I’ll admit right off the top that I’m a remote work advocate. I’ve been working remotely in games for 5 years as of this writing, with occasional work-from-home days before that. For anyone familiar with my professional history, you’ll also know I worked in IT before I was in games, and that also meant working remotely when needed. Which was often. It’s fair to say I have a lot of experience in remote work. Like everything though, it has its ups and downs. So let’s explore some of those.
Challenges#
It’s not for everyone#
Remote work is inherently less guided and structured than an in-office situation. You need to be more organized, structured and self-motivated than you otherwise might in an office or studio environment. As you won’t be sitting near coworkers, visiting the kitchen, coffee machine or water cooler with colleagues, it takes extra effort to ensure the normal communication that happens naturally in a professional space still occurs.
There can be additional challenges if the workplace is hybrid and a group is gathered in a conference room location, while some attendees are remote. Seeing what someone is drawing on a whiteboard in the meeting room can be a challenge and usually requires a specific camera setup, which can otherwise leave remote participants out of the conversation.
It can be lonely#
If you’re a highly social person who thrives on watercooler conversations and other ad-hoc or spur-of-the-moment interactions with peers, you might struggle in a fully remote environment. Not occupying the same physical space means you don’t have those chance encounters with coworkers. You can alleviate some of this by having short, informal voice or video calls with colleagues, or an open drop in/out chat channel in the collaboration software of your choice, but it does take extra effort.
With reduced in-office social interactions, you may find that you need to substitute other social opportunities locally. Going to a coffee shop or chatting with a neighbour can help provide some of that missing social engagement.
You need to be confident in what you do, and how#
For someone who has been practicing their craft for a long time, this won’t be as much of an issue, but particularly for folks who are new to the industry or have taken on a new role, this can be challenging. Not being confident in your skills and processes can often translate negatively as people might mistake your lack of confidence as a lack of expertise, care about your work or as sloppiness. Being confident, while still being humble, open to feedback and adjusting your approach as needed, will go a long way in the team’s faith in your expertise. It’s important to remember that you were hired or promoted to a position for a reason. Believe in your ability to do the job.
A note of caution here, however, this isn’t an invitation to openly challenge established decisions and direction. Making suggestions, when done respectfully, will always land better with the team - even if your idea is off the mark - than stubbornly insisting you know best.
Timezones#
While not universal to remote work, it is possible that you will be dealing with team members, outsourcing firms or other contacts that are in different timezones. Being aware of where your team members and contacts are, and what time it is for them, will let you maximize your ability to communicate and shorten the amount of time it takes to get things done. A useful, platform independent, tool for this is The World Clock.
Some studios will also implement core hours to ensure there’s a shared period of overlap in the team, which can be beneficial as well, provided team members can reasonably share some overlap.
You can use this to your advantage. In the past, while working with a distributed team, I leveraged my timezone to act as a bridge between team members whose days were ending when I logged on and those who would log on later in my day. This ensured that information flowed smoothly and people could make informed decisions, even when they couldn’t communicate directly.
In another instance, because my day started before some other team members, I often had quiet mornings that let me focus on my own work or connect with other designers before the bulk of the scheduled meetings began. For folks logging on later, they would start with meetings and typically end with a quieter, more productive afternoon.
Team collaboration software is also useful here to send asynchronous messages which can be read when a person logs on, or scheduled to be delivered at a later time. Be careful to avoid sending large walls of text or stream-of-consciousness type messages as that can overwhelm the recipient and feel as though what you’re saying isn’t a point for discussion, but rather a directive.
Benefits#
No Commute#
As someone who spent years doing multi-hour commutes, this is one of the biggest benefits of working remotely. The time I used to spend stuck in traffic I now get to spend with my family. This can help reduce stress and has the added benefit of eliminating commuting costs as well - not only for fuel, but for associated costs like stopping for breakfast or coffee on your way.
Time Management#
There is inherently more freedom to choose how to spend your time while working remotely than when you’re in an office. If you need to step away from your desk for a minute to grab a coffee, or take a 15 minute walk to refocus, you’re much more free to do that. However, with that does come the responsibility to make sure you’re still available when needed, and completing your work effectively.
Personal Space#
Instead of a sterile cubicle or open-plan office filled with noise, you can curate your own environment in the way that makes you feel most comfortable. Being able to make your own choices about how to structure your environment is important; want a standing desk, wall of plants or to listen to music while you work? Those are all much more easily accommodated when you control your work environment instead of having an office plan that has pre-chosen the layout and furnishings.
Do be aware though that you also won’t have the benefits of that environment, like having cleaners come around, so you’ll also be on the hook for keeping things clean.
Depending on your particular living arrangements, you may also be able to have pets which are proven to have beneficial effects and are often popular when they appear on team calls, whether intentional or not.
Health#
Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, office viruses, flus and other illnesses were a common occurrence as, inevitably, someone would come to work sick or pre-symptomatic. From there it was only a matter of time before many people in the office had caught the illness du jour and taken some sick days to recover.
Working remotely lets you take more control of your exposure to illnesses. You can more easily avoid public transit and large crowds, choosing to go out at off-peak times, if at all. That said, if you live with family members that regularly work outside your home or attend school, you have less control over your exposure.
That said, do still take sick days when you’re unwell. Yes, having a sniffle while being contagious means you could still work remotely, but there is a point at which you will need to take the time to rest.
Those are a few notable challenges and benefits. In the next section I’ll provide some general Dos and Don’ts. I expect that some will be obvious but others may not be immediately apparent or more suited to remote work environments.
Do#
Overcommunicate#
The nature of human communication is imperfect even under the best of conditions, however when communicating primarily via text, and often asynchronously, we introduce more opportunities to be misunderstood.
To help mitigate this, never be afraid to state the obvious or restate something someone else has said to ensure you both understand one another. Reach out in private with a “Hey, I just wanted to make sure we’re on the same page. When I/you said this, here’s what I think it means” or even hop into a quick video call for that face-to-face confirmation. It will absolutely help solve issues with miscommunication or even misunderstandings about features, expectations, deadlines and other topics as well.
Be patient, kind & understanding#
You never know what another person is dealing with or going through, and the nature of remote work means you’re less likely to find out that being in an office, for better or worse. With that in mind, defaulting to kindness is always the best option. Making games is a team sport and without the team there is no game.
Be Flexible#
Sometimes someone isn’t available to meet at a convenient time, or there’s a time sensitive task that needs attention. These can happen outside your normal schedule. One of the benefits of not having to be present in a specific physical location is that you can deal with these things from the comfort of your own remote work space and return, almost instantly, to your usual routine.
This flexibility is valuable, but shouldn’t be abused. It can be easy to fall into a pattern of regularly or repeatedly checking in after hours, but unless it’s necessary be sure to give yourself a break and save it for when it’s really needed.
Don’t#
Work Multiple Jobs#
No, I shouldn’t have to say it. It’s one of the reasons employers say they don’t like remote work and it spoils it for everyone. Having witnessed it first hand, know that it’s clear something strange is going on and you will eventually be found out. And, when that happens, it will go poorly. In addition to whatever legalities are entailed and penalties your employer(s) may levy on you - which will almost certainly be dismissal with cause - your team members will feel betrayed.
Games are incredibly hard to make and we rely on each other to a very large degree and to know you’ve been splitting your time, every instance where you weren’t available despite the actual reason, will be seen as you choosing to spend that time working for someone else.
This is a small industry, made up of people who like to work with other good and talented people, and if you’re caught doing this your name will be known and you will be blacklisted. Hiring managers will often ask the team for names of people they should hire, but at the same time they also appreciate being given names to avoid.
So seriously, I can’t stress this enough, just don’t do it.
Go Rogue#
Not having someone looking over your shoulder isn’t free licence to do as you please, prototyping or building new features that aren’t currently planned. If you have something you want to try for the game, always make sure you’ve got approval to allocate time to try it.
Surprise dropping entirely new, unrequested features into the game can cause a lot of noise and confusion on the team, and that’s never beneficial.
Infer tone from text#
You cannot truly deduce tone - which informs our interpretation and leads to our initial reaction - from text alone. While this is generally good advice, it becomes extra important when working remotely because it’s very likely the majority of the communication you have with your team in a day will be text-based.
If you feel a strong reaction to the tone of a message you’ve received, ask the person to clarify what they mean or even to have a call with them. And in cases where you feel a message you’ve sent might be easily misconstrued, you can pre-emptively reach out to clarify yourself.
Working remotely can be challenging and rewarding. As with everything there are trade-offs and every remote job is different, with their own sets of policies, procedures, expectations and benefits. Hopefully this primer gives something useful for someone considering remote work for the first time, and those who have done it before.