{"id":818,"date":"2020-03-23T10:57:02","date_gmt":"2020-03-23T10:57:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mduk.org.uk\/?p=818"},"modified":"2020-03-23T10:57:02","modified_gmt":"2020-03-23T10:57:02","slug":"top-tips-for-home-working-during-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mduk.org.uk\/top-tips-for-home-working-during-covid-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Top tips for home working during Covid-19"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The role of Museum Development is to support museums and the people who work and volunteer for them. These are uncertain times, in which many of us won\u2019t see our colleagues for some weeks or months.<\/p>\n<p>Working from home and apart from colleagues will be a new experience for many and can take some getting used to. The team at Museum Development North West (MDNW) has always worked remotely and often from home-based offices. So here are their top tips about working from home. Some of these you\u2019ll find in other sources, some are unique observations from the team.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Even if you don\u2019t have a work thing to discuss, still ring your colleagues frequently to ask how they are and chat about the normal stuff you\u2019d talk about in an office.<\/li>\n<li>If you have a long phone call, put it on speaker if you can so you can type\/write with both hands. Or walk around the room whilst you\u2019re talking.<\/li>\n<li>Don\u2019t wear pyjamas but do wear comfortable clothes. Slippers are proper workwear.<\/li>\n<li>If you\u2019re able to get out, go for a walk or potter in the garden\/yard before you start work or at lunchtime. If it helps, think of your early morning walk as your commute to arrive at the office.<\/li>\n<li>Cats will sit on keyboards. Accept it.<\/li>\n<li>If someone\u2019s got on your nerves, phone a colleague and have a rant. Don\u2019t sit and let it fester, talk to someone.<\/li>\n<li>Maybe brush your hair\/beard before any video conference meetings.<\/li>\n<li>It\u2019s not unprofessional to take your laptop from your desk\/kitchen table and curl up with it for a bit on the sofa if that\u2019s where the sun is shining.<\/li>\n<li>Have a thinking rug or a space where you can sit on the floor, draw ideas on flipchart paper and be creative.<\/li>\n<li>Try podcasts if you need some background noise.<\/li>\n<li>If you\u2019re stuck on something and the words\/thoughts just won\u2019t come, do something completely different for 10 minutes \u2013 go to the postbox, feed the birds, fold the washing if you must. But it will come to you.<\/li>\n<li>Send each other sticker emojis or clips of people dressed up as\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=54SBHobALBQ\">dinosaurs doing ballet<\/a> (just not too many).<\/li>\n<li>Make yourself a nice lunch that needs crockery and cutlery. Banish the Tupperware and don\u2019t eat at your computer.<\/li>\n<li>If it helps to structure your work day like you would in the museum do it. But don\u2019t make the mistake of starting work earlier than you normally would or finishing later than usual just because you\u2019re saving on commuting time. Finish in time for Pointless occasionally.<\/li>\n<li>Block time out in your calendar to do specific tasks, even small ones, and treat them like office meetings \u2013 definitely to do then and not to be moved back.<\/li>\n<li>Don\u2019t worry about kids crashing in during a video conference \u2013 it might be the setup for the perfect\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Mh4f9AYRCZY\">viral video<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Don\u2019t use tea\/coffee as either procrastination or a reward for completing something, put the kettle on when you\u2019re thirsty.<\/li>\n<li>Once you\u2019ve decided you\u2019ve finished for the day, put your work stuff away. But if an idea or task comes to you and you just have to get your notebook out again and write it down, do it.<\/li>\n<li>Pick up the phone and talk to a colleague rather than have a long thread of short emails going back and to between you.<\/li>\n<li>Children, elderly parents and neighbours will interrupt the best laid plans, especially now when so many people will be at home during the day. Go with it and don\u2019t feel guilty if you didn\u2019t get everything done that you\u2019d planned.<\/li>\n<li>You can have a conference call without needing to set up powwow etc for up to five people if they all have iPhones \u2013 just add and merge calls together.<\/li>\n<li>If you\u2019re going to stand in the middle of the living room animatedly practising a presentation you\u2019re going to deliver at a conference, check first what day your window cleaner is due or you\u2019ll both be startled.<\/li>\n<li>Use tools such as Dropbox to share documents. You\u2019ll get into a mess if lots of drafts of a document keep going back and forth via email.<\/li>\n<li>Take regular short breaks and stretch out your back and roll out your shoulders if you have been sat for any length of time.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The role of Museum Development is to support museums and the people who work and volunteer for them. These are uncertain times, in which many of us won\u2019t see our colleagues for some weeks or months. Working from home and apart from colleagues will be a new experience for many and can take some getting [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":819,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Top tips for home working during Covid-19 - Museum Development Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mduk.org.uk\/top-tips-for-home-working-during-covid-19\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Top tips for home working during Covid-19 - Museum Development Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The role of Museum Development is to support museums and the people who work and volunteer for them. 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