Here are six tools for working from home. Coordinate, manage, and communicate with your team effectively.

These options address two practical remote-work needs: organizing tasks and keeping the team in contact.

If you coordinate a team, assign owners and due dates so you can see progress without asking for updates every hour. The next three options help organize that work.

Another challenge of remote work is communication across the team. You may wonder how to hold important meetings or how employees can get answers to unexpected questions. These three tools can make team communication easier.

Tools for Managing Tasks and Projects

Plan each step and organize the details of a project or task, then assign work to each employee.

With owners and due dates in place, these tools let you review:

  • The team’s workload, through task assignments, owners, and due dates.
  • Employee progress. Use these tools to create sections that give you an overview of the workflow.
  • Setbacks, so you can respond quickly.

1. Asana

Asana is a web and mobile app for sharing, planning, and organizing projects and tasks. To use it, create an account, set up the projects you need, and give team members access. Check current terms before choosing a plan.

2. Activity schedule

A schedule in a spreadsheet can be useful. Make it as detailed as needed, by day, week, or month. You can even use colors to show task priorities. If you have a cloud service, you can share the schedule and edit it in real time.

3. Online storage

Gather all the content your team needs in one place, whether you use Google Drive, Microsoft cloud storage, Dropbox, or another tool. The key is to make it easy for the team to access what they need to do their work.

Tools for Team Communication

In an office, feedback can be immediate. When people work remotely, staying in active, effective contact with everyone can be harder. How can you do it?

  • Hold team check-ins to learn about progress and difficulties.
  • Keep communication open. Specific questions can arise during the day and may only require a text message. The challenge is getting a response. Set rules before adopting a tool, such as being available during office hours or at specified times.
  • Schedule meetings. Tell the team what each meeting is for, its goal, and the decisions you hope to reach. For example, use a one-hour meeting to discuss the week’s workload.

4. Zoom

Zoom supports video conferences, chat, and webinars.

To start using the app, create an account and share the link with your team.

5. Slack

Slack lets team members communicate easily. Channels create lines of communication among departments in companies of any size.

You can choose who joins each channel or create a general channel for staff updates.

6. TeamViewer

TeamViewer is an option for remote support: an authorized user can allow a technician to access their computer to investigate an issue.

If a call or screen sharing does not solve a technical issue, authorized staff can request remote access to the computer.

These are options for organizing tasks, sharing files, and staying in contact. Choose them according to your team’s processes and access rules.

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