Alone at work. How to remotely cooperate with clients and colleagues?

Disclaimer: I described my thoughts on productive work in the previous post: How to work effectively in a remote team? Spoiler alert: I’m still looking for an answer. In this article, I focus on concrete tools and solutions I employ at my work as a UX designer. Bear in mind the following advice may be inadequate in your situation.

The goal: personal happiness

How to be happy? It sounds more like a philosophical question. I guess happiness goes around concepts like love, respect, health, relaxation, and money. So in terms of work, I will focus on maximizing the money part, but not at the expense of other happiness factors. For example, I will not decide on a higher salary, if I have to do something demeaning.

Luckily, I’m satisfied with my current work situation, and at the very least, I want to keep it. That implies my employer needs to be content with my work. He is when I generate income for the company. And that happens only when our clients evaluate my work positively. On the operational level, I need to maximize customer satisfaction.

I can do it by:

1. delivering quality work on time,
2. ensuring the Client, he can rely on me (i.e., I’m available)

The first point strikes as self-evident. The second one gets trickier because it relates to the appearance I’m there for you.

Work characteristic

As a UX designer I:

• design app interfaces,
• design user flows,
• analyze research data,
• conduct user studies,
• present my work and manage feedback.

My characteristic

• I am an introvert. Talking with other people sucks out my energy. It means I would naturally tend to avoid most forms of direct communication. Of course, sometimes it’s inevitable, like in the case of presenting my work.
• I understand how businesses operate. I founded my first business at the age of 21 (twelve years ago). I graduated from an economic university. That’s why I sometimes conduct a business analysis and don’t need a BA to explain the process to me.
• I work as a UX team of one. Usually, I’m the sole designer on the project, so I developed a variety of skills: wireframing, GUI design, UX research (mostly IDIs, web analytics, and desk research). Sometimes I even create entire websites from scratch (thanks to Webflow no-code approach). That means that I co-work with stakeholders, developers, business analysts, and project managers.
• I self-organize my work. I don’t like the mess unless it’s the creative one. My notes, files, and feedback are easily trackable and manageable.
• I hate wasting time and other bullshit. Fruitless meetings feel like torture to me. That’s why I am against following every agile ritual blindly, like if there were a sacred checklist. Do we need to participate in half an hour stand-up every day? I also disdain indecisiveness and organization inertia.

Rules for effective cooperation

Less communication and focus on work

• I allocate three timeslots when I answer all messages in mass (in the beginning, in the middle, and at the end of a workday). I deliberately don’t assign strict hours because I value flexibility.
• I openly criticize meetings with no agenda nor a clear goal. After each teleconference I attended, I demand a written memo. Being such a pain in the ass has its perks — people invite me only if I’m needed.
• I filter my inbox by neglecting communication that doesn’t concern me directly.
• I don’t give anybody my phone number unless it’s my superior or a Key Stakeholder (a client representative responsible for the financial side of a project, e.g., CEO or Product Owner).
• I refuse to take any side-tasks. When I’m on a project, I focus only on it. If my skill set is essential for another high-income project, I urge my superiors to rearrange my schedule. 60% time for project A, and another 40% time for project B. Fine by me, but let’s make it official. The only exception I made, are projects I have participated recently and only if my engagement won’t exceed 1 hour per week. Because I know the project details, I can get the work done super fast.

Why is this good for cooperation?

Thanks to these practices, I save time and can spend more of it on providing quality work (and that is what matters, not serving as a helpline).

Open to help my teammates and co-workers

It might seem contradictory to the rule above. However, it just a natural addition. On the one hand, I limit the spam and refuse to act as a customer service specialist for my co-workers. On the other, I communicate what my expertise is and on what terms I willing to help. It’s a matter of time. I can spend much more time on my teammates when I see I can dramatically improve the quality of their work (up to 50% of my time). I’m also eager to advise people outside my team, but only if it takes a few minutes. Otherwise, it becomes a side-task.

Why is this good for cooperation?

I’m the only UX specialist in my company, so my expertise might shed new light on some aspects.

Asynchronous presentations

It’s the killer feature and the up-to-date star in my repertoire. Before the home office arrangement, I gathered every stakeholder in a room and presented the wireframes on a big screen. Even though it was stressful for me, I valued its efficiency. The feedback came immediately.

The current situation eliminates the possibility of such a meeting, but there are online alternatives, for example, a teleconference. However, there are technical difficulties with online meeting tools. Some tools are browser-based, which is sufficient in many cases, but in my work, I cannot rely on the low-quality display of the wireframes. Other ones recognize the screen resolution of the presenter but require to install an application locally (some corporate employees don’t have admin privileges, so it’s a big no). I came up with a different approach — HD video. I record the screen (with audio) on which I present the wireframes, and I explain particular solutions and the user flow. A video lasts from 10 to 20 minutes on average, so it’s much shorter than a usual meeting. Moreover, each participant can watch it when she or he has time. Feedback comes as an e-mail (many e-mails, in fact).

Why is this good for cooperation?

• More people can get involved (all it takes is sending a link to a video)
• The feedback is more insightful (stakeholders can think it through in peace)
• No stress for me (screen recording vs. public speaking)

Sadly, there is also a downside. I receive responses over a long period. It can take up to one week, which may disrupt the workflow if the acceptance is required to move on.

Asynchronous stand-up. From 30 to 1 minute per day.

It’s my friend’s pro tip. I haven’t had a chance to use it, but I loved the idea. Instead of the usual stand-up that can last up to 30 minutes (true story), my friend’s team writes a concise daily memo (what did I do yesterday? what will I do today? A few sentences at the most) asynchronously on a wiki. His team creates one document per stand-up.

Why is this good for cooperation?

Take out the downsides of a stand-up (too much time wasted) and leave the benefits (the team is informed).

Tools for effective cooperation

Kap for screen recording on macOS

I use Kap for recording my wireframes presentations. This tool is powerful and free. Unfortunately, it’s available only for mac. After I generate the file, I upload it to a video streaming service. I use YouTube because it offers private link functionality.

E-mail for communication

I’m old-school. E-mail remains the number one communication tool for me, because:

• Everybody has an e-mail, so there is not an entry barrier.
• You can write very long messages and attach additional files.
• You have a full history (sometimes even off-line).
• Advanced filters give you total control over your inbox.

Wiki for documentation

I value wikis because they empower collaboration in real-time. Moreover, the online docs are up-date in contrast to Word documents kept locally. There are dozens of wikis, but Paper Dropbox is my favorite. It has a clean interface and all the features I need. However, if you want to benefit from online spreadsheets, I recommend Google Drive. Both are free.

AirTable for additional documentation

AirTable is not an apparent solution. The tool enables you to create databases in the form of tables and relations between records. I prefer it while I am conducting business analysis. AirTable outperforms Excel or even Google Spreadsheets in this scenario.

Axure Cloud for wireframes online

I go with Axure Cloud even when I design in Sketch (I just export artboards in PNG and then add interactions). The wireframes of web applications feel more real. I turn off the comments in Axure because I prefer gathering feedback through e-mail.

Zeplin (or Axure Cloud) for developers handoff

If I design in Sketch, I go with Zeplin. When I choose Axure, I stay with Axure Cloud.

Paper notepad for to-do lists

There are excellent online tools for to-do lists. I was happy with Todoist (great for simple to-do lists) and Click-up (great for complex projects). Even though I appreciated those tools, I was under the impression they were slowing me down. It happened because I was not able to foresee the tasks I would do on a particular day. I would describe my creative process as an organized mess. During a day, I might change my mind hundreds of times, so updating a to-do list would be too time-consuming. And seriously does anybody need to know, that I changed this font-size from 13px, then to 12px, then 14px? Paper notepad works for me the best.

Tools for ineffective cooperation (I hate them)

Some choices here may strike as a shock.

Zoom for online meetings and screen sharing

I felt ambiguous about putting Zoom on this list. I think it’s a powerful tool and, I admire technology behind it. The screen sharing feature works flawlessly. If you are for online meetings, I recommend Zoom. The problem is, I’m currently against them because too often they don’t produce any outcome. I hope I will place Zoom on the first list, in the future.

Slack for chat

I want to break up with you, Slack. It’s not you. It’s me. I just can’t get around the concept of instant messaging at work. Chats are good for talking with friends on Facebook. The irony is, the name itself tells you everything. Slack empowers slacking off at work.

Word for documents

Collaboration through Review > Track changes is a nightmare and should be banned. Different versions of a document multiply out of control. Dear Word, thank you for the nineties. Now die.

Phone, you know, for talking

I hate business phone calls for two reasons:

• They interrupt my deep work time.
• They force me to make a decision instantly. Too often, the result is suboptimal (at least for me). For example, I accept an unrealistic deadline, and I have to put unpaid over hours.

Jira for anything (unless you’re a developer)

I disdain tools for tracking tasks and time estimates. I am aware of their advantages in the software world. Developers decompose huge tasks into chunkier parts and, the complex issue gets simplified. Unfortunately, I’m not able to divide every design challenge I face and prepare a to-do checklist. It’s misleading, because, during the design process, I may change prior decisions over and over again. I know that clients need some deadlines and, I provide them. However, I estimate for the milestones, not every single task. For example, I can tell you I design this landing page in a week. But I don’t want to dive into details like, what I will do on the first day hour by hour.

I have shown my perfect arrangement. What is yours?