Lessons learned while working overseas

We are halfway through our month in Sevilla in southern Spain. It’s so beautiful here and the work pace is just right. We spend the day exploring and then start work around 5 or 6 p.m. We’re not working eight-hour days, but four to five hours at least keeps us current.

There have been challenges, but our back-up plans have been successful. For example, our apartment’s high-speed internet is not high speed all the time. In fact, sometimes it cuts out completely. During peak hours (when everyone is home from work and checking email or playing games), we can’t log in to remote programs that consume heavy amounts of data. So, we schedule that type of work for earlier or later in the day. We also can’t count on Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) to work for conference calls during busy internet hours. In that case, we can use our cell phones with $10 per day unlimited international calling.

Our internet signal is great in the living room, but not in the other rooms. If the two of us are working at the same time in the living room — our “office” — and one (or both) is on the phone, that can be an issue. So, we need to be flexible about which projects we each work on at any particular time. In order to be able to focus, sometimes we must work in separate spaces.

Being away for a month also requires technological redundancy. We each have a laptop, an iPad and an iPhone. Between the two of us, we have five different email addresses within three different domains. We have VoIP and cell phones. We have Wi-Fi and cell-phone hot spots. We also have extra batteries and plugs.

Also, normal work issues that arise from time to time, even while working away from the office. For example, we had set aside one evening to work on trades to implement new models. Unfortunately, on that day one of the external feeds to our portfolio accounting system went down and the issue wasn’t resolved until 30 minutes before market close. Needless to say, we couldn’t trade that day. However, the problem had nothing to do with our location.

Working remotely for a month can be an extremely rewarding experience. To provide the best shot at success, I offer the following advice:

• Wherever you go, try to get good Wi-Fi.
• Be sure you can connect to your office system remotely.
• Bring extra devices.
• Have more than one means of making phone calls.
• Make sure your office staff know which hours are off limits.
• Make sure you have an excellent home-office team so you can take trips like this!

At this point, I’m struggling with one other issue: Where shall I go next year?

Sheryl Rowling is head of rebalancing solutions at Morningstar Inc. and principal at Rowling & Associates. She considers herself a non-techie user of technology.

Related Topics: Morningstar Inc.