8 lifehacks to make working from home so much easier

Small things can make a big difference. We often think to ourselves that we can just pick up our laptop and start working. But in reality, you soon start finding pesky difficulties.

So what else can you do to make your life working at home more comfortable?

1. Dual monitors
   Using two screens is almost always better than one. Some of our team even use three. Multiple monitors are really useful if you comparing two different sets of data or even if you want to keep your email visible at all times on one of those screens so you can keep better tabs on things.

2. Webcams
   Face-to-face communication goes a long way when it comes to maintaining relationships and is really helpful when it comes to meetings and discussions if you can actually see the person you’re talking to. When you are using a webcam for team meetings and also trying to screenshare, there can be times when a second monitor can really come into its own so that you can work as well as see your colleagues.

3. Headsets and microphones
   Using a dedicated headset is much better for sound quality over a standard PC speaker or microphone. The audio quality will be much better and you'll not be hindered by performance issues in your important everyday communications.

4. Separate Mouse and Keyboard
   Having a separate keyboard and mouse can seem a bit pointless, until you’re using a trackpad for an entire day and are struggling to move around. Using a separate mouse and keyboard helps you work comfortably all day.

5. Connectivity wherever you are
   Using platforms such as Skype or Slack for messaging or calling combined with your Webcam helps you to keep in touch with your teams. You can create Groups for your smaller teams and chat together easily making sure you are all kept in the loop. Making use of the “Do Not Disturb”, “Online” and “Away” status will also let your team know when they can communicate with you.

6. Video conferencing software 
   Screensharing and conferencing calling software such as Zoom, Teamviewer, Gotomeeting or Web-Ex with webcams ensures you can have productive meetings and even record them so that you never miss anything.

7. Project Management Software
   Organise your activities and coordinate them with your team with tools like Trello so that you can all collaborate more effectively. You can then see your current workload, what you are working on, what is outstanding and what is completed. Changing priorities is then as easy as dragging and dropping cards.

8. Cloud storage and file sharing systems 
   We all need to share large files from time to time and email has size limits. Google Drive, One Drive, Hightail and Dropbox are a few of the systems that can be used to make file sharing that much easier with remote workers.

Working from home can also put pressure on you to work non-stop or avoid stepping away from your PC. But even though you’re not physically in the office doesn’t mean that you can’t take comfort breaks or go for lunch like you would usually. Make sure that you are still taking care of yourself and working like you usually would, you’re just in a different office environment.

As a software business, we are accustomed to working from home and these are our own top tips and tools from our experiences and we hope they can help you too.