​Remote working is quickly building a reputation as a standalone model rather than simply a solution in today’s business culture. If working remotely fits your organization’s needs, then the following tips and tricks will be very useful in creating a successful remote working environment.

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1. The Pomodoro Technique

Time management can be one of the biggest hurdles when working remotely. You will probably need to track your time in some way. The Pomodoro technique is a time management method developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s.

What you will need:
  • A timer (your phone)

How the Pomodoro technique works:
  1. Work on a task for 25 minutes
  2. Take a 5 minute break
  3. Repeat these steps for 4 times
  4. Take a 15 minute break
  5. Go back to step 1 and repeat.
Check out the following video to find out more about this useful technique!


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2. Get comfortable with tools to help you collaborate online

There are many tools out there that you can use to help you as a virtual team and to organize your information collectively. Some of them include:
  • Padlet
  • Mentimeter
  • MURAL


​3. Prototyping new ways of working

Working remotely will mean finding new ways of working and creating a shared understanding of what it means. Using the tools from the section mentioned in the previous card, you can apply ways to diverge and converge thinking. 

Divergent thinking is when you work as a group to build upon each other's work.

Convergent thinking is when you begin to crystallise your ideas by making decisions.



​4. How to decide and prioritise tasks

You and your team should now be able to:
  • Organize and stick to a time/schedule;
  • Get comfortable with online collaboration tools;
  • Begin to co-create and develop ideas.

Now might be the point where your team has to decide on which tasks need to be prioritised and how. A tool that will help you is the Impact Effort Matrix. 

Draw it in MURAL to help you and your team.

Written by
Hyper Island