What it’s like to work remotely - A true story

(Photo by Steve Halama on Unsplash)

At Ushahidi our team is spread around the world. We’ve written often about how we manage communications and collaboration, from Slack to task management in Github to calls upon calls. But what’s it really feel like? What’s the day to day? This is a Slack thread that gets a bit at what it’s like to work remotely... and some of the good fun we have together at Ushahidi.

Excerpt from Ushahidi Slack thread (names redacted)

Ushahidian 1:

Curious what everyone’s most “work from home” moment was….?

Ushahidian 2:

Bathrobe at 2pm --- multiple times a week

Ushahidian 1:

For me, when I work from my mom’s house in Florida, which is relatively often, I take periodic breaks to get some sun on the beach. One time I was supposed to have a call with a colleague and realized just before I turned on my video that I was just sitting in a bathing suit at 5pm, which I had been in since 10am that morning. I decided not to turn the video on.

But rather than feel embarrassed, you get to think, “I’m so awesome. I just completed an entire day of work in my swimsuit!”

Ushahidian 3:

It was either when I realized that instead of eating actual food, I’d just snacked on cereal for 9 hours — and finished the box. Or, it was when I had to look at the calendar to figure out when I’d last left the house.

Ushahidian 1:

We should make an app that will use your location to keep track of how often and for how long you leave your house.

Ushahidian 3:

“Siri, when was the last time I left this 10 square meter perimeter?”

Ushahidian 1:

lololol

Ushahidian 3:

Siri: “2017”

Ushahidian 1:

My husband asks me every day if I left the house. He’s learned that I only get dressed 5 minutes before he comes home so that is not a good indicator of me going outside.

Ushahidian 3:

I remember meeting my friends for a drink, and then realizing nobody could hear me, because I didn’t know what a normal volume was for speaking out loud anymore.

Ushahidian 4:

I spend more time with my dog than any other living being.

Ushahidian 1:

At least you have another living being around you!

Ushahidian 4:

Truth. She's delightful.

Ushahidian 4:

I regularly have important calls while sitting in a hammock.

Ushahidian 5:

Well she’s an adorable puppy, so, win.

My most WFH moment was probably yesterday. A friend dropped by and told me that when he was looking for the house he asked one of my neighbors about it, something like, “do you know which one is the house of the two people who moved here recently?”

Apparently my neighbor was like, “Yea some people moved into that house... but we have seen them just a few times, not sure what they’re up to.”

Then it didn’t help that when he finally found the house I was still in my pajamas at… 5PM.

TLDR: apparently I don’t leave my house very often.

Ushahidian 5:

(In response to: My husband asks me every day if I left the house. He’s learned that I only get dressed 5 minutes before he comes home so that is not a good indicator of me going outside.)

Hahaha. This happened often when my BF was still working from an office. He’d come home and be like “please tell me you went outside at least once.” But now he gets it.

Ushahidian 6:

Worst moment has been, and always will be, doing expenses. I hate that.

Ushahidian 7:

I remember a very dark time when I was working from home here in Budapest, and I had just discovered the local website where I could order almost any sort of food with a few clicks...

I probably didn’t leave the house for a full week.

Ushahidian 7:

I :heart: my co-working space.

Ushahidian 8:

I have a pretty good system that gets me out of the house several times a week and conversing with people using faces/emotions but I guess mine was when I had my first 7am meeting combined with a late night working so I decided that sleeping in my clothes was a good option...shameful...

Ushahidian 8:

At what point are Pyjamas just clothes and clothes you wore to bed are Pyjamas? :thinking_face:

Ushahidian 4:

One of my neighbours keeps telling me: be careful of wearing trackpants too much. Pretty soon you'll look like you belong in them.

Ushahidian 4:

Which wouldn't be the worst thing, tbh...

Ushahidian 8:

Relevant to this thread:

“YouTube Van Vuuren Bros ACTIVEWEAR”

Ushahidian 9:

This all definitely needs to be put into a hilarious blog post

Ushahidian 2:

I once did a live TV interview in a collared shirt and tie... and sweatpants

Ushahidian 2:

(in response to: Ushahidian 1 - we should make an app that will use your location to keep track of how often and for how long you leave your house)

Also, @Ushahidian 1 that app idea is Edward Snowden's nightmare

Ushahidian 10:

It’s occurring to me then that the annual retreat is major daily dress up time for yáll...This is all so funny.

Ushahidan 5:

Hahahah. :joy: yes!

Ushahidian 7:

Indeed, I brought my best pajamas to the retreat

Ushahidian 4:

I'm like: "I have a reason to wear jeans!" <--as in jeans are now extra dapper compared to my baseline.

Ushahidian 9:

Woke up at 5am to get on calls because timezones. Ate all three meals of the day by 10:30am. Womp womp.

Ushahidian 7:

Shower?

Ushahidian 9:

return=false.

Ushahidian 7:

Oh well,  impressive nonetheless! :high-five:

Ushahidian 2:

This is def getting turned into a blog post

(Photo by Becca Tapert on Unsplash)