Get More Done: 18 Tips for Telecommuters遠(yuǎn)程辦公提速增效的十八條秘訣

文/克里斯蒂娜·戴馬雷 譯/蘇相宜

By Christina DesMarais

Get More Done: 18 Tips for Telecommuters遠(yuǎn)程辦公提速增效的十八條秘訣

文/克里斯蒂娜·戴馬雷 譯/蘇相宜

ByChristina DesMarais

Remote workers weigh in on what helps them amp productivity and stay in touch with the office. 遠(yuǎn)程上班族們在掂量：怎樣增強(qiáng)生產(chǎn)力，并與辦公室保持聯(lián)系呢？

Working from home is great on so many levels. Not having to commute saves money and time and can actually make you happier. A plethora1plethora過多，過量。of free tools make it dead simple to check in with office teammates. And if you want to work in sweats or pajamas,you can.

But there are challenges, as well.How do you keep from getting distracted with domestic duties? How do you handle a friend who stops by unannounced in the middle of the day?How do you get anything done if you have kids around?

A slew of people who work from home chimed in on the subject. Here’s their advice.

從許多層面來講，居家工

作棒極了。無須通勤，既可以節(jié)省時(shí)間、金錢，并且可以提高幸福度。多如牛毛的免費(fèi)工具，使得和辦公室同事聯(lián)絡(luò)無比簡單。假如你想穿著運(yùn)動(dòng)裝或者睡衣工作，也無不可。

但這也存在挑戰(zhàn)。怎么避免被家務(wù)分心呢？白天有朋友突然到訪怎么辦？你在一群小孩子中間能做事嗎？

關(guān)于這個(gè)問題，一大波居家工作族有話要說。以下是他們的建議。

1.確定每天需要做什么，保證完成?！爸灰覍θ绾瓮瓿纱k事項(xiàng)清單上的每日任務(wù)有清晰的計(jì)劃，即使有干擾也沒關(guān)系，我在當(dāng)天把事做完就行?！边~克爾·佩索琴斯基說。他是紐約州大內(nèi)克GovernmentBargains的副總裁、總承包人兼首席技術(shù)官。

1. Identify what needs to get done every day and make sure to doit.“As long as I have a plan on how to complete the list of daily tasks on my personal to-do list, it doesn’t matter if or how I may be interrupted, as long as I get things done by the end of the day,”says Michael Pesochinsky, VP, GC and CTO of Great Neck, New York-based GovernmentBargains.

2. Use the cloud.Klaus Sonnenleiter,president and CEO of Franklin Lakes,New Jersey-based PrintedArt, insists that important documents need to be uploaded to a cloud storage service such as Dropbox or Google Drive. “This way you can log in from anywhere and never need to worry about having your files with you,” he says.

3. Get dressed.“I find that the most important thing for me is to keep a regular routine and to shower and dress every day as if I were going to an actual office,” says Jenifer Kramer, Principal of West Hollywood, Californiabased Jenerosity Marketing.

Catherine Waldron, education specialist, with Enfield, Connecticut-based language curriculum company QTalk Publishing, agrees, and says she showers and dresses for work every day. “Getting dressed makes the home office more like a real office, and tells and reminds everyone, especially you,that even though you may be sitting on the sofa reading, browsing the Web,or talking on the phone, that you are actually working,” she says.

2.使用云端。PrintedArt位于新澤西州富蘭克林湖，該公司董事長兼首席執(zhí)行官克勞斯·索倫雷特堅(jiān)信，重要文件有必要上傳到諸如Dropbox或Google Drive之類的云端存儲(chǔ)服務(wù)器。他說：“這樣你可以在任何地方登錄，永遠(yuǎn)不必操心隨身攜帶文件?！?/p>

3.穿衣打扮。“我發(fā)現(xiàn)，對我而言最重要的事情是作息規(guī)律，天天洗澡，梳妝打扮，好像我要去一間真正的辦公室?！奔永Ｄ醽喼菸骱萌R塢的杰羅瑞斯汀營銷學(xué)校校長珍妮弗·克雷默說。

凱瑟琳·沃爾德倫，是康涅狄格州恩菲爾德的語言教學(xué)公司“QTalk出版”的一位教育專家，她贊同這個(gè)觀點(diǎn)，說自己每天洗得干干凈凈、穿得整整齊齊再工作。她說：“穿衣打扮使得在家更像在真正的辦公室，能告訴和提醒大家，特別是提醒自己，就算你坐在沙發(fā)里看書、上網(wǎng)或打電話，你都在工作?！?/p>

4. Don’t let friends stop by.Dana Marlowe, principal partner of the Silver Spring, Maryland-based IT accessibility consulting firm Accessibility Partners,uses lunch as a time to meet with friends and if they show up at her house she politely tells them she’s working.“Boundaries are only as effective as they are enforced,” she says.

Catherine Simms, co-founder of Stamford, Connecticut-based pet accessories company Whiner & Diner,also avoids drop-in visitors. “I just tell them that it is not a good time [and]over the weekend would be better,” she says. She also instructs them to call first to see if she’s home. Then when they do she doesn’t pick up, at least during work hours.

5. Get out of the house.Meagan French, marketing consultant with San Francisco-based Meagan French Marketing, likes to work out of coffee shops. “Leaving my house to work helps separate my work time and personal time,” she says.

6. Make a stoplight for family members.Here’s an idea from John Meyer, CEO of Miramar, Floridabased work-at-home call center company Arise Virtual Solutions. Hang or tape colored construction paper on your office door. “Tape the red light up when you cannot be disturbed and the green light when it’s OK to come in. Yellow light means to check first,”he says. “Kids, no matter what age,understand the message and enjoy playing along.”

4.拒絕朋友隨意上門。信息技術(shù)咨詢公司Accessibility Partners位于馬里蘭州銀泉，該公司的第一合伙人達(dá)納·馬洛，利用午餐時(shí)間會(huì)見朋友，如果朋友們直接出現(xiàn)在家門口，她禮貌地說她正在工作。她說：“規(guī)矩只有執(zhí)行了才是規(guī)矩。”

凱瑟琳·西姆斯是康涅狄格州斯坦福的寵物配飾公司W(wǎng)hiner＆Diner的聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人，她也拒絕不速之客。她說：“我只告訴他們，時(shí)間不合適，（以及）周末會(huì)更好。”她還要求朋友先打電話確認(rèn)她是否在家。如果電話打過來，她至少在工作期間不會(huì)接聽。

5.走到戶外。米根·弗倫奇是舊金山“米根·弗倫奇營銷公司”的市場顧問，她喜歡去咖啡店工作。她說：“離開家工作，有助于區(qū)分我的工作時(shí)間和私人時(shí)間?！?/p>

6.給家人設(shè)立免打擾標(biāo)識(shí)。佛羅里達(dá)州米拉瑪城一個(gè)居家辦公的呼叫中心Arise Virtual Solutions首席執(zhí)行官約翰·邁耶有一個(gè)創(chuàng)意。他在工作室門上懸掛或者粘貼彩色的圖畫紙。他說：“粘上紅燈信號(hào)——不得打擾；綠燈——允許進(jìn)入；黃燈——先問一聲。不管什么年紀(jì)的孩子，都理解這個(gè)信息，都樂意配合?！?/p>

7. Invest in creating a comfortable office.Deb McAlister-Holland,a freelance marketing professional in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, says the$5,000 she spent remodeling her home office was the best thing she ever did to increase her productivity. “I love my home office. It has a big leather sofa, three walls covered with builtin bookshelves and storage cabinets,dedicated circuits for my computers,special lighting, and a soft hand-woven rug on the floor that’s the perfect spot for my dog to nap while I work,” she says.

Frank Niles, co-founder and partner of Fayetteville, Arkansas-based Scholar Executive Group, a boutique executive coaching and executive counseling firm, sings a similar tune. “It may sound trivial but it’s not—also buy yourself a comfortable business chair,” he says. “You’ll be more inclined to stay working... As a result, you’ll be more productive.”

8. Be clear about your working hours.“Post your hours of operation on your door, as with any office and stick to them. Indicate on your voicemail your hours of operation and refer the caller to your residence phone if it is personal,” says Denise Beeson, small business loan officer and business instructor at Santa Rosa Jr. College, in Santa Rosa, California.

7.投資打造舒適的工作室。達(dá)拉斯福特沃斯地區(qū)的營銷專業(yè)自由作家德布·麥卡利斯特-霍蘭說，她花費(fèi)5000美元重塑家庭辦公室，那是她為了提升工作效率而做過最正確的事情。她說：“我愛我的家庭辦公室。它有大大的真皮沙發(fā)，三面墻壁內(nèi)嵌著書架和儲(chǔ)物柜，有電腦專用線路，有特殊照明。地板上一塊柔軟的手織地毯，工作時(shí)我的狗狗最愛在上面打盹兒?！?/p>

弗蘭克·奈爾斯是阿肯色州費(fèi)耶特維爾城“學(xué)者執(zhí)行官集團(tuán)”聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人與合伙人。這家公司提供執(zhí)行官培訓(xùn)和咨詢的高端服務(wù)。弗蘭克深有共鳴地說：“聽起來可能是雞毛蒜皮的事，其實(shí)非常重要。給自己也買一把舒適的商務(wù)椅吧。你會(huì)更愿意工作……從而更有成效?！?/p>

8.清楚你的工作時(shí)間。“和任何辦公室一樣，在門上張貼工作時(shí)間并且貫徹執(zhí)行。在語音信箱里明示你的工作時(shí)間，如果有私事請打你的住宅電話。”加利福尼亞州圣羅莎初級學(xué)院的小額商業(yè)貸款職員和商業(yè)講師丹尼絲·比森說。

9. Pretend you’re not home.Don’t answer your home phone or door during business hours, advises Ron Sellers,president of Phoenix-based Grey Matter Research & Consulting. “That way, I’m never tempted to chat or take time off or slack off in any way, and I remain focused on business,” he says.

10. Don’t go to non-work appointments in the middle of the day.“I try to make doctor and dentist appointments just as I would in a company office,first thing in the morning, last thing in the day to minimize disruptions of my work,” says Linda Stokes, managing partner of the Academy Physicians, a physician recruiting company in the Albuquerque, New Mexico, area.

11. Get in-person time with coworkers.Once a month the fourperson virtual team at Moreno Valley,California-based commercial telecom company TelecomQuotes meets in person. “I’m a big believer in kinesthetic learning or learning by doing and that’s a bit of a lost art with our virtual world,”says CEO Michael Bremmer. “There is something about white boarding an idea, while talking through the story and everyone is leaning in, engaged, thinking

9.假裝不在家。工作期間不應(yīng)門、不接家庭電話。位于鳳凰城的“克雷·馬特研究咨詢所”的總裁羅恩·塞勒斯如此建議?！澳菢游揖筒粫?huì)被吸引去聊天或者以任何方式休息偷懶，我能保持專心做業(yè)務(wù)?！?/p>

10.白天不進(jìn)行跟工作無關(guān)的約會(huì)?！拔以囍裨诠巨k公一樣預(yù)約大夫及牙醫(yī)，把它排成早上第一件事，或者排到一天的末尾。最大限度減少我的工作中斷?！绷者_(dá)·斯托克斯說。她是新墨西哥地區(qū)阿爾伯克基的醫(yī)師招募公司“學(xué)院醫(yī)師”的任事股東。

11.設(shè)定同事見面時(shí)間。加州莫雷諾谷的商業(yè)電信公司TelecomQuotes四人虛擬團(tuán)隊(duì)每個(gè)月見面一次。首席執(zhí)行官邁克爾·伯瑞姆說：“我信奉運(yùn)動(dòng)知覺學(xué)習(xí)，或稱為實(shí)踐中學(xué)習(xí)。在我們虛擬業(yè)界，這是一門近乎失傳的藝術(shù)。我們在白板上寫一個(gè)點(diǎn)子，通過故事討論，每個(gè)人都在投入、參與、思考共同目標(biāo)、吸納深層想法，about a common goal, drawing on the deep water thoughts, that you just don’t seem to get on a conference call or video call.”

12. Use Google+ Hangouts.While it’s ideal if you can occasionally meet in-person with coworkers, sometimes it’s not possible because teams are separated by geography. In that case,video chatting is the next best thing,with Google+ Hangouts being an excellent medium for doing it. You can meet with up to 10 people for free,unlike Skype in which at least one person in the group has to have a paid subscription for meetings between more than two people. It also lets you do things like share your screen with others or pull in apps such SlideShare or Cacoo to draw or give presentations,respectively. Check out Google+ a Ghost Town? Hardly, which discusses why Hangouts are good for business.

13. Enjoy your flexibility.Find your focus wavering? Take a break with a bike ride, swim, or even by quitting work for the entire day. That’s according to Patti Hill, founder and managing director of Austin, Texasbased Penman PR. “Because my work schedule can be as flexible as I need it to be, sometimes it’s important to walk away,” she says. “It’s amazing what a cool dip on a hot day can do for helping boost creative juices.”在電話會(huì)議或視頻電話中可能體驗(yàn)不到這些。”

12.使用Google+環(huán)聊。能和同事經(jīng)常碰頭是理想狀態(tài)，然而有時(shí)候辦不到，因?yàn)閳F(tuán)隊(duì)受地域限制。這種情形下，視頻聊天是退而求其次的選擇。Google+環(huán)聊是一種絕佳媒介，你可以免費(fèi)與多達(dá)十人會(huì)面；它不像Skype群組，多于兩個(gè)人參會(huì)，就需要其中至少一人付費(fèi)訂購。Google+環(huán)聊還能讓你做許多事，比如共享屏幕，或者嵌入SlideShare、Cacoo等應(yīng)用程序，用來繪圖表或播放演示文稿。要退出被稱為“鬼城”的Google+服務(wù)嗎？不太可能。這也說明了環(huán)聊對商業(yè)有利。

13.享受你的工作彈性。發(fā)覺你的注意力焦點(diǎn)搖擺不定？休息一下，騎車，游泳，或者干脆停工一天。這是帕蒂·希爾的建議。她是得克薩斯州奧斯汀的“彭曼公關(guān)”創(chuàng)始人兼常務(wù)董事。她說：“我的工作日程可以根據(jù)我的需要靈活調(diào)整。有時(shí)候，轉(zhuǎn)身走開很重要。在炎熱的一天泡個(gè)涼爽的澡，爽極了，有助于激發(fā)創(chuàng)意。”

14.享受干擾。雖然有的遠(yuǎn)程工作者在工作日回避私人拜訪，另一些人卻走了相反路徑。紐約市“有趣事物博物館”館長丹尼·丹尼爾說，他創(chuàng)業(yè)是為了能自己當(dāng)家作主。他說：“所以，人們不告而來的時(shí)候，我就嘗試享受當(dāng)下，和他們見面，除非我在接待客戶或者外出。日子再忙，至少我能見一會(huì)兒朋友，享受一點(diǎn)兒生活，那樣才能更好地工作。”

15.遠(yuǎn)離廚房?！斑@是遠(yuǎn)程上班族不為人知的小秘密，像回到了普遍吃胖15磅的大一新生時(shí)代。想想我工作的第一年打開多少次冰箱門，我就不寒而栗。吃零食根本停不下來?！眴桃痢ゑR蒂尼說。她是紐約市場營銷和通信公司“馬蒂尼咨詢”的總裁?！八阅阈枰o(jì)律，那是制約全局的關(guān)鍵：完成必要工作的紀(jì)律;不進(jìn)廚房的紀(jì)律;把不速之客踢出去的紀(jì)律?！?/p>

16.購買帶有靜音按鈕的降噪耳機(jī)。你一定不想在開網(wǎng)絡(luò)會(huì)議時(shí)，突然出現(xiàn)門鈴或警笛聲大作的情況?！爸X是最現(xiàn)實(shí)的?！奔~約一款膳食計(jì)劃is reality,” says New York City-based Jonathan Vlock, co-Founder of the mealplanning app Cooking Planit. “You want people to think you run a tight ship, and have all of the necessary resources at your fingertips. This is especially critical when you are an entrepreneur talking to someone at a larger organization. People can’t visualize your home but they can certainly visualize an office, and that is exactly what you want them to [see and hear].”

14. Enjoy disruptions.While some remote workers eschew personal visits during the work day, others take the opposite tack. Denny Daniel, curator of New York City-based The Museum of Interesting Things, says he started his own thing to reap the benefits of being his own boss. “So when people drop by I try to live life and see them unless I am with a client or not here, of course.If it is busy then at least I see them for a moment and enjoy life a bit too. It makes me work better in the end,” he says.

15. Stay out of the kitchen.“This is sort of the dirty little secret of telecommuters, but it’s like the freshman 15 all over again. I shudder at the thought of how many times I opened the fridge that first year. It was just constant snacking,” says Joy Martini,president of the New York Citybased marketing and communications firm Martini Consulting. “So you need a kind of discipline and that’s really the clincher2clincher起決定作用的事實(shí)（或話語）。for the whole thing: having the discipline to get done what you need to get done; the discipline to avoid the kitchen; the discipline to kick your drop-in friends out.”

16. Buy a noise-cancelling headset with a mute button.The last thing you want is to be in an online meeting and have the doorbell ring or police sirens blaring the background. “Perception應(yīng)用軟件Cooking Planit的聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人喬納森·弗洛克說，“你想要人們認(rèn)為你管理有方、所有資源唾手可得。當(dāng)你作為企業(yè)家與一個(gè)更大機(jī)構(gòu)的人談話時(shí)，這種印象尤其重要。人們想象不出你家的樣子，但他們肯定能想到一個(gè)辦公室的樣子，那正是你要傳達(dá)給他們看到和聽到的?！?/p>

17. Check in with co-workers and the boss several times a day.Several years ago I worked for a large company that let me telecommute several times a week. Because I wanted everyone in the office to know I was really working and not watching TV or out shopping,I made a point of emailing and calling co-workers and especially my boss a few times a day.

18. Make use of free or inexpensive communications technology.Today there are countless tools available for keeping in close communication with office mates. A few to try include Hipchat for group chatting, Trello or Asana for project management, Expensify for tracking expenses and submitting expense reports and Sqwiggle, which keeps your webcam turned on so your co-workers can see you at your desk all day long.

17.每天勤快與同事和老板溝通。幾年前，我為一家大公司工作，公司讓我一周幾天遠(yuǎn)程辦公。我希望辦公室每個(gè)人都知道我確實(shí)在工作，而不是在看電視或逛街購物，所以我很重視每天多次寫郵件和打電話給同事，特別是給老板。

18.利用免費(fèi)或廉價(jià)的通信技術(shù)。如今，無數(shù)的工具能用來和辦公室小伙伴保持密切聯(lián)系。有人試用Hipchat做團(tuán)隊(duì)群聊，用Trello或Asana做項(xiàng)目管理，用Expensify跟蹤支出和提交支出報(bào)告，用Sqwiggle保持網(wǎng)絡(luò)攝像頭處于開啟狀態(tài)，同事可以看見你在辦公桌前坐了一整天。