Manage Your Technology

When you work outside a traditional office, connectivity is everything. If your internet fails in the middle of a meeting, you can waste precious minutes on hold with customer support while your window of overlap with a colleague closes.

It’s frustrating to spend time problem-solving issues that don’t fall within your area of expertise, but the stakes are high. Missed deadlines, canceled appointments, botched handoffs: Technical glitches can scuttle your work and create frustration among your peers. At some point, “technical difficulties” start looking like old-fashioned irresponsibility. So how do you anticipate and resolve your technical problems before they become problems for your colleagues, too?

Your responsibilities will depend on the nature of your collaboration. If you’re a full-time employee with a regular or permanent remote-work gig, your IT department will help you select and set up tools and even troubleshoot problems. But if you don’t have the benefit of IT support, these guidelines will help you get your technology up and running on your own.

Assess your needs

What tools do you need to get your work done? Which will help you collaborate most effectively with others? The answers to these questions aren’t always the same. For example, you might prefer legacy software that other people don’t know how to use. Or maybe your colleague likes working through problems on Slack, but you’d rather talk than type your way through complicated issues. To determine which technologies will make the relationship work best from both ends, take an inventory of your own needs and those of your collaborator.

You’ll start, of course, with a lightweight laptop or tablet. But what else? Do you trade large audio or video files with each other? Do you prefer instant messaging (IM) to long-form e-mails? Use the following questions to organize your thoughts:

• What’s your primary way of communicating—phone, e-mail, or some other channel?

• Do you hold meetings? If so, how?

• Do you need any specialized software or hardware?

• Do you need to access any databases?

• How do you store and synchronize content? How important is it to your work that you see and share real-time updates to files, data, and the like?

• How much storage capacity do you need?

• What precautions do you take to secure information?

• What activities do you need to do on your mobile phone?

• Do you share or synchronize calendars?

• Do you need project-management or issue-tracking software (such as Asana, Smart-sheet, SharePoint, JIRA, Microsoft Project, or Basecamp)?

• What compatibilities must you plan for—for example, Apple versus Android?

You don’t have to answer these questions on your own: Talk about them with your colleagues, too. As you’re making your final selections, consider these additional questions:

• If you work for a company, what technology does it provide?

• Do you have access to an IT department? If not, can your coworkers recommend a private consulting service?

• What’s your budget for all technology—purchase, installation, and maintenance? Will your company pay for any of this?

• What assistance can your company provide? For example, does it offer free copies of software or virtual training?

• Are the tools you plan to use easy to install, learn, and use? Are they reliable?

• Do the tools require you to acquire any new components?

Select your hardware and software

With the information you’ve gathered from your boss and your colleagues, you’re ready to choose your tools. Sometimes these decisions, at least the big ones, will be made by a team leader or by IT; in other cases, it’s up to you.

Hardware

When it comes to hardware, determining what you need, beyond your mobile phone and laptop or tablet, depends on where you work. Are you putting together a home office? Are you packing a bag for a work trip? Do you need materials you can travel with every day to a coworking space or a client site? Focus on the items that matter most to your setup, including the following:

• A good internet provider. For everything from communicating to uploading and downloading files. Pay attention to the results of your internet speed tests: For most types of work, 25 to 50 Mbps download speed and 10 Mbps upload speed should be sufficient.

• A landline. For high-quality audio during a conversation. Consider installing one in a home office, and plan for access when you travel.

• Your own hotspot. For supplying a backup Wi-Fi connection anywhere. Look for tools that are super portable, such as a USB stick from your wireless provider or your mobile phone.

• A headset. For lengthy, hands-free conversations. Look for a wired version that you won’t have to charge or pair wirelessly with your phone or computer.

• A mini power strip. For securing a power supply when you’re out and about, especially in a crowded café or at a convention. If all the outlets are taken, ask one claimant to plug into your strip instead. Look for a compact, cordless model.

• Extra cables. For moving your work easily, without the rigmarole of unplugging every component.

• Cable case. For organizing and transporting cables. Look for something with compartments, for tangle-free cords and easy sorting of adapters.

• Battery and car adapter. For charging your devices on the go. Look for an inverter (it changes DC to AC) so that you can charge your laptop in your car.

• Labels and tags. For keeping track of your stuff so that your laptop, tablet, charger, headset, and so on, don’t get mixed up with someone else’s—even in your own home. Look for colorful cable IDs, stickers, or asset tags.

Software

With software, what’s right for you depends on the kind of work you’ll be doing. Are you collaborating on a process or creating separate components for a final product? Do you work primarily with words, images, or audio? Focus on the items that matter most to the tasks you’ll be completing, such as the following:

• Document collaboration. Look for tools that let you edit in real time and share files that are too large for e-mail. Examples: Google Drive, Dropbox.

• Note sharing. Look for tools that collect all your notes and clippings in one place, sync across devices, and allow you to share content with colleagues. Examples: Evernote, Simple-note, Google Docs.

• Scheduling. Look for tools that let you manage joint calendars with colleagues, and set up in your own calendar various appointment slots that others can sign up for. Examples: Google Calendar, Calendly.

• Screen sharing. Look for tools that let you share with multiple users at the same time. Prioritize speed and reliability over complicated features. Examples: join.me, Skype, WebEx, Google Hangouts.

• Instant messaging. Look for tools that you can connect to your phone, laptop, and tablet. Example: Slack, Google Chat, HipChat.

Don’t be afraid of trying out new tools, but the conservative choice is often the best. Pick items that are simple, reliable, and easy to use, maintain, and replace. So much the better if you already own them: Using familiar technology will save you time and keep your costs low.

Put your tools to work

If you’re part of a team, ideally your team leader will coordinate a conversation around how you’ll use the tools that you’ve identified. If you’re working in a looser arrangement, it probably doesn’t make sense to work out detailed rules, but you can still take the lead to clarify a few key items:

Venue. Which interactions belong on the phone, in e-mail, and so on?

Availability. How responsive will you be on each of these tools? How will you get in touch if something’s truly urgent?

Meetings. Who will set up and lead conference calls or host video chats? How will you get the call-in number and handouts in advance? If you’re the only person calling in, who will introduce you? If the whole meeting is virtual, how will all of you identify yourselves when you speak?

Version control. How will you make sure that you and your colleagues are working efficiently and without redundancy? When something goes wrong, who will be responsible for fixing the problem?

Coordination. Which materials or tools do you need to synchronize? Who will set up and manage shared technologies?

Sensitive material. How will you safely share and store sensitive or proprietary material?

Politeness and privacy. What does good behavior look like with each of these technologies? For example, can you call a colleague without an appointment? How will you avoid interrupting each other on a video chat if there’s a delay?

You don’t need a hard-and-fast rule for everything: Pick the issues that matter most to your work experience or that seem to be troublesome for your coworkers. Bring up the topic in a respectful, upbeat way, and focus on a short list of specific behaviors. If your colleagues aren’t responsive to your suggestions, or if you feel uncomfortable talking to them about it, focus on disciplining your own tech use. Can you ask for handouts before a meeting? Redirect coworkers to your preferred communication tool? Update your IM status to let people know you’re too busy to answer calls right now? Be proactive and consistent, and others may follow your lead.

What to do when technology fails

Technology failures are confusing and embarrassing. But you can reduce their impact by accepting that they’ll happen sooner or later and by planning for them.

Prepare, test, and practice. Master critical troubleshooting moves before you need them. For example, know how to recover lost files and remember rebooting your computer sometimes resolves issues. When you’re first setting up your remote work tools—before a big conference call—conduct a premortem to catalog potential risks and to play out worst-case scenarios. Brainstorm plan Bs (for example, what should you do if you’re kicked off the call?), and do a few trial runs to make sure they’re viable. Keep a physical copy of a crisis card close at hand with information such as your account number with an internet service provider and the contact information for a local, in-home IT service (see the sidebar “Technology Crisis Card”).

Use the buddy system. A designated colleague can help you solve tech problems on the fly and act as a liaison for you with the rest of the team while your system is down. You can text them while your machine reboots, or e-mail them as you dial in again after a dropped call. Don’t wait for disaster to strike before you establish this relationship: Ask a collaborator ahead of time, and agree on the communication channels you’ll use.

Learn from others. Augment your own know-how with tips from your coworkers. If you’re part of a virtual team, ask your leader to circulate a memo with recommended plan Bs, resources, help links, and contact information. Or reach out informally on your own to colleagues: “What backup plans do you have in place if your tech setup fails? Any advice for me?” Consider creating a shared document where people can post their suggestions, or start a dedicated thread in a group discussion board or another forum. If you get good feedback, print it out and keep it handy offline.

Managing your own technology will sometimes feel like a strange addendum to your “real” job. But your professional reputation depends on your competence in this realm. If your colleagues can count on you to upload files correctly, they’re much more likely to trust you with the bigger things. In the next chapter, you’ll learn additional best practices for creating trusting, productive relationships with your coworkers.