There are lots of different tools in the market place for remote work. The most common tools are instant messaging, your phone, video calls and screen sharing. Now, you don’t need a lesson on how to use your phone. For instant messaging Slack and Google Chat are popular for quick back and forth communications.
When it comes to video conferencing this is really important to get the face time with people. Popular platforms include Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, BlueJeans, join.me and Skype. Screensharing is great for sharing your work with others. The problem is it’s generally done on live calls. When you can’t schedule an n person meeting creating a screencast is a valuable alternative.
To create a screencast you will need a screen recorder. You can record your screen by downloading QuickTime but a valuable alternative is to use Watch and Learn. On the Google Chrome web store, there is the Watch and Learn Screen Recorder which you can search for and download. Once downloaded this appears on your Google Chrome web browser toolbar. To record a page all you need to do is navigate to the page in question and you can quickly record your screen. Before you hit record you need to choose which video site to publish your screencast to and whether you want to send it to the timeline, a private group or to an individual person. Your screen can be recorded for the entire desktop or just the tab in question. When you are finished recording your screencast is uploaded to the cloud for safe storage.
In the absence of water cooler conversations, you can tap people virtually on the shoulder with questions in private groups or on the company-wide timeline. This helps recreate some of the small talk that would usually happen in an office environment which has been missing for people in a screen-based world. When you are working remotely the need to be transparent and on the same page becomes more important. We often use Google Docs shared as links on Watch and Learn to talk through ideas. This might be posting a voice note with a link to a Google Doc or it could be a screencast talking through a document.
In a remote setting, you can communicate in real-time or asynchronously. When something is urgent it’s worth going synchronous. But everything else the more you can do asynchronously the better. Watch and Learn allows you to stay connected and keep collaborating without the need for constant meetings. It’s also worth asking your team members which communication channels they prefer. You have to use your common sense to understand which communications to use. For example, long-winded messages in instant messaging won’t work. A shared document is probably more appropriate.
Not all meetings need to happen. Think about instances where you can reduce your meetings. Perhaps you can replace certain meetings with screencasts? When you’re not in an office and you can’t see your colleagues being transparent about tasks and timelines is crucially important. You can always set up a meeting when projects and tasks start to drift.
Being proactive as a communicator, using collaboration tools and being transparent about your work will help you improve your remote work satisfaction. When all this is in place there will be greater freedom for you to work when and how you want. There are no one-size-fits-all solutions. Each team and business is different. Building relationships with people when you’re not in the same room is challenging. Using new technology such as screencasting can help bridge the gap.