Working from home because of the coronavirus? Check out these tips and tools for getting started.

With the spread of the coronavirus, many companies are asking their teams to work from home. As a huge advocate of distributed work, I want to celebrate this news! My company began transitioning to distributed work, (or as we call it AnywhereWork,) back in 2007 and haven’t looked back…

My concern is that the current mad scramble to jump into the deep end with working from home now, during a major health scare is not necessarily setting everyone up for success. In general, I suggest an iterative approach to transitioning from co-located to distributed with a healthy amount of trial and error, plus open discussions on what’s best for a specific organization. Many companies seem to feel there isn’t time for that type of approach. So, if you’re thinking about working from home and you’re new to it, here are a few ways you can be more successful PLUS a few amazing tools to try:

Know that there will be bumps! Most people love the idea of working from home, but until one embarks on it, they may not expect what a huge adjustment there will be. Talk to your co-workers about what is working and what is not working and try to iterate to overcome challenges. Schedule a brief meeting to share tips for success and observations as you’re feeling out your new way of…