4 ms·

Working remotely and the tools that make it possible

48 points by mp3jeep01 13y ago

bifrost 13y ago
I'd say its a requirement to have a VPN now as well. If you're not protecting your network transport, you're ignoring a lot of best practices.
- tomp 13y ago
  If they're only using web apps, there's no need for VPN.
  - bifrost 13y ago
    Because nobody has ever built "firesheep"? I think that its unrealistic to assume that nobody is watching you (because we know thats untrue now) and that nobody bad is looking to harm what you do. It is trivial to inject an exploit into an unprotected webapp.
    - bluedino 13y ago
      The previous poster is talking about the 'old definition' of VPN. If you don't have a office with a server you don't need to use a VPN to connect to it (and each other), since it's on the web.
      - bifrost 13y ago
        What does that have to do with anything? If you're using web based services you're even more vulnerable to 3rd party intervention than you are if you were using a server in an office, especially if you're working from a coffee shop/etc. Any sort of shared office space is vulnerable to this too.
mp3jeep01 13y ago
These are just a few of the tools that help us work together, even when we aren't all in one location. Caveat, the apps, AFAIK, are Mac specific.
- ownagefool 13y ago
  That sort of makes it _harder_ to work together unless you force all employees to use Mac, which I guess you can do. A alternative list of techs that'll help (imo, despite being nothing like yours): > IRC > XMPP > Email > Skype (alternatives welcome) > Vagrant > Favourite bug / productivity app. > Your favorite wiki (if in doubt, use mediawiki) > VPN (assuming you have need to connect to the office, you probably don't if you're using github type resources) > Git Basically, all the same stuff that'll help you work even if you're in the same office. I've worked from home for over 3 years, the #1 problem for me is the people in the office who don't use these tools.
  - mp3jeep01 13y ago
    Fortunately I haven't had to use the cattle prod yet, everyone here was a Mac user since before we started. We find tools that work for everyone, it just so happened to be some were Mac specific, over time I'm sure this list will morph quite a bit.
  - thedufer 13y ago
    To be fair, most of the actual collaboration tools (Trello, Flowdock, Hackpad) appear to be webapps. iMessage/Facetime is the big exception.
essdessy 13y ago
i used to use cloud app and slingshot, but since going retina on my mbp i use Droplr. And sometimes Dropbox's new auto screenshot to clipboard link is great.
- stephencelis 13y ago
  Slingshot's supported Retina since V2. Dropbox's auto-upload of screen shots is pretty good (they're using a private API to copy the link the your clipboard before the upload even starts, so it feels really fast), but if you share files outside of screen shots, Slingshot might still fill a need with file and clipboard sharing.
- idan 13y ago
  "Sometimes"? I've been using cloudapp for the last year, but I'm curious about the dropbox thing. There's also Servus (https://servus.io/ https://servus.io/) which is pretty much like cloudapp/droplr but using your dropbox.
kevinflo 13y ago
Our team is split across the country and we've taken to doing a quick google hangout each day. Just a little face-to-face communication each day has helped immensely.
- mp3jeep01 13y ago
  Whoops! Neglected this one. Google hangouts definitely help us when we need more than the 1-on-1 allowed via Facetime.
mbseid 13y ago
These are some great tools. I would also like to recommend Scumr. It really helps our teams with our morning stand-up meetings. Notifies when we are the meeting starts, and when everyone is ready. Allows the meetings to be persistent too. Check it out: http://www.scrumr.us/ http://www.scrumr.us/ Full disclosure: I wrote the tool during a work hackathon. It has come a long way since then.
- mp3jeep01 13y ago
  Interesting looking tool, I'll definitely take a look. Finding a time that works every day for scrum becomes difficult across timezones, it seems there's always someone that "loses".
- idan 13y ago
  Nifty. We are still doing scrums as an ad-hoc thing, and some tooling might make it easier. Since I'm on the far side of the world, Scrum time is about 22:30, and I can't always be online then, so something to let me "jump in" from anywhere with an email is nifty.
wotsrovert 13y ago
For pairing remotely, I use Screenhero. http://screenhero.com/ http://screenhero.com/

48 points by mp3jeep01 13y ago

I'd say its a requirement to have a VPN now as well. If you're not protecting your network transport, you're ignoring a lot of best practices.

tomp 13y ago
If they're only using web apps, there's no need for VPN.
- bifrost 13y ago
  Because nobody has ever built "firesheep"? I think that its unrealistic to assume that nobody is watching you (because we know thats untrue now) and that nobody bad is looking to harm what you do. It is trivial to inject an exploit into an unprotected webapp.
  - bluedino 13y ago
    The previous poster is talking about the 'old definition' of VPN. If you don't have a office with a server you don't need to use a VPN to connect to it (and each other), since it's on the web.
    - bifrost 13y ago
      What does that have to do with anything? If you're using web based services you're even more vulnerable to 3rd party intervention than you are if you were using a server in an office, especially if you're working from a coffee shop/etc. Any sort of shared office space is vulnerable to this too.

mp3jeep01 13y ago

These are just a few of the tools that help us work together, even when we aren't all in one location. Caveat, the apps, AFAIK, are Mac specific.

ownagefool 13y ago
That sort of makes it _harder_ to work together unless you force all employees to use Mac, which I guess you can do. A alternative list of techs that'll help (imo, despite being nothing like yours): > IRC > XMPP > Email > Skype (alternatives welcome) > Vagrant > Favourite bug / productivity app. > Your favorite wiki (if in doubt, use mediawiki) > VPN (assuming you have need to connect to the office, you probably don't if you're using github type resources) > Git Basically, all the same stuff that'll help you work even if you're in the same office. I've worked from home for over 3 years, the #1 problem for me is the people in the office who don't use these tools.
- mp3jeep01 13y ago
  Fortunately I haven't had to use the cattle prod yet, everyone here was a Mac user since before we started. We find tools that work for everyone, it just so happened to be some were Mac specific, over time I'm sure this list will morph quite a bit.
- thedufer 13y ago
  To be fair, most of the actual collaboration tools (Trello, Flowdock, Hackpad) appear to be webapps. iMessage/Facetime is the big exception.

essdessy 13y ago

i used to use cloud app and slingshot, but since going retina on my mbp i use Droplr. And sometimes Dropbox's new auto screenshot to clipboard link is great.

stephencelis 13y ago
Slingshot's supported Retina since V2. Dropbox's auto-upload of screen shots is pretty good (they're using a private API to copy the link the your clipboard before the upload even starts, so it feels really fast), but if you share files outside of screen shots, Slingshot might still fill a need with file and clipboard sharing.
idan 13y ago
"Sometimes"? I've been using cloudapp for the last year, but I'm curious about the dropbox thing. There's also Servus (https://servus.io/ https://servus.io/) which is pretty much like cloudapp/droplr but using your dropbox.

kevinflo 13y ago

Our team is split across the country and we've taken to doing a quick google hangout each day. Just a little face-to-face communication each day has helped immensely.

mp3jeep01 13y ago
Whoops! Neglected this one. Google hangouts definitely help us when we need more than the 1-on-1 allowed via Facetime.

mbseid 13y ago

These are some great tools. I would also like to recommend Scumr. It really helps our teams with our morning stand-up meetings. Notifies when we are the meeting starts, and when everyone is ready. Allows the meetings to be persistent too. Check it out: http://www.scrumr.us/ http://www.scrumr.us/ Full disclosure: I wrote the tool during a work hackathon. It has come a long way since then.

mp3jeep01 13y ago
Interesting looking tool, I'll definitely take a look. Finding a time that works every day for scrum becomes difficult across timezones, it seems there's always someone that "loses".
idan 13y ago
Nifty. We are still doing scrums as an ad-hoc thing, and some tooling might make it easier. Since I'm on the far side of the world, Scrum time is about 22:30, and I can't always be online then, so something to let me "jump in" from anywhere with an email is nifty.

wotsrovert 13y ago

For pairing remotely, I use Screenhero. http://screenhero.com/ http://screenhero.com/