How to transition to remote work with a good collaboration workflow.

The past few months have been a unique time for us all. And we are still facing a somewhat unknown era ahead. For some of our clients the work load exploded and needed to be managed remotely from one day to the next. Other companies came to a complete halt, as all production work was cancelled. But here are some great ideas which have emerged during the crisis.

All businesses, whether big or small, experienced a transition from the classic office to full remote working. For some this was an easier than others. Good collaboration and organisation has been key for the smooth and successful transition to this "new normal".

What is remote collaboration?

Remote collaboration definition is that it's a process where team members work together, regardless of their geographic location, to achieve goals. It facilitates communication and productivity. Thanks to modern-day remote software tools such as farmerswife and cirkus, employees can collaborate without being physically in the office.

The best project management software can help bring employees together and work effectively!

Ways to increase productivity when working remotely

Remote collaboration software

There are great softwares out there than can help managing workload effectively and team collaboration for remote workers. Both farmerswife and Cirkus allow a scheduling view with simple drag & drop functionality. You can also use the iOS app or get your events in your iCal to have them available wherever you are.

Internal team communication

There is also a wide list of team communication tools that are used in combination with others, to eliminate the endless stream of email communication.

Virtual communication Tools

We're using Slack for quick conversations, team wide updates and discussions in various "channels". We've also integrated Cirkus and other tools with Slack, so having the full overview of different tools and channels in there is very useful. Additionally we use Zoom (video-conferencing tool) and GoToMeeting for meetings and customer support.

Planning And Scheduling Projects And Tasks

To plan and schedule your own or other's work, it is handy to have a software such as farmerswife, with an easy overview of all current projects, as well as availability of resources and freelancers. Also, scheduling your own work assignments allows not only a better schedule for your day and time spent on individual tasks as we know time tracking for organizations is very important, but in the end a more efficient time management.

schedule fw-1

See what our client "The Look" states: "We live in a world where people feel ‘flexible working’ is a holy grail, but when our time isn’t managed well we can easily become reactive rather than proactive, and stressed. By utilising farmerswife properly the whole team can benefit from calmer more structured working."

Clear Goals and Objectives

This can be as simple as taking home your laptop and sitting at the kitchen table to continue with your producer or scheduling duties, or as complex as needing to create a professional remote working space where you can be undisturbed and fully concentrate - for example installing a fully-fledged colour grading remote station. But the technical challenges are not the only ones.

Apart from the physical location that has been moved it is also our habits that need a shift. Being so "close" to work (or home) all day makes it easy to switch from "work work" to do to some "home" work, or on the other hand it is very easy to "work" whenever close to the computer. A clear schedule, and planning out tasks, can help to structure the day and focus on the most important tasks - allowing your personal time off. Organising the long list of due tasks.

Establishing Great Team Collaboration

Based on the recent impact of the pandemic there have been countless studies, blogs and other publications about collaboration and how teamwork sets companies up for success. Companies need to establish efficient collaboration across teams and employees, and employees need to get used to new ways to collaborate and communicate.

cirkus collaboration

With setting up teams, groups and roles for your staff - processes can be optimized and teams become self-organized. Cirkus helps with its project and task templates, that can be assigned to roles and teams (groups) to organize work quickly and easily, and to collaborate efficiently.

“Before we used Cirkus we collaborated on our projects, with our main ops manager using Google docs to manage projects. Digital production is a flexible, multi-skilled, 24/7 business. As our team works in different locations at different times, we needed a solution that allows us to communicate simply and effectively.” says "The Media Bunker"

Support Each Other

But learning to work with a good remote team collaboration means that you have been able to find ways to maintain visibility across team projects and stay organized from anywhere. The "communication is the key" formula is at the heart of this issue. Without it, even the best employee may struggle to connect with the rest of the group.

Collaborative tasks in the workplace can help lift every member of your team to the next level. If you feel stuck at some point, asking a teammate for their input can help you finish a project successfully.

MPS Sonnenstudio finds that "Cirkus changed our communication radically. Now that all project relevant info is kept on one spot, it made our work lives easier and most importantly, more fun."

Conclusion

We hope you enjoyed reading about our remote working experience and knowledge sharing, and that these tips can help you make the most out of your remote work collaboration situation.

Adapting to this new reality is still the case for many. We at farmerswife, use both farmerswife and Cirkus for scheduling our globally distributed team and remote collaboration. This allows us to continue to support our customers and ship updates on our products as usual.

Contact us now for a 1-1 demo.

Remote Work and Collaboration