[freehunter]

I've worked on a fully-remote team for over 5 years now and everything in this article is exactly on point. Constant communication (we also use Slack) is important. So is voice communication, since text breaks down really quickly if things are getting heated. Wearing appropriate clothing also helps... I found it hard in the beginning because I'm still wearing my pajamas and my Xbox is right over there. Getting dressed and having a dedicated work space really helped get me into the mindset. If you don't have space for a fully separate office, a separate desk or even separate tools can provide that little bit of mental differentiation. I have a work laptop and a personal laptop, and my work laptop has a keyboard and mouse that are only used for my work laptop. The two computers share the same desk, but I know when my work keyboard is sitting in front of me, it's professional time. I have to move my work keyboard out of the way to get to my personal laptop, which signals the ending of professional time.

I've also found that face-to-face is necessary sometimes. I work with clients, and sometimes things can get hairy on a project. Over email or even on a phone call, sometimes it's easy to forget that the person on the other end is a human being with their own hopes and dreams and life and desires. Getting to see them in real life, having little moments of downtime where you're on a coffee break and just chatting about life, those are important. That's easy to miss in a remote job, and it leads to a lot of stress.

Also something I didn't think of when I started working remote... the constant letters from my electric company about how I use more electricity than a normal house. Because normally people aren't home all day with lights and heat/AC and computers running.

[durbatuluk]

This "office feeling" is something still strange to me as someone who like to work with less cloth as possible. Maybe is my background in biology which we did everything in same place, research, sample, drink and eat. In fact working in office make my production drop even with 35h/week.

Maybe is related to programming as hobby turning to job.