The Power of 'Deep work' in Remote settings.

Recent circumstances have seen the majority of companies and potential job seekers turn to remote working. Carrying your laptop in your bag and heading out to the beach with a Daiquiri in hand ready to write code and change the world, right?

WRONG!!!

Working remotely is not a hobby that you can do from simply anywhere with an internet connection and still expect quality output of work. Well, at least not for Software Developers.

Working in a remote setting relies heavily on Asynchronous communication which is basically communication with team members via platforms such as Slack and Google Meet. For quality output to be achieved in this setting, team members have to be effective in communication so as to deliver a fully understandable message whilst saving time.

So, What is Deep Work?

Deep work is the state of development/working that is distraction-free and enables a developer to focus only on the task at hand delivering quality output in a short time.
Whether you agree or not, you will achieve more productivity when you are in a quiet office-like environment focussing only on one task as compared to working at the beach with people playing and being noisy all over the place.

To achieve this state of deep work, I recommend you have access to a quiet, distraction-free room where you can set up your work equipment such as a table and a chair. Once the perfect working environment is established, you need to actually train your mind to achieve this state of deep work.

Keep your phone on silent mode and put it away from you. I then suggest using the Pomodoro Technique.
Basically, group your tasks in order of priority then take 25-45 minute sessions of purely focussing on a task until it is complete. After every session, take a 5-10 minute break, grab water or a cup of coffee then do another session of Deep Work.

At the end of the day, I think we can all agree that 4 hours of Deep work sessions will achieve more productivity than 8 filled with distractions from team members and checking your social media feed every 10 minutes.