Remote Work Jeopardy

This button should be pressed whenever you are not speaking on a video call, to cut down on background noise for everyone else.

What is mute?

This piece of video call etiquette suggests looking directly at your camera lens, rather than at the screen, to simulate eye contact.

What is looking at the camera?

This backdrop feature uses software to replace whatever is behind you with an image or blur, without needing an actual green screen.

What is a virtual background?

This meeting behavior, glancing at a phone or typing on another screen during a video call, is easy for others to notice and is widely considered rude.

What is multitasking?

This overuse of video meetings for every conversation, even ones that could be a quick message, has been named as a major driver of a broader workplace exhaustion phenomenon.

What is Zoom fatigue?

This adjustable, wheeled seat is one of the most important purchases for anyone spending eight hours a day at a home desk.

What is an office chair?

This desk style allows a worker to raise the surface and work while standing for part of the day.

What is a standing desk?

This external device, connected to a laptop, gives remote workers a bigger view for spreadsheets and video calls alike.

What is an external monitor?

This lighting position, facing a window or lamp rather than sitting with it behind you, prevents you from appearing as a dark silhouette on video calls.

What is facing the light source?

This branch of design recommends keeping your elbows at roughly a 90-degree angle and your monitor at eye level to avoid neck and wrist strain.

What is ergonomics?

This category of software, including Zoom and Google Meet, lets remote teams hold face-to-face conversations over the internet.

What is video conferencing software?

This messaging platform, popular in offices, organizes conversations into topic-based channels.

What is Slack?

This Microsoft product bundles chat, video calls, and file sharing into one workplace hub, popular in companies that also use Office 365.

What is Microsoft Teams?

This category of software creates an encrypted tunnel so remote employees can securely access their company's internal network from anywhere.

What is a VPN?

This type of software tracks tasks visually on boards made of cards moved between columns like To Do, Doing, and Done.

What is a Kanban board?

This style of communication does not require both people to be online at the same time, letting replies come whenever it is convenient.

What is asynchronous communication?

This type of message, left when a call goes unanswered, lets remote workers communicate without needing a live conversation.

What is a voicemail?

This recorded video message tool lets a remote worker explain something on screen without scheduling a live meeting.

What is a screen recording?

This daily ritual, common on remote teams, has each person post their update in a shared channel instead of gathering live, replacing the in-person version of the same practice.

What is an async standup?

This habit of writing messages with enough context and detail that the reader never needs to ask a follow-up question is a core skill for distributed teams.

What is over-communicating?

This time standard, used as a common reference point for scheduling across time zones, was formerly known as Greenwich Mean Time.

What is UTC?

This overlap period, when two team members' working hours coincide, is essential for scheduling any live meeting across time zones.

What is overlap time?

This scheduling practice sets a few shared hours each day when every distributed team member is expected to be online and available.

What are core hours?

This twice-yearly clock change, observed in the US and parts of Europe but not everywhere, is a common source of scheduling confusion for distributed teams.

What is daylight saving time?

This imaginary boundary, roughly following the 180th meridian, is where the calendar date changes by a full day when crossed.

What is the International Date Line?

This practice of physically shutting the laptop lid at the end of the workday helps create a psychological boundary between work and home.

What is closing the laptop?

This term describes the tendency for remote workers to answer emails and messages well outside their normal working hours.

What is working after hours?

This dedicated, separate area of a home, even just a corner of a room, helps remote workers mentally separate their job from their personal life.

What is a dedicated workspace?

This short break away from the screen, often just a walk around the block, is commonly recommended to replace the natural transition of an office commute.

What is a fake commute?

This burnout-prevention practice involves setting a firm slot on your schedule for lunch, so meetings cannot be booked over it.

What is a calendar block?