Working from home for quiet time

When Companies End Remote Work, This is What They’re Really Saying (Hint: It’s About Trust)
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/when-companies-end-remote-work-what-theyre-really-saying-price

I thought this was a very good article. Especially fitting really in the about trust aspect and giving your staff the autonomy to do the work.

I would have done better working from home yesterday. I would have been more productive, I wouldn’t have accidentally said something that may be seen as lack of engagement. I was having a day where I needed to recharge, I didn’t want to be “on”, I had had enough with combating through the office politics. I didn’t want to deal with people, I just wanted to get my job done. At other times I might have taken a mental health day, but I felt I needed to be at work to make sure I got stuff done, too many tasks that I needed to do yesterday. Including saying goodbye to a fellow friend at work at her farewell as she goes off on her next adventure.

So I tried to zone out as much as I could when I could, I tried to just engage with those I felt safe around. That number of people does seem to be diminishing. But that might just be me feeling the effects of politics.

And today I will be “on” again for training and organising the school disco tonight. So very grateful for my planned quiet time this weekend.

Which brings me to daily standups and the need to work around being there physically but still being part of the event. Think I’ll look in to this. If anyone has any tips or tricks let me know.

Trello my new favourite to do app has a great guide on working from home. Trello remote work guide

What I have learned on my scrum journey

I have been a practising Scrum Master for 3 months now and this is what I have learned.

It’s awesome to have a colleague you can rebound ideas off.

Remember developers get excited and agree to more than they should.

People communicate and work differently. My tester is very visual and deadline orientated.

Keep the roadmap in view and on mind and update often.

Work on the business rules and other features that impact the architecture as early as you can.

It’s amazing what you achieve when you have a great team.

It’s hard to have stories fully complete at the end of a Sprint when your developer is a contract resource and you can’t really have them testing on the last days of a sprint.

Crack that whip more!

Business users struggle to understand MVP. They just want everything now and always seem worried that what you are delivering now is all they will get.

Getting feedback, tweaking and adjusting along the way is good for everyone.

You still need to think of the wider project management responsibilities (user training, handover and support, risks, issues, resource and budget considerations. Deployment to production and change management. Timelines and interdependencies.

There is more work needed up front before the Sprint starts. A lot more just to get the stories, team, budget, etc ready for Sprint activities.

It is hard to be the BA and the Scrum Master. One is right down in the detail and the other needs to keep their head at a higher level.

I wonder what my next 3 months will teach me and here’s hoping to reducing my fear of not being good enough and raising my confidence that I have this. I know what I’m doing.

more on happiness

I have been reading another happiness book, though you wouldn’t exactly guess it from the title. Help! by Oliver Burkeman. this book is not as positive and inspiring as the last one, The Art of being Brilliant By Andy Cope and Andy Whittaker purchase book on Amazon.

This book is more English in the humour and cynicism. He seemed to be focusing more on incremental change than changing your life all at once which is something I agree with, little changes and tweaks and evaluation of those changes and tweaks to see how they work for you.

some favourite quotes from the book.

Real self discipline is the willingness to make small incremental adjustments, to tolerate imperfections and bumpy progress and not throw the towel in the moment something goes wrong.

A growth mindset turns change into an adventure.

Then he turned to Random Acts of Kindness,

something that is touted as producing great happiness in the giver. Yet what about the receiver, we assume the receiver is equally thrilled, yet as a receiver we wonder what the giver of a Random act of kindness wants in return, reciprocity is so fundamental to human relationships that we assume something must be expected of us. So therefore should we as the giver almost explain our purpose for our RAK. Let the person know that we targeted them for a reason. Surely that will spread the happiness both ways.

I didn’t get as much out out this book as others but still found it an enjoyable and thought producing read.

Setting up systems to help with habits.

I confess, I am not good with sticking with new habits, I change my way of doing things all the time.  In fact the thing that really drives me nuts is that I can’t seem to stay with one to do list option even if it works.  I get bored easily and need to change it up.  I currently alternate between the following.

• Google Keep app
• Trello app
• physical diary (in the bullet journal type work way)
• Sticky notes ( the more colourful the better)
• Large lined sticky notes.
• OneNote app – though can’t make my mind up weather to keep adding to the top or the bottom.

I did also try outlook tasks but that failed miserably, I have come to terms with the fact that I need the constant change and regularly switch between them all.  Generally swapping when I start a new project.

After writing this and rereading it I had to giggle, I have had many a frustrated experience with my daughter around her following a set process for getting ready in the morning, doing her homework in the afternoons and getting ready for bed at night.   I guess I should be mixing up her to do list for her a bit more.

But I digress, this post is all about my lack of good habits around health and fitness and how I found a way to make this a more positive experience instead of a self critical “you haven’t done it again” thing.  I recently read that instead of trying to set up good habits around health and fitness you should set up systems to help you achieve your goals.

So I bought myself a Fit bit Alta and I love it.

I did find that I had to wear it a bit looser than I originally set it as at night I don’t like tight things on my wrist, but I love the sleep tracking capability.

I like the weekly summary to see how I am tracking

I like the water and food logging which holds me accountable for what I put into my body.

I like the way you can set alarms to wake you up with a buzz on the arm.

I really like the special buzz for when you achieve your target daily step count.

I have been using it now for 2 months, by the way people talk about habits, it should totally be an ingrained habit – it is not – I have faltered on the food and drink logging,  I was battling a cold last week and my steps didn’t get close to where they should have been.

Now that I am feeling better again and not feeling quite so overloaded with work etc I am going to get back into it.   – It’s a new school term I can start again.

Do you have any recommendations for good to do list apps I can add to my list?  Please leave me a comment.