A new book from Alex Pukinskis

Remotely Productive

After years of remote work, why are our virtual meetings still so painful?

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Welcome

Meeting online shouldn't hurt so much

Hi, I’m Alex 👋, and I wrote this book because too many of us are still suffering through awful online meetings, and I know it can be better.Years ago, I was lucky enough learn workshop facilitation from Jean Tabaka, and so when we all went online in 2020, some colleagues and I tried to adapt those skills. It worked, kinda. We were able to muddle forward. But talking over Zoom isn’t as natural as face-to-face, especially in bigger groups. And so we can’t just show up in virtual meetings and hope it just somehow works. An unstructured Zoom meeting with 10 people is just… painful!With this book, I wanted to start you out with a set of tiny things you can do right away in your meetings to make things a little better, even when someone else is leading the meeting. Then I give you a couple of scripts for everyday meetings you can pick up and try.With some small successes under your belt, I hope you’ll get interested in learning facilitation - that is, how to guide a group to reach an outcome together. The second part of the book teaches you how to plan and design virtual workshops that are effective and just fun enough.Online meetings have some truly strange dynamics. Sometimes the most socially skilled people in real life drone on and on, people shut off their video and check out, and sometimes we find ourselves watching in horror as two people argue. How do you break in? So the third part of the book is about becoming an online facilitator who knows how to respond to these situations.Jean used to teach a two-day, in-person class that was great at training workshop facilitators. In this world, more and more of our work is taking place online, and I hope this book helps you to become one of a new generation of remote facilitators - people who can help groups come together, have fun, and make decisions when we meet together online.I’d love to hear how it’s working for you - you can contact me below.Thanks!

Praise for Remotely Productive

"Rarely have I read a book containing advice and suggestions so immediately useful."

"Excellent - the book I needed in 2020 and continue to need. How I wish I'd had this book a few years ago when the world suddenly went remote!"I know I'm not alone in finding online meetings and workshops unsatisfying. Alex knows this too. Here he has collected together his wisdom on fixing that. Rarely have I read a book containing advice and suggestions so immediately useful. Some I can just drop into my next online call, others will make my future online workshops more satisfying, more actionable and maybe even enjoyable.Anyone who is responsible for online meetings (and isn't that everyone today?) will find this book useful; for those who deliver events online this is a MUST READ.Allan Kelly, author of Succeeding with OKRs in Agile

"filled with actionable advice"

"Alex's Remotely Productive is not just a book; it's a toolkit anyone working remotely can use to enhance their virtual productivity. It's filled with actionable advice that addresses the subtleties and complexities of facilitating and participating in online work. Whether you're a seasoned facilitator or new to remote work, this book offers valuable insights that will improve your online interactions. Highly recommended!"
Lisette Sutherland, author of Work Together Anywhere

"an expert facilitator's repertoire"

"If you lead online or hybrid meetings, and especially if your task is to help people reach decisions together, I highly recommend Remotely Productive. Much more than a book of helpful tips, it gives you a real sense of an expert facilitator's repertoire, how it plays out in the facilitated event, and how the meeting is set up for success beforehand. All of that is done with deep respect for everyone involved. As a facilitator, how can I make sure that all participants feel 'seen, heard, and valued?' That's a great place to start."
Mike Burrows, author of Agendashift and Kanban from the Inside

About the author

Alex Pukinskis

Alex Pukinskis has been facilitating collaborative workshops for nearly 2 decades. As Head of Product at the European Payments Initiative, he leads a fully remote product org spread across 10+ countries. An American with Latvian and Swiss roots, Alex draws on experience as a transformation consultant, product manager, and developer, and holds a degree in Philosophy and Psychology from the University of Connecticut. He loves hiking, kayaking, and architecture, and lives in Berlin with his wife and two cats from Colorado.

To get in touch about speaking or other opportunities, or to provide feedback on the book, email [email protected] or use the form below.

From the back cover

A practical and insightful toolkit for improving your virtual and hybrid meetings

In Remotely Productive: Leading Better Online Meetings and Workshops, expert facilitator and product development leader Alex Pukinskis delivers simple tools and techniques that you can use immediately to stop wasting time in video calls and start making decisions and plans that stick.This book explains why online meetings are so much slower, why the people with the best social skills can be the worst over video and why we hesitate to speak up when things are going wrong. You will learn how to make improvements to your everyday meetings, how to design online workshops, and how to facilitate complex, hybrid sessions.You'll also find:Techniques for improving meetings when you're just a participantActivities to replace unproductive discussionsStrategies for handling conflict, technical problems, disappearing participants, and other disastersPassionate about finding ways to remove waste and make work more enjoyable and productive, Alex has created an essential resource in Remotely Productive, which will help anyone who's sitting in ineffective meetings and looking for a better way.