{"id":98104,"date":"2019-08-08T17:44:44","date_gmt":"2019-08-08T17:44:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.microsoft.com\/?p=433971"},"modified":"2019-08-08T17:44:44","modified_gmt":"2019-08-08T17:44:44","slug":"its-internationalcatday-see-how-esat-keeps-his-kitty-close","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2019\/08\/08\/its-internationalcatday-see-how-esat-keeps-his-kitty-close\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s #InternationalCatDay! See how Esat keeps his kitty close"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe\u2019re sorry to announce that the 07:12 Thameslink service to London St. Pancras <\/em>International has been cancelled. <\/em>Please stand by for further announcements. We <\/em>apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused to your journey.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

A few years ago, my working life was very different. For six years, I spent four hours each day crammed across six trains, commuting to work and back. It was financially and emotionally draining, but it was simply the way that things were done. <\/a> <\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n

It was only two and a half years ago, when I joined Microsoft as editor of its European news centre, that I realised that the traditional way we work, and our accustomed routines, could be different. Today, I have the freedom and flexibility to work from home, with my cat Meze purring away beside me.<\/p>\n

I want to share my experiences here, not because I work for Microsoft, but because I\u2019m truly passionate about this new way of working, and am grateful for the hugely positive impact it\u2019s had on my life. This is my future of work.<\/p>\n

\"MicrosoftBuilding bridges<\/strong>
On my first day, I had some reservations. They say that no man is an island, but in a professional, geographical sense, I come pretty close \u2013 I\u2019m the only one in my direct team that lives and works in the UK. Others are scattered across Germany, Ukraine, Turkey, Bulgaria, and even South Africa \u2013 not to mention all the other people I work with around the globe, from the USA to Singapore. Bar the occasional business trips, I attend meetings and work with everyone remotely. It was a daunting prospect. I worried about being isolated, and the quality of work that could be achieved with colleagues that were hundreds of miles away. Would I feel close to them? Would I achieve my best work? Would I make friends?<\/p>\n

Three years on, I look back on my first day jitters and realise that they were totally unfounded. Thanks to Teams, I truly feel like I\u2019m working in the same office with my colleagues. A quick question or discussion is a mere chat window away, allowing me to instantly solve problems and give\/receive advice \u2013 not to mention sending the occasional cat gif or two.<\/p>\n

Beyond ad-hoc chats, we use video calls \u2013 a prospect which I found daunting, until I actually tried it. There\u2019s something vulnerable, I feel, about putting yourself on camera, and I was worried it would be a distraction. In fact, I\u2019ve found it\u2019s the opposite.<\/p>\n

Being able to see the people you\u2019re talking to increases personal connections and engagements. It transforms someone from an ethereal voice to an actual person, and it doesn\u2019t take long for the technology to melt away and become invisible. You\u2019re just a group of people, in a room, having a chat \u2013 nothing more, nothing less.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe\u2019re sorry to announce that the 07:12 Thameslink service to London St. Pancras International has been cancelled. Please stand by for further announcements. We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused to your journey.\u201d A few years ago, my working life was very different. For six years, I spent four hours each day crammed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":98105,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[86,50],"class_list":["post-98104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-microsoft-news","tag-in-the-news","tag-recent-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98104\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}