leading From a Distance with Kevin Eikenberry on LinkedIn Learning (37 minutes)
https://www.linkedin.com/learning/leading-at-a-distance/types-of-remote-teams
Remote Coaching and Feedback (2 minutes 27 seconds)
https://www.linkedin.com/learning/leading-at-a-distance/remote-coaching-and-feedback
How to Keep Your Team Motivated, Remotely by Lindsay McGregor and Neel Doshi (HBR)
https://hbr.org/2020/04/how-to-keep-your-team-motivated-remotely
10 top challenges you’ll face during the giant work-from-home experiment (ZDNet)
Keep Your People Learning When You Go Virtual by Annie Peshkam and Gianpiero Petriglieri (HBR)
https://hbr.org/2020/04/keep-your-people-learning-when-you-go-virtual
Communication
10 Digital Miscommunications — and How to Avoid Them by Liz Fosslien and Mollie West Duffy
https://hbr.org/2020/03/10-digital-miscommunications-and-how-to-avoid-them
Digital Body Language by Erica Dhawan. Covers all types of electronic communications including email and messaging.
Five Ways to Improve Communication in Virtual Teams: New research reveals simple strategies that boost performance by N. Sharon Hill and Kathryn M. Bartol (MIT Sloan Management Review)
How to Become a Better Listener, by David D. Perlmutter (The Chronicle of Higher Education)
Remote Work Revolution: Succeeding from Anywhere by Tsedal Neely
Teaching and Learning Resources
https://library.educause.edu/topics/teaching-and-learning/online-learning (Educause)
Resources for Parents
Remote Learning Quickstart Guide from Khan Academy
Resources For Teaching and Learning During This Period of Social Distancing (KQED)
Includes guidance on a home-work routine
7 Tips for Working From Home With Kids When Coronavirus Has Shut Everything Down (The Muse)
A Guide for Working (From Home) Parents (HBR)
Coloring and Activity Book (PDF) from ASU’s Center for Child Well-Being
Time Management: Working from Home with Dave Crenshaw on LinkedIn Learning (1 hour and 25 minutes)
https://www.linkedin.com/learning/time-management-working-from-home/
(Includes setting boundaries and considerations for parents and caregivers)
Tips For Homeschooling During Coronavirus (NPR)
https://www.npr.org/2020/03/23/820228206/6-tips-for-homeschooling-during-coronavirus
How to Help Teens Shelter in Place (Greater Good Science Center)
https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_to_help_teens_shelter_in_place
4 Ways to Help Your Anxious Kid: First, acknowledge ways the coronavirus has changed their lives By Jessica Grose (New York Times)
Resources for Pet Parents
Working From Home: A Guide for Pet Parents (Chewy) https://petcentral.chewy.com/working-from-home-a-guide-for-pet-parents/
Resilience, Compassion and Self-Compassion
Coping with Fatigue, Fear, and Panic During a Crisis by Tony Schwartz and Emily Pines (HBR)
The gift and the power of emotional courage with Susan David (TED)
Permission to Feel: Unlocking the Power of Emotions to Help Our Kids, Ourselves, and Our Society Thrive by Marc Brackett
Building Resilience as a Leader with Gemma Leigh Roberts (LinkedIn Learning, 43 minutes)
Greater Good’s Guide to Well-Being During Coronavirus (The Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley)
Feeling Overwhelmed at Work? 8 Self-Care Activities That Take 5 Minutes or Less
Exercise Scientists: This Is the Ideal Amount of Exercise When You’re Cooped Up at Home by Jessica Stillman (Inc)
These 6 simple habits can help calm your coronavirus anxieties by Stephanie Vozza (Fast Company)
TED Connects talks: https://www.ted.com/about/programs-initiatives/ted-connects-community-hope
You’re Not Powerless in the Face of Uncertainty by Nathan Furr (HBR)
https://hbr.org/2020/03/youre-not-powerless-in-the-face-of-uncertainty
Greater Good’s Guide to Well-Being During Coronavirus (The Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley)
What Your Coworkers Need Right Now Is Compassion
That Discomfort You’re Feeling Is Grief by Scott Berinato (HBR)
Grieving the Losses of Coronavirus (New York Times)
3 Tips to Avoid WFH Burnout by Laura M. Giurge and Vanessa K. Bohns (HBR)
https://hbr.org/2020/04/3-tips-to-avoid-wfh-burnout
On Coronavirus Lockdown? Look for Meaning, Not Happiness
Why cultivating “tragic optimism” will help us weather this crisis — and even grow from it.
By Emily Esfahani Smith (New York Times)
Wellness
The Scientific 7-Minute Workout (New York Times)
Greater Good’s Guide to Well-Being During Coronavirus (The Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley)
Hidden Health Hazards of Working from Home: Tips to Avoid Three Silent Saboteurs By Sabina Nawaz (Thrive Global)
Video Conferencing/Virtual Meetings
LinkedInLearning/Lynda.com is a great resource for online training that might be available through your workplace or local library.
Learning Zoom with Garrick Chow (45 minutes) https://www.linkedin.com/learning/learning-zoom/
Leading Virtual Meetings with Kevin Eikenberry (33 minutes)
https://www.linkedin.com/learning/leading-virtual-meetings
Executive Presence on Video Conference Calls with Jessica Chen (35 minutes) https://www.linkedin.com/learning/executive-presence-on-video-conference-calls/
Succeeding in a video conference
https://www.linkedin.com/learning/communication-tips/succeeding-in-a-video-conference
Communicating Remotely
https://www.linkedin.com/learning/communication-tips/communicating-remotely
Virtual Meetings Don’t Have to Be a Bore (HBR)
Zoom-specific training resources
Managing Video Breakout Rooms: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/206476313-Managing-Video-Breakout-Rooms
Automatically Transcribe Cloud Recordings with Zoom: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/115004794983-Automatically-Transcribe-Cloud-Recordings-
Using polling during Zoom meetings: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/213756303-Polling-for-Meetings
Recording Zoom sessions: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/203741855-Cloud-recording
(Best practice is to let everyone know that you are recording the session. The recordings can be shared on Canvas or with a Dropbox link.)
Zoom webinars: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/200917029-Getting-Started-With-Webinar
Zoom integration for Outlook: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/115005223126-Zoom-for-Outlook-Add-In-Web-and-Desktop-
Zoom/Slack integration: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/205153255-Setting-Up-Slack-Integration
Using a second camera (like a document camera): https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/207599483-Screen-Share-a-Camera-Input
Troubleshoot audio on Zoom: https://blog.zoom.us/wordpress/2014/03/20/troubleshooting-audio-feedback-zoom/?fbclid=IwAR3cPEKduKe-AszhHj9H3estApHN350dNFXEb52L_yNVv40IV81n1hGUhAI
Look your best with a soft focus using the Touch Up My Appearance setting in Zoom: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/115002595343-Touch-Up-My-Appearance
Equipment/Video Conferencing set-up
This is the Mac and PC-friendly headphones with microphone that I use for Zoom and Skype calls:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CV8G3B5/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Collaboration Tools
- Zoom: meetings, whiteboarding, screen sharing, small group breakouts, recording capability to share content asynchronously
- Slack: asynchronous information sharing, project updates, and water cooler chat
- Trello: a visual project management tool
- Google Workspace: document collaboration
- Dropbox: document/resource sharing, archiving and collaboration
- Loom, https://www.loom.com/: videos and screen capture (Chrome extension and desktop app)
- Screencastify https://www.screencastify.com/education (free options)
- ScreenCastOMatic https://screencast-o-matic.com/ ($1.65-4.00 per month)
- Padlet https://padlet.com/ (free version available)
- Kudoboard https://www.kudoboard.com/ (free version available)
- Wakelet: https://wakelet.com/ (free version available)
Other video conferencing tools
- Zoom: https://zoom.us/
- 8×8 Video Conferencing software: https://8×8.vc/
- Big Blue Button video conferencing: https://bigbluebutton.org/
- BlueJeans: https://www.bluejeans.com/
- Google Hangouts: https://hangouts.google.com/ (free option)
- Microsoft Teams: https://products.office.com/en-us/microsoft-teams/group-chat-software
Creating videos using Zoom
- Free teleprompter software for tablets and computers
https://telepromptermirror.com/telepromptersoftware.htm - Captioning: Automatically Transcribe Cloud Recordings with Zoom
- https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/115004794983-Automatically-Transcribe-Cloud-Recordings-
Productivity and sanity apps
- Forest app: provides a gaming style reward (grow trees!) for staying off your phone: https://www.forestapp.cc/
- Try the Pomodoro Technique: developed by Francesco Cirillo. Focus for 25-minutes and then take a 5-minute break. Check out this Chrome extension by Chris Schmich for an easy-to-use timer to keep track of focused work with built-in breaks. If you have the tomato timer, use it!
- Momentum browser plugin: https://momentumdash.com/
Add some awe into your day with amazing nature photos and inspirational quotes every time you open a new browser tab. Especially helpful if you can’t get outside. - How to Take Smart Notes by Sonkë Ahrens