With the outbreak of Covid-19, people across the globe have suddenly been faced with the prospect of working from home full-time. Our team at Doppio is no exception, and we were quick to mobilize.
Here’s a look at how a few of our colleagues have adapted their home work environments to help tackle the challenges – and opportunities – of the WFH lifestyle.
Puppy Love
Carolina Rocha, Marketing
Working from home is far from being a new experience for me. A former freelancer, I’ve always been a fan of flex work, so when we were told to stay home, that was fairly easy. I start my day the way I always do, a quick jog with my dog in the morning (although now I do two laps around my building instead of going the long way around the block) and a good breakfast that I used to skip because I needed the time to commute. I am also working on my post-grad and I host a podcast show, and everything is done remotely – it’s exciting, while still being in the comfort of my home.
While the world is figuring out its new normal, I feel like this team is very nimble and our work pace is as fast as you’d expect from a startup. The company offers smart speaker devices as a welcome gift to everyone and it came in very handy! Slack has become a daily important part of work and just general chatting that keeps the team spirit going. A trick that helps is logging into virtual conference rooms a bit early to slip in some minutes of water cooler conversation before meetings start, just like we used to do in person. It certainly doesn’t beat the cookies I used to buy and share with the team, but I let my puppy sneak in for a peek on video calls to make up for the lack of sugar.
The Importance of Chairs!
Gabriel Canavarro, Design/Development
Being isolated and working from home meant a pretty big twist in my routine! All of a sudden I stopped meeting personally with my team, the 4km walk to get to the office was replaced by a 4 second transition from my bed to my workstation, and I also had to get used to working with my furniture at home instead of what we were used to having in the office , which has been crucial for me.
No matter what I’m doing, if I’m doing it for hours straight everyday, I’m going to need to be comfortable doing it. When we changed to a home-office setup, I was super quick to buy one adjustable gaming chair to achieve the comfort standards I’m searching for. I have been using it for one week so far and it was definitely worth it, it is super comfortable.
Even if it is still unclear how long this pandemic will keep on restricting us from going out, I now feel a lot more confident that if I need to keep working from home for months, I’m already prepared for it!
From home office to home chef
Eva Vital, Design/Development
Working from home hasn’t changed the working day all that much for me, except that I now have traded the time I used to spend commuting on cooking instead! I’ve been making everything from beef-and-veggie fried chow mein, to warm and cold salads, and also a bit of a dip into Italian food with pasta carbonara – yum!
I still wake up about the same time as before, eat breakfast and get dressed as I would if I were going to the office – that means I still put on my bra 😃 – to keep the routine and my working mindset.
While I kind of miss our lunch-time Bang! sessions and coffee breaks, it feels almost as if I were still in the office. We still have the same number of chats, except face-to-face time is now through a screen.
Everything Needs a Paint Job
Gonçalo Costa, Art
I’ve worked as a freelancer before, so this is nothing new. While that experience taught me that I function better working with a team around me, I can hardly complain! I think we are some of the few lucky ones that have the possibility of working from home and I’m very grateful for that.
I set up my workspace as far away as possible from my room and I’m keeping the same routine. The alarm clock didn’t change and because I’m saving on my commute time, I start every day one hour earlier. I sometimes consider leaving the house, walking around the block and coming back inside just to tell my brain that I’m “going to work”, but that accomplished feeling of my extra productivity is addicting.
What do I do with all the extra free time? Painting miniatures!
“But Gonçalo, don’t you already spend your day painting? Wouldn’t you rather do something else in your spare time?”
Yeah, I don’t get it either.
Happy in Dexter’s Lab
João Costa, Sound
Before working at Doppio, I worked freelance at home for about two and a half years. So I'm pretty used to this whole WFH situation.
Although with some differences now: having to keep a schedule with regular meetings throughout the day helps with time management and keeps me feeling like I'm still going to work like before. Video conferences (which is something I didn't do a lot as a freelancer) are also super important. They help you keep connected to your colleagues and are a nice change of pace from working alone all day.
Apart from that my routine hasn't changed that much. I do have more time to pet and play with my cat Dexter, so even though I miss the old ways, I'm in no hurry to go back!
Ready for Toky—Doppio 2020
Jules Baculard, Product
For the past two weeks I've been working from France, as my family lives in the Paris suburban area. My working routine is now pretty established: I do exercise/Yoga every morning, before making sure I'm online for the daily standup meeting we have early in the afternoon. We're iterating at a fast pace, so there's always a new feature to check out whenever I play our games in the morning. I’m lucky to have a garden at home, so I play table tennis with my family over lunch to make sure I don’t sit around all day! Early in the afternoon I usually sync up with teammates to make sure we’re on the same page; information gaps and miscommunication can happen very quickly on a remote team but we’ve managed to work around them!
Late afternoon and evening is usually when I do deep work: feature design, revenue models… The remote work experience is really something you have to practice and learn before you can be productive at it, but overall I’m enjoying it!