---
title: Remote Tools and Tips in These Remote Times
teaser: 'Some tools and tips for remote collaboration from my experience being remote
  over the last two years.

  '
tags: remote,process
author: German Velasco
published_on: 2020-03-17
---

With a lot more people working remotely these days, I figured it would be good
to share a few tools and tips for collaborating remotely.

## Remote pair-programming

As developers and designers, it's hard to explain how powerful it can be to sit
next to someone and look at the same screen. These are my top two
recommendations for remote pair-programming:

* [Tuple](https://tuple.app/) has been a great tool to have over the last few
  months. It's made remote pairing enjoyable again. It's only limitation is that
  it's mac-only.
* Some of us have been testing [USE Together](https://www.use-together.com/) (or
  USE Engine), and it's been great. A big benefit is that it's _not_ mac-only,
  so I've been able to pair with Linux friends.

## Remote meetings

At thoughtbot we use google's [G suite], so I tend to default to google
[hangouts/meet](https://hangouts.google.com/). But I have used [Zoom] with many
clients, and I really like it. In particular, I like that I can mute myself by
default and "push to talk" (hold the space bar to temporarily unmute myself). I
also prefer Zoom's screen layouts because I think they show all participants
more clearly. So if given a choice, I might go with Zoom.

[G suite]: https://gsuite.google.com/
[Zoom]: https://zoom.us/meetings

### Meeting tips

* Encourage everyone to _mute_ by default. Unmute when you talk. This avoids
  background noise and respects others when they are speaking.
* Encourage "pop-corn style" standups: after finishing their standup, the person
  who just went calls out who should go next. This avoids waiting while everyone
  wonders who's going next.
* Look at your camera, not at your screen. This is particularly important if you
  have more than one monitor. Looking at your camera helps others feel like
  you're actually paying attention to them.
* I _haven't_ tried this yet (though I tried something similar), but I think it
  could be very beneficial to avoid difficulties with interruptions and to give
  everyone in the meeting a fair chance to speak — follow these rules
  [from Infinite Red's hand queue
  system](https://shift.infinite.red/how-infinite-red-improved-remote-video-meetings-with-a-few-hand-gestures-bbebc0555335):

> - If nobody is talking, you’re free to talk
> - If someone is talking, raise one finger to indicate you want to go next ☝️
> - If someone else has their finger raised already, raise two fingers (and so on) ✌️
> - If you need to “interject” something really quickly (no more than a couple seconds), then raise your hand in the shape of an “O” 👌

And just because the meetings are remote, it doesn't mean we can't follow
regular [meeting
guidelines](https://github.com/thoughtbot/guides/blob/master/working-together/README.md#meeting-guidelines).

## Remote whiteboard(ish)

* If you need a serious whiteboard, there are powerful solutions like
  [Miro](https://miro.com/), but...
* If you only need a lightweight whiteboard, I've used Google's Jamboard
  successfully (part of [Google Drive](https://drive.google.com/)). If you have
  no idea what that is, that's no surprise — Google hides it pretty well.
  In Drive, go to "New" > "More" > "Google Jamboard":

![screenshot of steps to open google jamboard](https://images.thoughtbot.com/blog-vellum-image-uploads/QwblfnZnQ46Kwq4ZN96z_opening-jamboard.png)

Here's some artwork from something my colleague, Wil, and I worked on recently:

![screenshot of some work in a google jamboard](https://images.thoughtbot.com/blog-vellum-image-uploads/aNnMIUhqT36SnBbxWOAD_sample-jamboard.png)

## Remote retrospectives

For remote
[retrospectives](https://thoughtbot.com/playbook/planning/meet-weekly-to-discuss-successes-failures-and-plans),
I find it easiest to have a shared document that everyone can edit (e.g. google
doc), but the facilitator still presents their screen. This way, attendees can
correct sentences if desired, but they can also choose to just focus on the
document being presented.

![sample retro document](https://images.thoughtbot.com/blog-vellum-image-uploads/lSgbFhTiS8OMJcUBIdJb_sample-retro.png)

## What next?

Those are just some tools and tips for remote _work_. Remember to take care of
yourself as well. Healthy food, fresh air, walks, seeing other people —
those are all good things that you shouldn't forgo.