As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the shutting down of basically everything (and, of course, a desire to keep everyone safe and healthy), we had to cancel the STLX event we had scheduled as part of Global Service Jam. And as many of us have seen, our work has become suddenly remote, with no real idea of when this may end.
Remote work, especially in the experience and service design fields, presents some unique challenges, so we pulled together a “Remote Worker’s Workshop” to share insights and experience, as well as some ideas for how to best thrive in what looks to be a new normal (at least for a little while. In three sessions presented by STLX members (thank you everyone who put something together for this!), we talked about the various aspects of successful remote XD work.
Remote work – the basics
When it comes down to it, the work you need to do is basically the same whether you are in the office or remote. But, as the saying goes, context matters and your physical environment plays a big part in the context of your daily activities. In this session we will share tips for creating your own personal work context and take your questions and suggestions based on your own experience. Featured Speakers: Ken Moire of Spry Digital and G. Brett Miller of DSA, Inc.
Communicating and sharing while Remote
The key to successful remote and distributed work is the concept of working out loud, also known as observable work. Depending on how “out loud” your company works at the office, the transition from in-person to remote work may require anything from a radical change (if you rely on a lot of face to face communication and share files on local network drives) or not much of a change (if you are already working out loud by using digital tools for your communication and sharing). Either way, this session will help you make sure that you and your team(s) have the capabilities you need to work out loud and be successful while working remotely. Speakers: Martha Valenta of 1904 labs & Brian Schwartz of Centric Consulting
Stay organized and think visually
The first two sessions provided insight into the where and the how of successful remote work. This final session gets to the heart of remote work, namely the work itself. In this session we will look at how you can keep your team(s) organized and on task and discuss some of the tools you can use in support of your design & research work. Speakers: Nathan Lucy of Booz Allen Hamilton and Holly Schroeder of STLX
We hope these sessions are helpful for you in the coming weeks (months? years?) as we all figure out how to make this all work.
no straight lines 