Strategies for using Pumble to help make remote work simpler

Why should you use Pumble? The business world of today is incredibly fast. And the competition never sleeps. That is why it is necessary to use tools to achieve a competitive advantage. So, how can Pumble be used effectively to achieve a company’s success?

The benefits of Pumble for business

Pumble is valuable to companies of all sizes, and anybody can benefit from it. The free plan has no message history or user limitation and offers a lot of built-in features. Let’s look at some of the benefits:

Sharing files is easy 

The fact that businesses have switched to working remotely does not mean that they have stopped sharing files. All files sent by a team are consolidated and accessible to everyone at all times in Pumble. Moreover, sharing files in one place also removes communication gaps and promotes cooperation between teams. Searching through older messages and discussions in one place makes your communication and collaboration a lot easier as well.

Communication reduces errors

Companies can use Pumble to organize discussions by channel and keep information in the relevant channels only, reducing the risk of miscommunication and misunderstandings among remote employees. Similarly, by providing a place for remote employees to discuss individual projects, various channels significantly reduce email traffic and mailbox chaos.

Staying productive and in sync

Many companies have channels for almost everything — from individual projects to entire teams. For example, just because you can’t walk down to the legal department, that doesn’t mean that you’re out of luck or left searching for the right person. Simply go to the #legal channel to drop your question or ask for a private direct message back. The team has the transparency in relation to requests and urgency and can address things efficiently.

Chat with teammates in a private channel

Channels are also where you take action regarding your work – hitting deadlines, giving approvals, reviewing documents, and more. Public channels, for example, are a great way to keep people informed of progress without the need for excessive meetings.

Pumble tips for remote teams

Whether you are new to remote work or fairly familiar with the concept, the questions you might have are pretty universal: “Will I be able to keep up with my work? Will colleagues and managers still notice my contributions, even if I’m not in the office? Will I feel isolated now that my team is at a distance?”

We have a few tips on how to stay in touch with your remote team:

Use channels to create a digital office

While you’re in the office you can visit other teams, have a meeting in a meeting room, or meet for chit-chat in a kitchen. But, when you’re working remotely, the situation is a little different. So, what can you do? Create this meeting space in the virtual world.

There are channels for this in Pumble. They can be both public and private. By separating your remote teams’ communication into channels, you centralize relevant information and make it easily accessible. It means the right employees are receiving the right information at the right time. Aside from that, this is the way to keep important messages from being lost in conversations about other themes and to keep channels from becoming crowded with irrelevant and unnecessary information.

What can you do?

1. Create a dedicated channel for every project (e.g. #project-alpha). Move all meeting notes, discussions, files, and feedback into that channel.
2. Create team channels (e.g. #marketing), and use them for team-specific discussions and to stay connected throughout the day.
3. Create channels for specific events and tasks (e.g. #halloween-contest, #release3103). These are typically short-lived and archived after the event.
4. Create channels where people can seek specific help for given areas (e.g. #help-administration, #help-design).
5. Use your #general channel for important organization-wide announcements.
6. Use the “pin” feature to highlight important messages within a channel to ensure they’re easily found when needed.
7. Encourage team members to use the “message reminder” feature when they’re busy on another task or have finished work for the day to make sure they remember to reply.
8. Separate your Pumble channels per project and team to keep your communication efficient and stay focused.

Chat individually with colleagues

For more individualized communication in Pumble, remote teams use direct messaging. Remote workers accomplish most of their work in channels, but when it comes to feedback, they frequently ask questions like “Hey, can you take a quick look at this?” in the direct message. They will get a proper answer, and two of them may come up with more solutions for the problem.

Stay engaged with remote employees

When working remotely, people may feel distant, discouraged, and lonely. One of the most important aspects of implementing Pumble for remote teams is keeping everyone motivated and connected. From daily meet-ups to using emojis, you should make your Pumble workplace an enjoyable, supportive, and fun place for your employees.

Use Pumble’s voice and video conferencing features to maintain “face-to-face” connections with your remote team. Live chats in channels are great, but there’s nothing like seeing people’s faces to encourage personal connections. Video calls are really useful for discussing complex topics and brainstorming ideas, as they allow for open and instant conversation. And, in addition to that, in Pumble you can share your screen so your ideas can be visible to anyone.

Start voice and video meetings

Employers should encourage the use of emojis in daily communication. No matter how trivial they may seem, there is a reason for emojis. Not a lot of emotions can be transmitted through chat, so it’s important to artificially create them. Emojis essentially mimic open body language and facial expressions, creating a more dynamic and realistic communication style between employees.

Pumble is useful for remote teams since it has the ability to limit the number of distractions. To avoid them, keep your Pumble status always up to date, indicating when you are “out”, or simply turn on “do not disturb” mode if you need to focus on your tasks. Also, make a team decision that if everyone utilizes these statuses responsibly, they must likewise be respected.

Bring partners to your Pumble workspace

Even when your team can’t travel to in-person meetings, you can still work together in Pumble. A channel with your partners and vendors is exactly what it sounds like — a place only for your two teams, allowing you to interact across business borders using Pumble. Keep things flowing with partners, consumers, and vendors by using common channels.

Conclusion

You’ll find more tips and suggestions on the Pumble for Remote Work page or read these 10+ tips on managing a remote team. Some are small and easily implemented, like the ones above. Others are meatier and geared toward helping you think about the foundations you’d need for a distributed team.