The Ultimate Remote Work Resources Guide

March 20, 2020

A couple of weeks ago, we decided to temporarily close our office in Boston and ask our team to work from home. Going fully remote is a new thing for us, and we know it’s something that many of you are currently navigating as well. As you’ve probably realized, it’s not as simple as setting up Slack and taking video calls on Zoom—though those tools are extremely helpful.

If you’re struggling with this right now, know that it’s okay to feel that way and that you aren’t alone.

For that reason, we’re grateful that so many people and companies have generously shared their best tips and tricks for working from home over the last couple of weeks. We know this information can be overwhelming, so we curated our own list of favorite resources. Below, find links to advice on everything from setting up your home workspace, to leading remotely, to balancing childcare with work—plus a bonus tutorial on a Zoom integration that’s been brightening our team meetings.

Resources for Remote Workers

Slack: Helpful How-tos for the Transition to Remote Work
This how-to guide from Slack offers their best tips to make working from home feel routine in no time. They’re primarily resources created in-house to address specific aspects of going remote, including how to maximize productivity for management and how to host remote work meetings.

Loom: A Curated List of the Best Remote Work Resources
Another list of resources to help ease the transition to working from home. You’ll find books, blog posts, downloadable PDFs and plenty of others from around the web.

GitLab’s Guide to All-Remote
As the world’s largest all-remote company, GitLab knows their stuff when it comes to tips and tricks for remote teams. This guide is a detailed breakdown of steps and considerations when going remote, complete with specific tutorials and resources for each step.

Miro: The Ultimate Guide to Remote Work
Almost like a Remote Work 101 course, Miro’s guide takes you through the concept of a remote workplace from beginning to end. There are loads of great case studies, research articles and data cited along the way too.

SoftwareDonation.org: Tools to Help You During COVID-19
A great source of specific tools to use as your workforce goes remote. There are suggestions for communication, file sharing and more.

Help Scout: Tips from 100+ Remote Workers and Leaders
Don’t be intimidated by a list of tips numbering in the triple digits—HelpScout’s resource is organized by talking points, including collaboration, leadership and hiring.

Trello: How to Embrace Remote Work (PDF)
If you’re looking for one singular resource that can get your team excited about working remotely, then this PDF from Trello should be required reading. It offers tried-and-tested strategies from Evernote, Buffer, Zapier, Automattic and other fully distributed companies.

Four Kitchens: The Quickstart Guide to Working from Home
This concise guide from remote agency Four Kitchens offers just one or two recommended tools for each category along with some best practices for remote work. It’s short, sweet and to-the-point.

Hotjar: A List of Resources That Might Help if You’re New to Remote Work
A list of links and resources that boils everything down to the most essential talking points.

CNET: 3 Ways to Convert Any Desk Into a Standing Desk
If sitting at your desk all day is something you find concerning, then take a look at this guide from CNET. It offers some different ways to convert your current desk or work surface into a standing desk.

Remote Leadership

Slack: The Manager’s Manual for Remote Work
An in-depth guide to help your managers and supervisors with the transition to working remotely. Slack’s manual offers tips and suggestions for managers to promote team engagement, effective communication and productivity.

OpenView: How to Keep Your Company Aligned While Your Whole Team Works Remotely
Executive coach Alisa Cohn provides practical advice and suggests carving out a daily meeting as a “virtual situation room.”

Help Scout: How to Handle Conflict on Remote Teams
Working remotely doesn’t mean your company is immune to the occasional hiccup. This guide from HelpScout helps with addressing team conflict remotely.

OpenView: How to Reduce Security Risks for Remote Teams
If you don’t have official guidelines or policies in place, don’t expect remote workers to know how to keep data secure.

InVision: How to Build and Sustain Culture in a Remote Environment
What does it take to get 700 fully-distributed employees from across the world to show up, collaborate and effectively operate as a business in sync? InVision’s Dennis Field explains.

Staying Connected

Calendly: Free Virtual Meeting Integrations Update
To ease the transition to remote work, Calendly is offering Zoom and GoToMeeting integrations—previously premium-tier features—free of charge through June.

Council Club: Peer Lunches
A platform where you can regularly meet with other like-minded professionals. A great opportunity to trade tips and share growing pains with others who have recently gone remote.

Snap Camera
At OpenView, Snap Camera’s Zoom integration has been majorly brightening our team meetings over the past week. Instantly transform yourself into a pizza, a unicorn or about a million other wacky and weird things. Here’s how to use it:

  1. Download and install the desktop app
  2. Start Snap Camera and choose a filter
  3. Restart Zoom and click on zoom.us –> Preferences –> Video and select Snap Camera in the dropdown menu
  4. Be delighted

Just remember to switch back to your regular camera before you start your next meeting, or you could show up as a pineapple for a virtual 1:1 with your CEO.

Mental Health

We Work Remotely: How To Keep Your Mental Health in Check When You Work From Home
A guide to mitigating feelings of depression, anxiety and isolation.

JumpCloud: Mental Health Podcast
Greg Keller, CTO at JumpCloud, talks with Brad Feld, Foundry Group Investor and author of Feld Thoughts, about mental health in a distributed workforce.

Calm: Deep Breath
Feeling anxious or tense? Calm compiled a number of guides and content collections to keep your chakras aligned while working from home.

Headspace: We’re Here for You
To help support everyone through this time of crisis, Headspace is offering some meditations you can listen to anytime for free.

Wirecutter: How to Stay Sane When Working From Home With Kids
Wondering how you’ll get anything done when your little ones are constantly running through your makeshift home office? If so, this guide from Wirecutter has your name written all over it.

Lessonly: Printable Online Coloring Book
Ollie Llama and the Lessonly marketing team put their hooves together and created a 13-page, printable coloring book for you and your kids to enjoy.

Managing Editor<br>OpenView

Kristin joined OpenView after spending over four years at InVision managing their Inside Design publication and helping build brand love as chief storyteller, lead producer and editor. Before InVision, she co-founded the digital strategy agency Four Kitchens, spent several years in the restaurant industry as a chef, and was Editor-in-Chief of the nation’s largest college humor publication, the Texas Travesty, as an undergrad at the University of Texas at Austin.