Boost Your Productivity Regardless of Location

Whether in the office, working from home, or on the road, members of the Society of Women Engineers editorial working group share how they stay productive and organized at work.

Travel tips

While I travel for work, there are a few things I’m consistent about:

• I get Wi-Fi while I’m in an airplane, or bring something I can work on offline and capitalize on time for deep thinking. I find that being on a plane, especially early in the morning, can be an ideal setting for brainstorming.
• I use airplane taxiing and take-off time to network from my phone. I respond to LinkedIn messages, reach out to former colleagues, or make work-related lists.
• I always bring a charged battery pack for my cell phone to avoid losing battery power at a critical time, such as when I reserve an Uber ride.
• For work travel, I take photos of my expenses as I go and take a moment to upload the images to my travel account to ensure I don’t lose the receipts.
• I pack only a carry-on and personal item, even for international trips. I don’t want to waste time in baggage claim or potentially lose my bag!
• When I’m commuting to work via car, I use a voice-to-text app to document my work list. This helps me start my day as soon as I arrive in the office.

— Alina Bartley

Juggling work and life

In both my personal and professional life, I am happiest juggling a variety of seemingly unconnected tasks. It keeps my brain entertained. Here are some practical strategies I use to remain organized:

• At the start of each week, I conduct an overall review of what I need to accomplish. Some weeks, that means a heavy focus on a single project, with the rest of my tasks filling in the gaps, while at other times, the workload feels more balanced. That’s OK because not everything is equally important all the time. If the essential tasks for each assignment are complete, I feel in balance. 
• As the week progresses, I do a quick check each night and adjust as needed to ensure I am focused on the correct tasks, keeping everything moving forward. 
• Time blocking helps me structure each day’s activities. Some tasks may only require 15 minutes, while others might require two hours. Thinking strategically about what the necessary work is and what it will take to accomplish the tasks helps me to avoid wasting time associated with switching tasks. 
• As a visual learner, color coding helps me stay focused. For each of my projects, I pick a color that is consistent across all platforms. If I assign a project the color yellow, then it is yellow in my paper files, notebook, calendar, and anywhere I can label it with a color. That way, when I review what I need to do, I can easily separate the various tasks into their respective priorities. 
• I am intentional about my time in the car. While working with multiple clients, I often spend a part of my day driving between different locations. To make the most of that time, I have learned to build the driving time into my calendar and prepare to work from the car if traffic is heavy. My car is my “mobile office,” so I am always prepared with my hotspot, laptop, phone, and notebook so I can be productive, regardless of the location. I can’t count the number of meetings I have participated in from parking lots around Metro Atlanta, but I can tell you that the scenery is usually more interesting than the wall in my office. 

— Wendy Cocke

Return to office

I recently transitioned to a new role and am in the office five days a week. Here are some tactics I use to keep myself organized and make sure I’m following through with my work tasks and action items:

• Every week, I create a new note in Microsoft OneNote with a to-do section at the top where I list my projects and any action items. I highlight urgent or high-priority items in a bright color and then change the highlight to a pastel color and strike through the text when completed.
• For my to-do list, I create an action plan for each project that I will try to complete that week.
• Further down in the note, I have a daily section where I take notes on what I did throughout the day. This is helpful for me from week to week, as it allows me to see what I have done and what I need to do next. It also keeps me motivated because I can clearly see what I have accomplished.
• In that same daily section, I make notes prior to meetings if I have some points I want to bring up. I also take notes during meetings to capture key outcomes and action items.
• I keep a list of lower-priority work I can do if I’m roadblocked on some of my projects (employee trainings, continuous learning, classes, etc.).

— Payal Singh

Home and hybrid

I’ve worked remotely with hybrid and full-time schedules since I started my professional career. Working from home saves me significant time commuting, reduces distractions, and offers schedule flexibility when working with a global team. A few things help me maximize productivity when I’m not physically located with my co-workers:

• Since most of my workday is on the computer, I schedule breaks. While back-to-back meetings may seem more efficient, they can be physically and mentally draining. It’s challenging to shift contexts between meetings with different agendas and recall follow-up items from a conversation from hours ago. I take a few minutes post-meeting to collect my thoughts, send out a recap and next steps, and knock out easy action items for quick wins. 
• I’ve experienced my fair share of eye strain and stiffness from prolonged sitting. My eye doctor advises the 20/20/20 rule: for every 20 minutes spent looking at a screen, look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds. Experiment with standing desks or walking during a call. Even small things, like refilling my water cup or doing a lap around the house, help me stretch. 
• Time with co-workers is more precious as a remote employee. When I’m in the office, I prioritize face-to-face interactions, such as one-on-one meetings, brainstorming sessions, or morale-building team events. Even if it minimizes focus time, that’s OK; I can do solo work on days at home. I also appreciate that my team has both a weekly business meeting for work topics and a social hour for more informal interactions. 
• When sending chat messages, I embrace the “No Hello” approach for streamlined, asynchronous communication. Instead of simply writing “hello” and waiting for a response to continue the conversation, I include my question and context upfront so that my chat partner can think about the message as soon as they read it and respond more meaningfully.
• Lastly, I live by my to-do lists. I use a ruled steno pad — a tip from a college journalism class — because of its two-column layout, which allows me to list action items on the left and other details such as due dates or follow-ups on the right. The top-bound format also makes flipping pages easy. I check off completed tasks with a highlighter for a visual sense of progress. I’ll add new items to the ongoing log throughout the week and carry over unfinished tasks from one week to the next. Having a physical note-taking space helps me stay present in conversations free from the distractions of tabs and notifications. 

— Nicole Woon 

Reference:
No Hello