Work from home during lockdown period

Work desk at home

Regular Office hours

Majority of my working hours has been the general office time of 10:00 to 6:00 for all these years. When Indian govt announced total lockdown due to pandemic and work from home during lockdown period changed my handling of the work time. Am not a person who plans and lives with it. Am always vulnerable and try to adapt to things surrounding me.

During the initial lockdown days used to continue doing the same way - feeling that am working at office.
With the summer catching up quickly the months of April and May was too much to handle. The scorching heat was making it tough to concentrate on work. At office the Air conditioners didn’t make us feel the heat. However the absence of AC at home became a point to ponder. So that kept me thinking how to organise the working hours.

I split my working hours into two buckets - Work time and Break time

Work time split into three buckets.

Dedicated time: 7:30hrs to 10:00hrs

These hours is for what i would be doing tasks that wouldn’t require any inputs or clarifications or discussion with anyone else. Clock-wise it would be 2:30 hrs but the quantum of work done during these hours is equal to 6 hrs. There won’t be much distractions. Focus on the task at hand and complete it.

Collaboration time: 10:30hrs to 13:00hrs

These hours are allotted for coordination or discussion or requiring inputs from your team members. Attend team stand-up meetings, ask questions that you need to clarify other members. Assumptions you took to complete your tasks, dependencies that impact your work. This is collaboration time

Post Collaboration time: 16:00hrs to 18:30hrs

After the collaboration effort; I come back to the drawing board and complete the incomplete tasks that was set forth in the Dedicated time. Complete the assumptions and dependencies. During the concluding part of the work hours start planning for the next day.

Break time split into two buckets

Short break time: 10:00hrs to 10:30hrs

A short break, generally use this time to have my breakfast or a cup of coffee/tea.

Long break time: 13:00hrs to 16:00hrs

Start this break with Lunch. This might include preparation of lunch too. But the most important and crucial part is taking a break after lunch. With the sun right above your head, closing down your laptop relieves so much pressure and am charged up for the post collaboration time.

To conclude: Limitations make you think for alternatives.