Experiments

Here is an approach to make commitment for the action points a bit easier – make them experiments.

Try an idea for a week and see if it works. Put a clear timeframe after which an experiment is collectively evaluated by the team.

Our case

During company retrospective at SoftwareMill we had a discussion on improving our (remote) communication and we were considering using Mumble. Not everyone (including myself) was sold to this idea, but we decided to install it anyway and asked everyone to give it a try.

What brought me round to do the experiment was Tomek Szymański‘s reply to my concerns:

“How can you say you do not like it if you have not tried it?”

Within two or three weeks of experiments we ended up with a different tool (TeamSpeak gave us better quality). For some of teams it turned out bo be their favorite communication channel, other teams decided not to use it, but at least they made a decision based on their experience instead of speculations.

How does it make a difference?

This approach is especially useful if the proposal for an action point breaks the current habit or is somehow unusual, which makes some of the retrospective participants concerned about it. An experiment is a better idea for such a case than trying to enforce a solution.

For a team making the commitment for just a week or so is much easier. And maybe at the point of evaluation (which may happen on the next retrospective) those who were concerned will change their mind.

Give it a try!

So, next time you are stuck on a retrospective try conducting an experiment Let me know how it worked for you.

-Paweł

I’m running late in making my daily post because I just completed two hours of phone calls with my boss, my brother, and my mom.  All thanks to the wonders of Skype.  And probably not Skype the way most people who know anything about Skype think of it.  (Wow, that was an awful sentence…)

As I’ve mentioned before, I tend to spend a lot of my time overseas, so I’m currently halfway around the world from everyone I actually speak to on the phone.  The reason I can actually do this is Skype.

Now, most people who know about Skype know about the free video calling feature.  You sign up for an account, your significant other who lives far, far away signs up for an account, you call each other on your computers (or fancy, schmancy phone) and visual hijinks ensue.

I actually hate to use the video calling feature on Skype.  The last thing I need to do is spend an entire call seeing a little image of myself looking like an idiot on the screen.  And, even if I had a significant other far, far away, I’m just not ooey gooey like that.  Even when I call someone’s Skype account, my video shows a hazy orange screen from the back of the post-it note I have plastered over my computer’s camera.  (Thanks Criminal Minds or whatever serial killer show I saw where the tech guy hacked people’s computers and cyber-stalked them.  Because, really, I needed to be more paranoid than I already am.)

Anyway, getting back to the point.  Skype has made working from another country possible for me in two ways.

First, I was able to buy phone numbers in both the United States and in my chosen foreign country that ring through to my Skype account.  So, my 80-something-year-old grandma who wouldn’t touch a computer if you paid her money can just pick up her phone and call a local number and reach me on my computer halfway around the world.  Same for my boss.  She calls a U.S. number and I answer it on my computer.  I forget how much this costs me a month, but it’s cheap.  It’s an amazing service and I love it.

Second, I have some sort of international calling package with Skype that lets me call any phone number in the United States and landlines in most foreign countries for one very low flat fee.  Again, I can’t remember what it costs, but I can tell you it is much cheaper than  my cell phone.

Now, Skype is not perfect.  I’ve had work calls where I had to resort to the cellphone because Skype wasn’t maintaining a good connection that day and I’ve annoyed my mother and my boss more than once when the connection went fuzzy.  But, 95% of the time I’d say it’s amazing.

Without Skype, I could not do my current job from where I am.

Compare this to the first trip I ever took to Europe fifteen years ago.  My friend and I had to buy calling cards (no cell phones back then) and call from payphones to check in every couple of days.  It’s amazing how far we’ve come in such a short period of time.

So, not a writing post, but I felt compelled to share the Skype love today and to help get the word out to anyone who’s thinking about working from some sort of non-traditional location and is trying to figure out how it might be possible.

(Bonus random comment.  Spellcheck was ok with “gooey” but not “ooey.”  Also, most creative spelling of the day was a Facebook post that spelled torrential, “terenchal.”  I can’t really throw stones, because my ability to pronounce things correctly sucks.  Too much book learning and not enough hearing certain words.  That’s the nice thing about being in a foreign country, people expect me to mispronounce things.)

I’d already seen Windows 8 running on a PC, actually it was a Mac, and the new interface seemed awkward. It just wasn’t efficient when using a mouse and keyboard. I predict that for older non-touch screen laptops/PC that the standard Windows 7 style desktop will be a tickbox option. However on a tablet Windows 8 makes a lot of sense. Let me explain.

A few of my clients have been saying that they would like to move some of their workforce, in particular salespeople, onto iPads only. The hesitation I have with that is without a PC or laptop as well they are probably not going to be able to run all their applications.

The key to the Windows 8 tablet is that it runs the same applications as your desktop. This means not only does it run Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook but it can run other non-Microsoft PC applications which you are using today.

The second point is that tablets are great for viewing information but not so great for entering data. More and more I see iPads with keyboard attachments for this very reason. The Samsung tablet I played with come with a keyboard, mouse and docking station. This means you can use it in the field with just the touch screen, or pen in the case of the Samsung, and when you come back to the office you plug into the docking station and you have a keyboard, mouse, maybe a larger external screen and most importantly all your applications. There is no reason you can’t be as productive as you would be on a PC/laptop. It really does mean you could throw away your own laptop and rely on a tablet.

The Windows 8 ‘tile’ interface on a tablet works very well. You swipe up, left or right depending on what function or application you need. It only took 10 seconds for someone to show me what to do

From Microsoft’s perspective I can understand why they might consider forcing the tile interface onto PC/laptop users to give everyone PC, laptop, smartphone and tablet users the same user interface but until PCs and laptops have touchscreens as standard this would be a mistake. PC and laptop users would be better off sticking with the ‘old’ Windows 7 style interface.

For any business that is considering rolling out Tablets to their staff as a laptop replacement I would suggest having a closer look at some of the Windows 8 tablets. Windows 8 isn’t on the market yet but you can download a pre-release version and the tablets that will run it are already on the market.

Review by Gizmodo

About Mark

Mark Elliott has been working in IT for over 13 years. Starting as network and security engineer Mark has worked for IT and Telecommunications companies in Sydney, Australia. Now based at CustomTec he is responsible for customer account management and business development across Australia, NZ and South East Asia.

If you would like to know more then contact me at CustomTec and I would happy to assist.

Presentation abstract

Slides

If you are one of the geeks attending this great Java conference, join me in Room 8 at 11:30 to learn how working remotely looks like and what happens when an agile team gets distributed.

See you there!

I recently ran into an old colleague who shared with me the following story:

She had taken a week off of work to attend her sister’s wedding.  She works in sales, and she had some big deals in her pipeline.  She went on vacation planning on doing a little work while she was at her parent’s home.  On Monday morning, when she checked her work voice mail, she had three new messages.  She returned the calls using her cell phone:  two calls to prospects and one call to a current client that was having problems and was very unhappy.

Welcome to your working vacation my friend:

Calling clients or prospects from your cell phone, when you are on vacation, sends the message that you are reachable and available.  In my friend’s case, her client had her number and they weren’t afraid to use it.

She went on to say how she had to walk out on brunch with her mom and her sister because the unhappy client called 3 times in just over a half hour.  “It was so distracting,” she explained.  “Each time my phone rang, I knew it was my client and each time I let it go to voice mail, I knew he was growing more frustrated.   I really regretted calling him with my cell phone.  In addition, I spent several days going back and forth with my two prospects.   I really wanted to keep my focus on my sister, but my cell was ringing off the hook.  I don’t mind doing business on vacation, but I wish there could have been a buffer between us.”

What if you could maintain your one number identity even when working remotely?

There’s an App for that.

Remote Office for Android or iPhone is a native Android/iPhone application that allows you to originate calls from your smart phone through your Telovations-powered desk phone.  It enables easy control of Remote Office, Do Not Disturb and Call Forwarding settings while on the move.

Remote Office comes with an intuitive look and feel. It offers convenient “click-to-dial” options from a keypad, from your deskphone’s Call History or from your Android or iPhone contact list.

Click here to learn more about the iPhone/Deskphone or click here to learn more about Android/Deskphone.

As of today, you can now download our join.me viewer for your Google TV. Head on over to the Google Play store on your Google TV and get the join.me app. Watch presentations, demos, slideshows – anything you want – just like you would from your Android mobile device. Except with a bigger screen. And probably a comfier seat.

Happy viewing.

This blog explores one of the topics in more detail. The question was — what kind of approach to would you take when there are multiple participants in different locations from different organisations working together? In a workshop such as a scenario workshop?

The discussion took two different directions:

• When would the panel recommend a face to face event almost “at all costs”
• Under what circumstances can people collaborate effectively at a distance? (What are the success factors?)

We have found that if different organisations with different cultures are involved, it is important for there to have been previous face to face meetings.  In Fujitsu for instance we experimented with success rates for knowledge communities, and found that where there had been previous face tro face communication we had an 80% success rate; where we tried to do it all electronically, only 1 in 5 established itself as viable.

We have found that if people are used to interacting electronically – using skype and webex seminars – or even just used to extensive telephone conference calls – then they can collaborate effectively outside of  face to face meetings. An example is a global law form which uses teleconferences extensively. However the technology must be managed so that it does not get in the way – which usually means keep it simple. A checklist of do’s and don’ts emerged:

• Everybody briefed in the rules of engagement
• Meeting discipline and manners are important , with clear changes of baton and ways of signalling desire to speak
• Good facilitation
• Separation of images (eg diagrams, powerpoint etc) from people images and voice, for instance by circulating these in advance or communicating over independent channels.

However, it is no coincidence that major global organisations invest in face to face meetings of senior staff, and groups of staff who need to collaborate, as they perceive the need to establish communication channels between different national and discipline cultures.

Branch offices can be a real challenge. I once drove four hours to Orange only to realize in hindsight I should have brought a different firewall with me. In a country as large as Australia sending IT resources to a branch site is a last resort, especially some of the remote communities and mining sites. Backup presents it’s own challenges. Here are a few I have had to face;

1)      Tape Management. Swapping tapes is easy at head office but it can be a real problem for branch sites that don’t have their own IT staff onsite. It’s usually down to the receptionist to swap tapes. If he/she goes on leave or is sick then the tape often gets forgotten about. We had a situation where a staff member was on an overseas holiday and the tape was being stored at her home. A file needed to be restored from tape and everyone was trying to work out how to get access to her house. The option of having an external party come in, swap tapes and take them offsite is reliable but can be cost prohibitive.

2)      At sites like mines and factories there can be lot of dust and dust destroys tape drives. On average an engineering client has to replace their tape drives every 12 months due to the dust. Tape drives are too expensive to be constantly replacing.

3)      Cost. Tape drives and tapes are expensive.  A quick online search has LTO5 tape retailing for $115 each which doesn’t sound like much but when you need at least 26 (10 x daily, 2 x weekly and 12 x monthly) that’s $2,999 per site, just for the tapes!

4)      Managing the Backup. Backup logs should be checked every single work day. (Is someone checking your backup logs daily?) Having a central management and reporting console for backup will reduce the amount of time spent by staff checking logs and troubleshooting.

5)      USB Drives. I’ve blogged about why USB drives aren’t suitable for backup before. I have seen many USB drives fail and they are usually not repairable. Please don’t rely on them. They are not reliable when being transported or stored for long periods of time.

Options

A common solution to all of the challenges listed above is to consolidate data and applications to a common location. Centralising from branch offices ensures that the important data is stored in one location and can be backed up efficiently and securely without excessive costs associated with tape transportation.

1)    Remove branch servers

The first solution we can look at is to get rid of the branch servers. It may seem drastic but hear me out. Depending on the application technologies such as WAF (Wide Area File Services), Virtual Desktops or even just upgrading the bandwidth on the WAN can eliminate the need to have servers at the branch sites. You may get resistance from staff at the branch office so this sort of solution needs to work well fro the start. Once everything is stored centrally it is much easier to backup and secure your data.

2) Replicate to head office/datacentre

If removing the branch servers just isn’t  an option then backups can still be consolidated. The best practise is to backup locally to disk first. This will provide the fastest recovery for remote sites. It also allows you to backup the entire server image (operating  system, applications, system state and data) without using too much bandwidth. Then the data or, bandwidth permitting, the entire server image, can be replicated over the WAN to head office. Common backup applications have features such as incremental only, which only backups up changes to data, or compression and bandwidth throttling to reduce the impact on the WAN.

Once the data is at head office it can be backed up to disk or tape as per usual. The entire process can be centrally managed without requiring the intervention of staff at the branch site.

3) Backup to the Cloud

Backing up data over the Internet to a Cloud provider is a recent innovation . The cloud provider usually provides the backup software and the service is an operational cost rather than requiring large capital outlay up front. Cloud is still a controversial area for many businesses and it’s important to ask some key questions to make sure it’s the right fit for your business.

• Where is my data stored? Is it overseas or Australia?
• How long will it take to restore over the internet?
• Is the bandwidth sufficient to backup overnight? What are the bandwidth costs?
• Who is managing the process? Us or the provider?
• How secure is my data?

Conclusion

Centralisation of data for backup brings a number of benefits; reduced costs, reduced IT support/management, security and most importantly peace of mind that data is backed up correctly. There are a number of ways of achieving backup consolidation and really it depends on the individual circumstances of your organisation.

About Mark

Mark Elliott has been working in IT for over 13 years. Starting as network and security engineer Mark has worked for IT and Telecommunications companies in Sydney, Australia. Now based at CustomTec he is responsible for customer account management and business development across Australia, NZ and South East Asia.

If you have any challenges of your own then contact CustomTec  and we would happy to assist.

To install the software use the Samsung Kies program that come with your phone (it runs on the PC). Kies will download the software and install it on your phone. I didn’t record how long it takes but I wouldn’t do it if you need you phone in the next hour or so.

The new firmware is not a radical change from the previous version but it does have some very nice features.  Lots of the changes are quite subtle, the icons and fonts look a little bit crisper. The Wallpaper can now have moving images as the background which is quite cool. The lock screen now has the date as well as time. Halleluiah! The number of times I pulled out my phone to check the date and had to log on.

There is now a Face Unlock feature. Basically you take a photo of your face and you just look at the phone to unlock it. It does work and it’s very fast. If that fails the phone will revert to using a PIN instead. How secure it is? I suspect that the security can easily be overcome. Most of these systems rely on the ratio between key features such as eyes, nose and mouth. I can’t imagine it would be too hard to replicate.

Under settings is a Data Usage page which records your data usage over time. If you regularly find yourself exceeding your data plan this could be a money saver. It even shows which applications are using your data.

The only negative thing that the update did was to lose my icons. I had to move them all back and save my internet bookmarks again. It wasn’t such  a bad thing as it gave me a chance to re-organise my icons to something more logical.

The Android 4 update isn’t a huge change but it does add some new features and as a free update there is no reason not to apply it.

One of the other great blessings of our life is that we have been homeschooling our children for the past two years. Our favorite way to learn is through direct experience. For example we have been learning about Lewis and Clark lately – cooking the foods they ate – beef jerky, cherry sauce were our favorites – and visiting actual sites were the expedition traveled. This is how we would learn on the road. Studying the history and geography of a region and then seeing it for ourselves. We have also gotten into the physics of roller coasters and are excited about ‘studying’ many more!

• All members of both the local and remote teams have the chance to meet and get to know each other. This is absolutely invaluable when members of the both the local and remote teams need to work together on projects.
• The local managers get to see for themselves the challenges that the remote team faces. It is sometimes difficult to get a good feel for some of the real impediments to productivity (such as connectivity issues, or something as simple as how an office is laid out) without actually seeing it for yourself.
• The team members on both sides can get valuable “best practices” insights from visiting each other’s offices. Don’t assume that the local teams always do things right and the remote teams need to copy them. There are often important things that the remotes teams can teach the local teams about how they do their work.

Unfortunately, the reality of businesses these days is that budgets are often restricted for travelling to remote sites. You never can travel to the remote location as much as you would like to. And often, when there is budget available for travel, you need to carefully consider who should go. Is it more important to send a developer to work with the remote teams on technical things they need to learn? Or should the manager go to work with the teams on more organizational issues?

The answer to the question of who to send when there is a limited travel budget is usually dependent on what the teams currently needs help with. If they are about to start a project where new technical skills are required, then it might be better to send a senior developer. If they are having challenges learning new products that will need to be tested for integration with a larger product, then it might be better to send a senior test engineer. If there are organization changes that are currently in progress, or are likely to happen in the future, then the manager of the team might be the best person to go.

As a manager, you have to use your best judgement for this, and every situation will be different.

By: Bob Lyons

The workplace is changing

It wasn’t that many years ago when employers would think it unconscionable for any employee to not put up with the daily grind of commuting into work to sit at a desk for eight hours only to reverse that commute at the end of the day.  And why not.  Everything they needed in the form of co-workers, technology, and resources were housed in the brick and mortar of the company offices.   To think you needed to accomplish your job requirements and be away from the office for extended periods like business travel or personal vacations had people biting their fingernails down to the nub.   Wow, have times changed.  Between lifestyle changes like parents taking extended periods away from the office to raise children, and economic influences like being on the threshold of $5 a gallon gasoline, employers and employees have had to reinvent how work gets done in a modern world.

A recent survey of senior leaders from Fortune 500 companies revealed some surprising statistics about virtual work and virtual workers.

• 56% believe in virtual work
• 56% also believe working remotely makes employees more productive
• 61% think more companies will let their employees work virtually
• There are 26.2 million virtual workers in the U.S. Today
• 51% of this workforce is 35-54 years old, while 42% are 18-34 years old. The median age is 40
• 56% are men and 44% are women
• 66% have a bachelors or post graduate degree

Let’s thank the oil cartels for the virtual work alternative

It was during the oil embargos of the 70’s that the term “telecommuting” was first mentioned. Yes, for some of you under the age of 40, our country has been through a few rounds with our friends in the Middle East and the price of oil.  In fact, back in those days many stations ran out of gas and cars would be lined up for miles for the promise of a few gallons in their tanks.  The lack of gas forced commuters to find new ways of getting work done without the costly commute into the office.  Better still, it forced U.S. innovators to come up with new ways and new technologies to enable employers and employees to get work done without being tied down to a specific location. It was during the 80’s that personal computers started making their way into every U.S. home. Imagine a way then to network all those home computers together. Oh yea, the internet.  Suffice it to say, when the U.S. is dealt lemons, we innovate it into lemonade.

As the pressure on public transport and road networks reaches its zenith, it is extremely likely that we will see a dramatic increase in the number of employees who will be working from home, in order to avoid the disruption, particularly in the build up to popular events. However, with such a sudden pressure on organizations’ IT networks the chances of a systems crash increases dramatically. Patrick Oliver Graf of NCP engineering* believes that businesses must be savvier about how they can prepare for this event.

“With so many employees potentially working from home during the Olympic Games, the use of home PCs, private laptops and mobile devices like an Android tablet, is very likely to increase. The ‘Bring Your Own Device’ topic has received plenty of attention over the past few months, especially focusing on the security risk element. However, a sudden influx of employees using their own devices to access corporate networks could cause huge problems for organizations, already under strain as a result of a remote workforce,” says Patrick.

He adds, “This variety of devices and operating systems makes it even more complicated to introduce a solution that ensures corporate networks continue running during this period, especially one that works for all client devices and operating systems. Companies also need to ensure that any solution implemented satisfies the security requirements/policies a company should have in place to enable remote working. This extra pressure could not have come at a worse time when organizations are having to root out cost efficiencies.”

Organizations need to find a solution that is able to provide cross-platform client support, a hybrid SSL/IPsec gateway and ideally where the entire remote access VPN can be centrally managed. The main problem organizations are going to face is the huge increase in remote workers trying to access the network remotely at the same time, therefore the gateway needs to handle potentially thousands of simultaneous sessions/users.

There is no doubt about it, the Olympics will be a fantastic spectacle and something everyone will want to embrace. By ensuring the IT infrastructure is able to run effectively, business operators will enjoy the experience with piece of mind.

*NCP engineering manages this blog.

The crucial things staff need to be productive are;

1)      the ability to communicate with their managers, colleagues, suppliers and customers

2)      Secure access to key data and applications

3)      a comfortable, low distraction environment

Communications

Once of the biggest dangers of staff working from home or remotely is not being able to communicate efficiently. Staff can feel disconnected from their organisation; managers aren’t sure about what their staff are doing and customers find it hard to get service.

At the most basic level the mobile phone allows you to contact a person anywhere. However, it requires the caller to make a conscious decision to ring their mobile rather than their desk number. Many customers will ring your desk and if it doesn’t answer rather than ring your mobile or leave a voicemail they ring a competitor instead. An alternative is single number reach as found on the Cisco UC500. With single number reach when someone rings your desk extension it rings your desk phone and mobile at the same time. The person receiving the call just answers whatever is most convenient at the time.  In this way you are always contactable from a single phone number.

Mobile phones can get uncomfortable to use over long phone calls and very expensive if you are overseas. The Cisco soft phone or Cisco Jabber allows you to use your laptop as your phone. A piece of software on your computer connects back to your corporate phone system over the internet. If someone rings your phone extension it will ring your computer and you can answer as though you are in the office. Because it uses the internet only internet charges and not long distance phone charges apply. You can even buy a Cisco 79xx handset that connects over to the internet back to the office. You don’t even need your computer to be on and you have the comfort of using a proper handset.

The advantages of this are that people can just ring your phone extension and no matter where you are they will be able to get in contact with you. It also means that when customers ring you you could be at home looking after a sick child, overseas, working from a client’s office etc but it’s not important to your customer. As far as they are concerned you are in the office.

Video calls are slowly gaining traction in business. With tools like Skype and Cisco Jabber it’s relatively inexpensive to have a video call with someone.

Where’s Joe?

When you see an empty chair in the office is that person sick, gone to the bathroom, working from home or overseas? If a person is working remotely then it can be hard to know if they are available. The presence function in the Cisco UC500 and Call Manager shows whether someone is at their computer, in the office, on the phone, working from home, away, sick etc. In Call Manager you can even integrate with Outlook to show that someone is in a meeting. Reception and other staff members can see if it’s OK to transfer a call or to ring and ask a quick question. If they are on the phone you can send them a quick instant message.

[BTW Do you know how annoying it is to ring a company and the receptionist doesn’t know if so and so is at work that day?. Don’t let that company be you.]

Access to key data and applications

Staff working remotely should be able to access applications and data just as easily as in the office.  There a few options available;

1) VPN (Virtual private network). Some applications run fine over a standard broadband connection. Outlook is a good example. The VPN is there to provide a secure, encrypted link back to the main office. The application runs on your laptop just as you would in the office. The main difference is the speed. Cisco and Watchguard firewalls all provide VPN.

2) LogMeIn, VNC, PCAnywhere etc. These programs rely on ‘taking over’ a PC at the office and transmitting the screen images back to the remote user. It can depend on the application as to whether this is successful or not. I’m not a big fan of this approach because it ties up a PC back at the office, performance is usually not very good and it can open security holes if not done correctly.  It’s OK for one of two users but even then the experience is not very good.

3) Citrix XenApp runs the application on the server at the head office. Citrix is optimised for slower connections. Indeed my first experience of Citrix was over dial-up. Citrix is easy to use, it’s encrypted and all the data resides securely on your server where it can be backed up centrally. Citrix XenApp also works well on Tablets i.e. iPad and even SmartPhones like the iPhone and Android.

4) Cloud file storage. For file access only DropBox and Egnyte  synchronise files between work, home and in the cloud. Files can be accessed anywhere with an internet connection. Many companies have concerns about data being stored in the cloud and the potential for rogue employees to steal information.

5) Cloud applications or software as a service. Applications such as SalesForce.com, Microsoft CRM, Office365 etc can all be accessed securely and quickly from anywhere that has an internet connection. The limitation is that not all applications can be delivered as Software as a Service. For those that can’t then the above methods need to be used.

Gen Ys

Gen-Y thrive on communication. Gen-Y often mutli-task and this includes working afterhours. So long as they can access work through SmartPhone/Tablets etc they will often work outside of normal hours.

Comfortable, low distraction environment

The last condition has nothing to do with IT, well maybe a bit. It’s all about having a quiet office, with a comfortable desk, good lighting and a chair. A wireless connection and broadband is a must. I personally work from my dining table when I’m home as the table is large, the room is nice with lots of natural light and it’s separate from the kids.

Great source for Employees

A great untapped market is young mums. Many Gen-X women, now in their 30s/40s have earned degrees at University, gained valuable work experience and skills but have had to temporarily leave the workforce to raise a family. These women are highly skilled, work hard but they are looking for more flexible working arrangements so they can still take their kids to school, deal with sick kids, work from home etc . If you can offer more flexible working arrangements then you will attract talented staff and retain existing staff who fit into these circumstances.

Further Reading

Working with and managing staff remotely

Microsoft’s guide to Telecommuting

About Mark

Mark Elliott has been working in IT for over 13 years. Starting as network and security engineer Mark has worked for IT and Telecommunications companies in Sydney, Australia. Now based at CustomTec he is responsible for customer account management and business development across Australia, NZ and South East Asia.

If you would like to know more then contact me at CustomTec and I would happy to assist.

Durability

Business grade laptops from manufacturers such as HP, Lenovo, DELL, Toshiba and Panasonic met much higher standards in terms of the build quality. They have features such as technology to protect the hard drive from damage if the laptop is dropped, stronger hinges, and magnesium alloy chassis. They are tested to much higher standards.

Home user laptops such as you would find department stores like Harvey Norman tend not to have these features and consequently have a much higher rate of failure. For a business not only is a broken laptop a cost but it mean a huge loss of productivity. Even if it is under warranty it may take weeks to repair.

Home laptops typically have 1 year warranties. Business laptops are usually have 3 year warranties, or at least as an option. They may include onsite repair rather than having to send them away.

Please note that HP, DELL, Toshiba etc all produce ranges of home laptops as well. Check the manufacture website or with CustomTec to make sure that the model you are considering is a business laptop.

Windows 7 Pro

Businesses should run Windows 7 Professional. Windows 7 Pro has features that allow greated security and central management for business. For example, Windows 7 Pro allows users to authenticate to a central domain, users can encrypt their data and IT Support can manage devices centrally such as deploying applications.

Standardisation

Business models tend to have a longer lifecycles meaning that the model you buy today is the same model you can buy in 3 months time. Home user laptops are usually built in single batches. This means the corporate laptop image or standard operating environment (SOE) needs to be updated constantly putting a cost and strain on IT support.

So when choosing a laptop of notebook for your business please ensure that it is a business grade machine. CustomTec have a number of models that we recommend and have experience with.

As you probably noticed I haven’t covered the Apple notebooks. Please don’t hold that against me. I just haven’t had much personal experience using Apple notebooks so I don’t like to make recommendations either way.

Yep, I sure am lucky.

Yes, that’s right. I work from home. I bet that conjured up a lot of images for you, mostly of me luxuriously sipping cocoa while I blog in my pajamas, late on a Tuesday morning (swap tea for cocoa and insert yoga pants, which are basically pajamas, and you do, in fact, have my current state). But, as Laura Donovan ingeniously pointed out in her post on not-so-funemployment, staying home all day can actually be pretty terrible. It can be lonesome, alienating, and depressing, and it robs you of a lot of the normal social interactions/small real-world experiences that make life rich.

Not that I’m complaining too much. I’m flexible, able to travel (well, I would be if I had any money), able to build things like volunteering and weekday brunch into my schedule, and I don’t have to put up with hassles like traffic or unflattering fluorescent lights. But to make working from home a little less like being on house arrest, I’ve come up with the following tips.

1. Don’t buy a cat. I don’t exactly mean this one literally; if you really want a cat, you should have a cat. What I mean is that you can’t rely on a cat, a dog, or anything else, furry or otherwise, to give your life meaning. I have thought many times of heading over to the pound for a puppy just to give myself something to do other than write and edit at my dining room table all day; I have even briefly thought about what it would be like to have another kind of bundle of joy to take care of and buy onesies for. But you can’t adopt a pooch or get pregnant just to find some validation in your life.

2. Shower and get dressed. One of the first things people say to me when they hear that I work from home is, “Wow, it must be nice getting to spend all day in your pajamas.” Really? That sounds nice? To me, that sounds like living on some sort of psych ward. The few times I have spent the majority of the workday un-showered and in my PJs, I’ve felt even more like a shut-in or an invalid than usual. It makes me lethargic, unproductive, and mopey, like I’ve stayed home sick. I’ve learned it’s incredibly important to get up, take a shower, dry and at least passably style my unruly mane, and put on some sort of outfit, even if it’s just a T-shirt and jeans. Only then do I feel like a real, productive person, and not either a baby or a character in “Girl, Interrupted.”

3. Eat something normal. Being inches from your own refrigerator all day can have a very weird effect on your eating habits. When I first started this working remotely gig, I’d just sort of graze all day (hummus for breakfast, a LOT of string cheese for lunch, pickles or way too many olives for dessert) because I hadn’t yet figured out that the above combination would make me feel and smell like death. My body wants breakfast food for breakfast, a filling lunch, and definitely less string cheese and pickles. I’ve found that eating breakfast away from my computer, before I “start” work, and taking a half hour or so to make something that actually counts as lunch, helps give my days a bit of a normal  rhythm, which helps with both productivity and feeling like my job (and life) is real.

4. Talk to someone. Yesterday was one of those days when I actually didn’t leave the house, except to switch laundry from washer to dryer a couple of times. That doesn’t happen all that often, but when it does, it’s the weirdest feeling. My mom called around noon, and it actually felt bizarre to be having a conversation with someone who isn’t my boyfriend (also a freelance writer, and therefore also home a lot — but that’s a whole different post). What I’m trying to say is that you have to actively seek out even the smallest social interactions when you work from home. Sometimes that means spending the morning at a coffee shop rather than in my “home office,” and sometimes it means making a bigger commitment. I’m scheduled to start volunteering with the Tucson branch of the International Rescue Committee next week; my beau is a docent-in-training with the Arizona Historical Society. Any means of getting outside my tiny work-from-home bubble is going to help me fight this battle against being a batty lady who talks to herself all day, because there’s no one else to talk to.

5. Designate work time and home time. This is probably the hardest part of working from home; you’re always sort of at the office. An email comes through at 9 p.m.? It’s not like I have the excuse of not having been around to read it; I’m always around, so I feel guilty not replying right away. The same is true for weekends, which are depressingly difficult to differentiate from the rest of the week. So I’ve learned that setting limits is the most important strategy for me. Sure, I’m available during normal business hours, and beyond them if there are extenuating circumstances, but I can’t be on call 24/7. I spend my evenings reading, writing, working out, spending time with friends or cooking dinner, rather than scrambling to get ahead on the week’s work tasks, and my weekends are almost always designated as work-free. Without these limits, I’d feel compelled to check in with work around the clock, which we all know is unhealthy, whether you work from home or in a high-stress office.

So, while I’m still more isolated than I’d necessarily like to be, I’ve come up with a passable routine for working from home without feeling suffocated by my own constant companionship and/or the rapidly increasing presence of voices in my head (mostly kidding). Here’s a bonus sixth tip that I’ve had to learn the super-duper hard way: For the love of God, if you work from home, especially as an independent contractor, FIGURE OUT HOW TO DO YOUR TAXES NOW. Because the self-employment tax, more than the lonesomeness or lack of social interaction or diet of overly salty back-of-the-fridge snacks, is the bane of my existence.

As much as I love the conveniences that technology has to offer, I often fail to recognize that as a human being, I can only do so much at one time….EFFECTIVELY! One evening, I caught myself watching TV, sending a text message, checking my email, cooking dinner, and talking to my son – all at the same time.

Of course, I did a horrible job with all of the above.

In most jobs, the ability to multi-task is a requirement. I always have about 6 web browser windows open at one time during my work day, each window having about 5 – 8 different tabs. And yes, I use them all. It takes a lot of discipline and good time-management skills to manage your work tasks effectively, especially when working from home. It’s very easy to burn yourself out trying to do too many things at once. Always focus on one thing at a time and do it well, rather than trying to do five different things at once, and doing a poor job on all of them.

When interacting with customers, it is especially important that you give them your full attention. Absolutely no multi-tasking allowed when responding to a customer’s email and also when you’re on the phone with a customer!

When I was a brand new Customer Service rep, I was responding to a customer’s email and listening to music at the same time. Yes, of course I was singing along! At the end of my email, I realized that I had typed, “Please don’t contact us if we may be of further assistance.” I had intended to type, “Please don’t hesitate to contact us….” Fortunately, I did catch it before hitting “Send,” and corrected the error! Phew! Can you imagine the consequences if I did not correct that mistake?

I used to work at a call center. One day, the call volume was very low so my coworker decided to pick up a magazine and started to read. She was reading an article about some famous Hollywood couple’s divorce or something of that nature. She was so immersed in the article that when her phone rang, she picked it up and while doing her typical “intro,” she said “how may I hurt you,” instead of “how may I help you?” It was a good thing that the person on the other end of the line was a customer that she had spoken with frequently so they both had a good laugh. If it had been an irate customer, the situation could have been a lot worse!

Give yourself a break! Don’t try to do too much at once. Find a good time-management system and to-do list that works for you to help you stay on track. Please feel free to leave your own time-management tips as a comment.

-Char Ferrara

View of Manhattan Bridge from our NYC offices.

There’s a bright spot on the economic horizon, especially as it rises on the Big Apple.  According to the Bloomberg administration, high tech employment in New York City has increased nearly 30% in less than 5 years.  In fact, the city reports that Silicon Alley will surpass Wall Street in job creation by the end of 2012. Now even better news: you can be part of that trend by joining Metaverse Mod Squad’s booming East Coast operations!

From hospitality to retail, entertainment to technology, Metaverse works with marquee companies and operators to promote brands, engage users and protect the safety of children.  We’re looking for part-time or full-time Social Media Managers in the New York City area that have a passion for social media, excellent writing skills, and a background in marketing/public relations.  Need flexibility?  This gig is perfect for writer/artists who desire some flexibility—including working from home!  Think we’re kidding?  Our VP Digital Engagement who heads up our East Coast operations is also a writer/journalist!  That’s just a little taste of the passionate, smart, groovy team you’ll join.

Here’s what we’re looking for:

• Successful community development expertise, hospitality or retail experience preferred.
• Experience managing social media accounts and the creation of engaging content for clients on social networks, including Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Foursquare and blogs.
• Understand how to embody the voice of client brands online, regularly engaging with their core consumers on digital platforms.
• Talent for writing—and flexible enough to create content for tweens one day and boomer moms the next.
• Self-starter: ability to organize yourself (and others), juggle various personalities and organizational cultures.
• Brand development experience is preferred; knowledge of PR/communications.
• Analytics experience is a plus, decisions need be data-driven.
• Ability to interpret and analyze data to make strategic decisions.
• Experience reporting to senior executives.

Here’s what you’ll do:

• Brainstorm and implement strategy and direction for community engagement & management
• Interact with clients’ communities—and train & supervise others to do so effectively.
• Client Management
• Community support of marketing efforts
• Competitive Analysis
• Planning and execution of events, promotions, engagement efforts
• Leadership of community team members
• Working with production, engineering, art, and design teams to ensure community needs are met

Here’s what you have:

• Bachelors Degree.
• 2 – 4 years working with a team, preferably managing some team members
• 1 – 3 years community development & engagement

Here’s what you need to do:
Send resumé and cover letter with links to communities/sites that you’ve managed, moderated and/or to which you’ve contributed engaging content to hr[at]metaversemodsquad.com with the subject line: East Coast Social Media Manager.