Ep #90: Remote-First Work Style with Pete Roberts

Be A Brilliant Remote Worker

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How does tech infrastructure determine the ease of your remote work experience? How does the right infrastructure & toolkit get you into the right mindset? What influence does workspace ergonomics have on your productivity & wellbeing?

This week on the show we talk to Pete Roberts, part of the PRgloo team, who shares how having the right technology infrastructure & workspace ergonomics makes remote working so much easier. If you haven’t yet listened to Ep 89 where we interviewed Samantha Deeks, co-founder of PRgloo, you may want to head over there first and come back.

Pete transitioned into remote work via a hybrid role that enabled him to work remotely part of the time. But it wasn’t until his first 100% remote role that he realised the huge difference it makes to have the technology infrastructure & digital toolkit to really support an office-free work style, one where you open the laptop at home and you’re immediately connected to the company server, so you can dive into your deliverables ASAP — even if you’re not connected to the internet!

Pete is a family man with 3 kids under 8*, so he talks about finding & evolving work-family balance as a remote worker, how working remotely has enabled the deep focus he needs as a software developer, his spontaneous approach to health & wellbeing, and the importance of ergonomics and making yourself as comfortable as possible, wherever you work. I hope you enjoy it.

Key highlights from this episode include:

A remote-first work culture is defined by the tech infrastructure & toolkit that makes remote working really easy.

The previous roles I’d done which had some elements to remote working in them… they weren’t really set up in the same way from a tech perspective. There was an opportunity to work remotely, but it was a case of bringing home a laptop or using a home PC and then remote ‘desktopping’ to my worktop in the office, which isn’t the ideal setup especially when you’re a software developer,… that can be a challenge. The role I’m in now is set up 100% for remote working. We’ve got cloud based servers, Office 365, everything is done in such a way that remote working is really easy. It’s been a Godsend having the tech infrastructure that makes it easy to work from home.

Having the right tech infrastructure & tools in places help you get into the right mindset.

If you’ve got things stopping you from connecting to your workspace… you’ve got a barrier there automatically. If your internet connection drops, you immediately can’t get online. [However], if you have the infrastructure in place where you can switch your laptop on and everything is there already, whether you’re connected or not with broadband, it’s so much easier because you’re not as tied or tethered to your office.

Remote relationships developed face to face are integral to team productivity and wellbeing.

One thing that helps in my role is I’ve worked with a lot of the team previously in a physical location in 2012,.. that has been invaluable. A challenge I’ve had working remotely with people I don’t know is it’s always easier to put a personality to someone if you’ve physically met with someone in the real world. We’ve had meetups with the development team and company, which have been invaluable from a productivity & wellbeing point of view.

Creating time for yourself is invaluable.

Have awareness to set sometime aside for your health and family. You do need to think about your health and wellbeing.

Ergonomics is critical to your productivity & wellbeing as a remote worker.

“The single most important thing for my productivity and wellbeing when working remotely is… I have a 6-stand desk, I have a chair I picked out that I find comfortable, I have all the kit I need to make my work environment as comfortable for me as I can get it.”