Working from home at SYNERGIE – Efficient, productive and able to get things done

For the past three weeks, a large number of our colleagues have been working from home due to the „coronavirus crisis“. Their experiences have varied considerably. For example, there are colleagues for whom this „move“ is nothing new, as they already work from home on a regular basis.

Others, on the other hand, are experiencing working from home for the first time. „I first had to reorganise myself and set up my workspace at home,“ says marketing assistant Sophia Coveli. Coveli goes on to describe the new challenges of working from home as follows: „If you don’t have your own office and have to work in the living room, for example, you initially worry about whether you’ll be distracted, especially if there are other people in the household. I also wondered at the start whether the technology would cope. Despite these concerns, however, I’ve found that working from home is just as productive as working in the office. Not least thanks to our resourceful IT manager, who very quickly set up a VPN tunnel for us so that we could have full access to our system whilst working from home.“ She also gave us a special tip for staying productive whilst working from home. „Stick to your regular working hours and dress for the job. That way, for example, you stay motivated and don’t slip into “leisure mode’ at home.” Even though it’s certainly fun to just dress up from the waist up for video conferences whilst still wearing your pyjama bottoms, from an occupational psychology perspective, you’re not doing yourself any favours.”.

Below, we’d like to introduce another specific method to help you work productively and efficiently whilst working from home. Have you ever heard of the „GTD – Getting Things Done“ method? It focuses on effective time and self-management. The GTD method helps you keep track of your tasks using an organisational system. GTD helps you to remember – and to forget. This allows your brain to relax, knowing that it has reliably delegated its tasks.

The method developed by trainer and management consultant Davis Allen is based on five principles: Collect – Process – Organise – Review – Complete.

1. Collect: You should collect everything that comes your way and needs to be dealt with in „inbox bins“. Whether these are physical filing trays or computer folders is irrelevant and depends on your personal preference.
2. Processing: Now assess each individual task. Put them in chronological order and decide what the next specific step is. The two-minute rule applies here: a task that can be completed within two minutes is done straight away. Anything that takes longer and involves several steps goes onto one of the following lists.
3. Organise: All the tasks are now being allocated.

• Action list: This is where all tasks are listed, along with their next specific step. To help you keep track of everything, these tasks can be further divided into context-based lists (phone calls, personal, work, etc.).
• Project list: Anything that requires multiple steps and cannot be dealt with in a single action. Enter fixed deadlines into the calendar. For each project, define the next steps, deadlines and reminders.
• Pending list: This is where the tasks you have delegated appear.
• 'Maybe-Someday' list: This serves as a pool of ideas for later.

4. Browse through: Check the lists and review appointments once a day; remove completed tasks from the system and add new projects once a week.
5. Complete: Work through the items on the to-do lists and in the calendar. Always keep an eye on the priorities whilst doing so.

If you want to use the DTD method effectively, you must stick to it consistently. The benefits of time management only become apparent if the system is kept constantly up to date and is complete. A good dose of self-discipline is therefore necessary to stay on the ball. Once you’ve got used to it, the system runs almost as if by itself.