The wolves are separated from the pack | #stayhome

The Coronavirus has the world redoing how it interacts, works, learns, and meets! Most conferences have been canceled, supermarkets are empty, schools are closed, and many organizations are ceasing travel and office work! Romania is still a safe country, but we know entire countries are on lockdown and we want to keep the virus curve flattened as much as possible. Hence, work won’t be the same for a while and the wolves are now remotees! 

To make everything more bearable, here are a few tips from our team on productivity, human connection and kids' activity!

🙌 Stay productive. How to set up a workstation, make sure your videocalls are good, stay connected to your team and have a work schedule

Most experts (be it from Cambridge or other great R&D centers) recommend setting aside a workspace to get you into “work” mode: chose a spot that fits your work style and make it an office. Make sure you only use it during your work schedule! Add some scent diffuser and sound to it (there are plenty of playlists on Spotify!), to associate them with your workplace!

• Video Calls: How to not look like you are in a basement somewhere in Eastern Europe.

Even though we work remotely, we keep having calls with our leads and clients, have demo presentations and plan our sprints! Appearance is an important factor, so make sure you have good lighting, a professional background (something like your library would work, or a nice wall without too many things on it). Needless to say that you should wear business-casual clothes to avoid awkward moments.
As usual, for a productive call: Write talking points, reminders and key take-aways on Post-It notes or wherever you feel like it and quit out of any apps you won’t be using prior to the meeting - you do not want to see the Slack push notifications with your gif chats during a demo presentation with the clients!
Computer Backgrounds: for the love of wolves, please use something decent, clean and nice! 
Tools we love: use Slack video calls or whereby for your calls!

• Scheduling: When you go to your office, you have a set schedule (e.g., 8 AM to 4 PM), so why not create a time that you’re “in office” every day, and be prepared to start working at that time. Keep your calendar updated as well, so people can book meetings with you during your working hours.

Tools: use google calendar (Gsuite), trello and calendly to manage your time and work properly.

• Keep connected and communicate with your team

Coffee breaks are not the same, neither the lunchtime chit-chat or the ping pong game in the garden, but you can still simulate part of these! You can always set up virtual “coffee chats” and “happy hours”, send some gifs to keep the jokes up and entertaining and be creative when it comes to breaks.

Tools: Slack (besides the company workspace, there are plenty of communities on slack to join!) and pictures with your cat or dog. :) 

☕Pre-office time preps: coffee and cooking

Cooking and eating: make sure you have your lunch breaks as you would have in the office. This will ensure proper nutrition and you will avoid having all sorts of jars near your computer or lots of breaks just to look in the fridge.

• Coffee: There is no coffee machine like the one in the office, but making your own coffee can save time, money and your day. So, prep your coffee in the morning! 
• In case you are not a master chef, no worries, there is a list of easy-to-cook meals: NYT sheet pan dinners, pantry- and freezer-friendly recipes

Tools: Spotify, pans, some nice dance moves, and some groceries (do not mass shop, please!)

👶Parenting

Some of our colleagues have kids, and most likely you do too! 

• Homeschooling: A thread with good resources
• Scheduling: This one was shared around the internet
• And here's a general family corona battleplan
• Watch some smart and cultural things:
  • Aquarium live cam 
  • Explore all films and interactive documentaries that have been shown at IDFA over the years. Many are available to watch online, some for free!
  • A magazine of virtual tours, live streams, and online cultural programs
  • The National Gallery of Art is giving virtual tours
  • Go on an adventure with these 30 virtual field trips

Tools: pencils, crayons, paper (lots of it), anything that makes noises, coloring books, a lot of patience and good mood :) 

💡Extra: things to do when you’re in self-isolation and not working

Everyone might start to binge-watch series or Netflix and Chill, but you can also take the time to learn new skills, get certifications and read a lot. These are things that you keep postponing and now you have plenty of time to focus on them! Here

• Dive into the world of data science or “No Code.”
• Cisco Networking Academy - there are plenty of courses and certifications awaiting for you (personally, I think I will go for the cybersecurity one)
• Browse UiPath's Courses & Learning Plans. UI Path is the unicorn of RPA (Robotic Process Automation) and there are plenty of cool courses to learn more about business analysis, automation, architecture and infrastructure solutions
• Tips for learning new skills fast: Take Short Breaks, Early And Often
• 450 free Ivy League online classes
• Free educational courses offered due to school closings.
• Read long articles: there are plenty on medium (and the wolfpack digital blog as well!)
• Listen to podcasts - here are some of our team favorites: Developer Tea, 99% invisible, Planet Money, Stuff you should know, SaaS Open Mic, Business Wars, Business Casual 
• Read books: here's a Full list of Bill Gates’s reading list from 2012 on. And you can use Underline app to take notes, scan the books and keep track of everything!
• Exercise! Stay healthy and fit and do some workouts from home. There are plenty of apps, video tutorials, and online class memberships. So, feel free to pick something to fit you! But here's a workout database: This should have everything you need.

A huge thanks to our pack for being productive and responsive while being an amazing distributed team and for taking care of each of our projects and clients during these challenging times! You are all exceptional teammates!🐺

Thank you all and stay safe!