COVID-19: How to keep in touch with my colleagues

Like a lot of you, I have to stay at home due to COVID-19. It is strictly forbidden to go to the office for a few weeks in France 🇫🇷.

In this particular circumstance, my company had to adapt. Few devs work often remotely but not all the company at the same time. As we are all far away from each other, we're trying to keep close virtually despite the distance.

We've taken actions to be still productive and keep the good atmosphere and preserve our team culture in the company.

24H live conversation ⏲️

The first thing we've put in place is a 24H live conversation on Hangouts. It is like the coffee machine at the office: you go in, talk about everything with anyone available and then back to work.
I like to go on the call in the morning with my coffee cup. We can talk about the weekend or the last Netflix series.

It may seem useless but this little move allows anyone to keep in touch with its peers and avoid isolation. Foreign workmates are often on it and I think it's a big help for them to know they are not alone!

Daily standup 📝

For each team, we're doing a daily meeting to know what my colleagues worked on yesterday and will work today and I can be informed if there is any blocker. That helps to keep the productivity high in the team so we know that everybody is pushing hard to keep a strong velocity.

E-Beers 🍻

Every Thursday, we drink a beer / cocktail / tea cup all together on Zoom and update each other situations. Sometimes we can see some of our co-worker's baby faces 👶 appear in the background. It's a good time to talk with my workmate about everything except work. It is a good time to relax and be proud of the work we have accomplished this week.

Calls ☎️

When I need an urgent information or just want to talk about a specific topic, I simply take my phone and call my colleague, instead of writing conversation. This gives a human interaction that is missed on Slack. I feel less alone and I always keep in touch with my colleagues who are, more often than not, my friends too.

Conclusion

During this difficult period, communication is key. If you want to avoid isolation in your company, feel productive and keep human interactivity, you have to put in place some solution for your team. Be there for each other 🤝

How do you handle this distance in your team and how do you stay productive remotely? Tell us in the comments.

PS: I want to say thank you to Hivebrite which is doing everything they can to keep a good atmosphere in the company.

If you want to share some good practices, you can DM me on Twitter