Thinking Remote

Designing the digital workspace: what we can learn from the physical space

When objectives are well defined, trust is maintained, and everyone communicates effectively and appropriately – they will not get hung-up on needing to be seen to be ‘busy’ while working remotely. They can just enjoy being truly productive and effective

It’s important to nip in the bud any demonstrated tendencies to replicate ‘presenteeism’ games in the online office. Replacing the ‘jacket on the back of the chair’ with a habit of checking out shared documents ridiculously early in the morning, or replying to emails and instant messages late at night, shouldn’t impress anyone. From a supervisory point of view, all it points to is poor time management skills in need of remedy.

I can recall consulting in a client service-based office once, where it emerged that all timesheets were hurriedly reconstructed most Friday afternoons, when HR sent the reminder email out – and constituted little more than creative guesswork in most cases as a result.
So, that wasn’t working.

Also bear in mind that other than in very specific professions, this rarely relates to anything about time spent on particular activities.

Whether you are excited by a new tool on the market, or struggling to get the new technology to work, remember not to lose sight of what you are trying to do.

Going back to the collaboration areas in the digital workspace, how you label them will encourage different kinds of behaviours and influence people’s relationship with the space. So it is worth giving some thought to how you name the groups, channels, boards, lists and so on – all those areas that make up a collaboration space.

Something as simple as changing the background on a project board, or having a prominent image that is not the company logo, might create a greater sense of connection with the team.