To help curb the spread of covid-19, we’ve transitioned to remote work with teams across four continents. Over the next several weeks, we’ll be sharing our insights on the best practices and psychology of remote work. In this edition, we speak with Samar El Sahn, Vice President of Product, to find out more about his approach to remote work.

Samer El Sahn, Vice President of Product

By Xische Editorial, April 9, 2020

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I am a technology nerd, passionate about building products and evolving the startup ecosystem across the region. I have been part of the two unicorn companies. Now, I have turned my attention to helping governments, private sector corporations, and startups.

Describe your daily workflow.

After I have a coffee and survey what is happening, I turn my attention to my quarter goals and review what tasks need to be done today to achieve those goals. Then I move on to my teams and start morning meetings. This structure gives me motivation to wake up early so that I am ready for these critical morning meetings and thoroughly prepared. 

After the standup meetings, I turn my attention to emails and vital tasks that need to be done. Every few hours I give myself a ten minute break to stretch and exercise but sometimes this is difficult when I have back to back meetings. One of the great parts about everyone being home is that I do have a chance to check on my kids and play with them a bit. 

As the day begins to end, I reflect on what I have accomplished and check on any outstanding tasks. I keep a daily standup meeting with key team members at the end of the day to share these reflections or any help needed.

What’s the last great app you used?

Like most people, I am using Slack and Zoom throughout the day. How would our workflows continue without these critical apps. I am also a major fan of Microsoft Office and my web browser is always on.

What’s your remote working strategy?

Since we have less time commuting to and from work, I am using that time for reading and spending time with my family. 

Also, you have to Increase communication. This is the best value you will get from the remote work, you have less time spent in interruptions and more time spent in coordinated and pre-scheduled meetings.

What is the best non-famous app you love on your phone? 

Office Lens is an interesting app that lets you take pictures of documents and switch them to scanned documents. A real scanner killer that’s built right into the Microsoft architecture.

Tell us the story of a rabbit hole you fell deep into. 

As a product manager, we always start with the why. Why are we doing this solution?  Why are we prioritising it? Why is this a problem from the beginning? These simple questions allow us to ensure that we are solving the right problem and with the right solution. 

Many times we get requests to implement features without providing the whys. One time we were requested by the COO of a company to implement a specific feature. It took us a month to deliver, but he complained that this is not what he wanted. We did revisions many times over the course of a month without any success. 

Until one day we stopped everything and asked the question: Why are we doing this feature? What problem are we trying to solve? What will happen if we do not solve this problem. To our surprise he did not have answers, it was requested by the customers, and by turning to the customers we were able to understand the real pain point and solve it right away. Never forget the whys.

What is the key to successful remote working?

Communication and mental awareness. One thing I learned working remotely is how to increase my communication and make sure that I am aligned with stakeholders at all times and at the same time aligning my team on what needs to be done. 

Working at home alone is not an easy job as well. You need to be able to balance between work and personal life, especially in these times when the line is blurred between both.