Remote Ready - what are the best tools and any quick tips?

Hi Liz, 

recently I read a concise guide on how to manage the project and team from home. You can refer to the list and the 5 tips explained there.

Milena and her team listed several tips, however, in my opinion, there are two that are really important:

'Project Communication

1. Set a virtual working place. With the currently available applications you can choose the best platform that can ensure you have:

• a collaboration space where you can lead online meetings with a voice and video. Be careful about the wi fi coverage of the team members as well as the strength of the VPN access if you are connected via such. Start the meeting 2-3 minutes before the starting time to check the connection, the screen-sharing options and be sure you are ready for the meeting.
• shared storage for all the project documents organized in a way to be easily accessible by the team members. Note to set the proper access rights if you will be sharing sensitive information. Form different groups of members if needed to have different
• use the virtual groups for an informal chat with the project members

2. Prepare a strict agenda and have a timekeeper for the meeting. Ensure all people that may be needing to talk will have their say

3. Finish the meeting with a summary of the discussions as well as the decisions that have been made. Distribute the document as well as keep it stored in the shared storage.

In addition to all the above, make a recording of the meeting (after you ask the participants if they agree). The recording can be reviewed later by the team members who were not able to participate and this will keep them up to date.

Online signatures

Leading a project from home still requires you to collect some signatures on the project documentation. Suggested is to use online document signing tools. Although, check the signing of legal documents possibility preliminary with the Legal and Compliance departments.'

Hope that helps, 

Marieta

Hi Liz

1 - useful collaboration tools with integrated calling. Well, yes there are some but they're super corporate and often expensive, requiring everyone to install the same software. On a few recent projects, we've used Google Meet for the communication element, while running Mural for collaboration. Miro is another option for real-time collaboration but we like Mural because, as consultants, you can get access to it free as part of their consultant network. Google Meet is also free and the quality is high. Neither service requires technical intervention like installation or support. Click and go.

2 - keeping people aligned. We're biased because we designed a system for this that helps people working remotely. We use the N2D Method to clearly determine the business and/or project strategy. It's an algorithmic model that balances business objectives against "customer" needs, clearly highlighting the priorities for an organisation. This approach works for all types of organisations and you can train to use it for free. 

Point 2 would probably help you with your other question about focusing on priorities.

Liz,

Think of it that the business workflow is first leaders and managers identifying new needs and assembling colleagues to strategize responses (strategic collaboration). This step produces workstreams and tasks for managers and staff to take to deliver the target results (tactical collaboration)

In that flow, Asana, Monday, Basecamp, Yammer, Trello, and Slack are the second-step tactical collaboration tools.

This two-minute video explains SchellingPoint, the platform for the first step, virtual strategic collaboration, which includes Alignment Optimization: https://vimeo.com/423243072/c0db320dfe 

Leadership teams - with managers, key staff, consultants, and business partners - use SchellingPoint to virtually form strategies, design transformation, innovate products, revise policies, and other topics that will lead to action plans where the tactical collaboration tools are used. 

SchellingPoint also contains implementation governance functionality, such as Alignment Drift monitoring, conducted, say, every four months in a one or two year program, for example.

I hope that helps answer your question.

Best

Michael