Team astech works out of Mumbai — but it is easy to forget that Mumbai is one of the largest cities in the world. Travelling from one end to the other can take almost two hours one way. That is why we have a very comfortable work from home policy.

Remote working comes with its own challenges. The biggest amongst those is communication. We solve this by using a couple of different ways. Non project related chats are on WhatsApp and all project related talk is on Slack. Everyone uses the WhatsApp mobile app and the Slack desktop app. This leads to a clear line between work and life.

We love slack for the freedom it gives shared teams to be on the same page with many projects. We’re a results-oriented work environment. That means that people don’t check Slack while working. When they need to talk to a co-worker, even one in the same office, they Slack. This asynchronous communication leads to more time on the maker’s schedule.

Our workflows for Slack include:

*Channels for projects

*Slackbot reminders to do daily presentations and to get away from the screen for lunch

*Private groups for team discussions. Eg. business development talks that combine accounts and client management folks.

*Bots to do repetitive tasks — we use Howdy to do our daily standups and Kelasa to keep track on Workfront tasks.

We also use WhatsApp quite a bit. We have a broader office group with ex-colleagues and friends of the company to discuss current events and… well to forward forwards. We also have a team group on WhatsApp where someone could talk about urgent activities like for eg. if they might be late to work or announcements and planning for the latest movie or outing.

Hope this helps other companies create a culture where there is a clear distinction between work and life.