

Why I Decided to Spend More Time Working from Home - sak84
http://www.sachinkamdar.com/why-i-decided-to-spend-more-time-working-from-home/

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famousactress
I've worked at home full time for the last 2.25 years or so, and it's been the
most productive working experience of my 15 year career. I think there are
some misconceptions and hidden benefits that I held before being in a long
full-time WFH situation that I'm sure others hold also. I've been meaning to
write up a longish post on my thoughts/experience, but here are some brief
notes off the top of my head:

1\. I think the tv/fridge/playstation distraction thing is a myth. I think
maybe it's a problem when you WFH occasionally because you're not used to
being productive at home and you can make it up tomorrow at the office.

2\. WFH has the benefit of forcing you to be vastly evaluated on your work
product. This is seven million kinds of awesome. I have lots to say about the
benefits of this, but one thing is that it changes the way I make things. I
think differently about how my colleagues (and not just developers) consume
and interact with my work. I care about _their_ FTUE when running my code or
trying a new tool more than I used to.

3\. Your commute is killing you. You probably don't think this is true. I
didn't. I loved my train ride. Now I can't believe I gave that much of my life
away. It really makes me sick. I'd trade 25% salary for no commute in a
_heartbeat_ now that I've tried both. Hell, probly 50%.

4\. Everyone asks if you miss social interaction. I don't, because it's not
missing. I interact more with my current team than any other team I've ever
been on. We idle in chat all day, and I probably have an avg of 2-5 VOIP quick
conversations or meetings daily. The interactions are more intentional, and
valuable (socially and work-wise).

5\. I'm a better writer now and my task management skills are much improved,
for obvious reasons. More asynchronous work means less walk-by task management
and more thoughtful emails/tickets, etc.

6\. I don't burn out nearly as easily (in the short or long term). 12 hour
days feel like 9 hour days used to. Five minutes petting my dog is vastly more
psychologically relaxing than a walk to the water cooler or an office game of
foosball.

~~~
DigitalJack
I've been working from home now for 6 years.

I agree with all that you have said, but I do see negatives more prominently,
so I'll list those as a balance point. Keep in mind as you read these that I
live more than a day away from where I work, so that adds an isolation factor
that not all home-workers will suffer.

1\. Probably the biggest thing I miss is the informal conversations. The
hallway conversations. I've become very detached from what is going on in my
department, and I no longer have the pulse of what is going on.

I used to occasionally stop by my manager's office and chat for a few minutes,
just an informal query of how business is going, what I've been doing, toss
out some wacky ideas for improving things, etc... A phone conversation is
simply not the same.

2\. I miss going somewhere else to work. I can occasionally rectify this by
going to panera's or a coffee shop, but it's not practical to do if I'm going
to be having meetings that day. And I do get random calls from coworkers and
managers...

3\. I have become a bit of a recluse. I have this as a natural tendency to
begin with, but now that I work from home, I don't even have work to get me
out of the house.

~~~
famousactress
I did fail to mention I visit the office (a 2hr flight from home) for a week
out of every six or so.. which helps me with some of the things you mentioned.
I do have random conversations when I'm up there over beers or dinner that
wouldn't likely happen via phone calls or on Skype. It's definitely nice.

Another downside that gets me sometimes is that I miss shared whiteboards. I'm
a pretty visual/physical thinker. It's nice to have a whiteboard you can both
see. We mostly supplement w/ screen sharing or SMSing iphone images of
sketches. It works but it's not ideal. One of the things I'd love to work on
someday is tools to make remote-work better/easier. For instance, I think it's
rad that many of the 37signals folks work remotely and build tools that
scratch that particular itch.

~~~
DigitalJack
I make extensive use of screen sharing, OneNote, and a wacom tablet. It works
out pretty well, but you are right, it's not as nice as a whiteboard.

I've toyed around with the whole wiimote / projector idea as a cheap
collaborative whiteboard. Sadly my company is not as open to "out of the box /
off the wall" ideas as I am. It wouldn't be as useful if the other side didn't
participate in the same way.

Perhaps there is a product / startup idea here. A projector with a camera
built in, or something like that.

The HP Touchsmart computers would probably be an easier way to go. It would be
nice if somebody marketed touch capabilities as an augmentation to traditional
computer interaction rather than as a primary interface.

------
ryanmolden
The fact that working from home is still, relatively, rare in 2012 is baffling
to me. When I think how many useful team interactions I have in a day vs. the
amount of waste on meetings that either aren't necessary at all or could be
more easily done via IM / e-mail it always surprises me. Of course this relies
on self-managing, responsible individuals and a team with a good level of
trust / communication, so perhaps that is where the fundamental difficulty
lives. That and it does make it more apparent that some people aren't really
required except to manage the overhead (bureaucracy) they themselves generate.

~~~
pyre
There is something to be said about work-life balance too. When you work from
home, it's really easy to let other things distract you, because "it's ok,
I'll just work more latter to make it up." Then you end up working 12 hours,
because of all of the interspersed distractions. If this happens too often,
then you run into issues with the barrier between work and home breaking down.

I've personally, experienced this, and I've seen people comment on HN about
having experienced it too, so this isn't just a hypothetical situation.

That said, I know people that successfully work from home, and do things like
have a separate office that is only for work. I was just talking with someone
over the weekend about how he took a bunch of time off of work, and at the end
realized that he hadn't even entered that room the entire time (emphasizing
how much of a separate "I'm at work" space it was).

~~~
ryanmolden
Yes, it is true that working from home is not some panacea, there are simply
different issues. Like all engineering, there are no solutions, only trade-
offs. That said, for someone like me, who has no kids (just 2 dogs) and a g/f
that works out of the home during the day, I have little to no distractions at
home that I can't manage and I find I get MUCH more done, and MUCH more
efficiently when working from home.

I am sure at the start of the industrial revolution there were people that
complained that migrating to some remote location to work was 'unnatural' and
'full of problems' and it could never compete with someone working at 'home'
(on the farm or in some small scale industry). They were both right and wrong
and industrialization and centralization of the work force served a good
purpose. I believe modern 'knowledge' work (I don't like that term, but
whatever) again tilts the pendulum towards the 'work from wherever you prefer'
kind of situation. We have ways of communicating and coordinating work even
across the world. The fact that teams aren't routinely made up of members all
over the world is somewhat surprising to me.

I realize there is overhead with coordination, but having essentially a 24
hour 'someone's always working' situation seems far more beneficial than
'everyone is working between the hours of 9 and 5, inclusive!!' (perhaps in
two time-zones, so we have coverage approaching, but not quite reaching '24
hours'). Also coordination really isn't that big of an overhead as long as all
people are professional and responsible (which, as I said before, is perhaps
the bigger problem :))

Again, I am hand-waving over the complexity of how you get a team to work well
in that situation. I think it takes a group of people with great respect and
trust for one another, so perhaps the best idea is to work together for some
period of time (say a ship cycle, a year, whatever you think is best) in a
traditional setting to get those normal human bonds you form by working
directly with / seeing people day in and day out, then let them scatter and
continue the relationships over mail/IM/Skype/IRC/etc... if they wish.

The idea that great coders have to move geographical location to pursue some
jobs in a connected world just seems very depressing to me.

------
jinushaun
The problem with working from home is not getting no work done because you're
too busy drinking beer and playing xbox. It's sticking to an 8 hr work day
instead of working all day around the clock. It's putting the mouse down and
spending time with your family. It's stopping yourself from returning to work
after dinner.

~~~
timknauf
Yeah, I've basically had to institute a 'no working after dinner' rule for
myself. If I have extra tasks to get done, I get up early - sometimes very
early - but an early morning start feels far less intrusive on my family life
than working in the evening. (It's an easier rule for me to keep than it would
be for some, since I'm a morning person, and the evening is a low-productivity
time for me.)

------
falcolas
I'm working from home full time right now, and I've found a few things which
have made it productive _for me_.

1) An office. Granted, the office is also my man-cave, so it's full of
distractions: books, posters, a gaming rig, and comfy chairs. However, it
protects me from human distractions (such as my wife), which are the biggest
barrier to getting work done.

2) Dressing for work. This is just jeans and a t-shirt, but it's exactly what
I'd wear if I was working in an office as well.

3) Working on something interesting. Even if there's grunt work, if I'm having
fun getting to a goal, distractions aren't an issue.

4) Balancing work and fun. I work until I need a distraction, and then
distract myself. When my mind is ready to get back to work, I get back to
work.

The end result is that I get all of my tasks done in a week, even if I don't
work every day, and I have fun doing it.

~~~
csixty4
The office and actually getting dressed for work in the morning make all the
difference for me. Even if I end up on the couch with my laptop watching Mad
Men at the end of the day, starting that day in the "studio" with a cup of
coffee sets the tone for the rest of the day. It's a symbolic reminder that I
need to focus on my work.

------
bkanber
Tidal's dev team loves working from home! I agree that "work is modal" -- I
even wrote a [post]([http://burakkanber.com/blog/staying-productive-while-
working...](http://burakkanber.com/blog/staying-productive-while-working-from-
home-or-why-we-need-workspaces/)) at one point about it, and how important
maintaining a workspace is.

We've also started using a version of the pomodoro technique. We take :55 -
:05 of the hour off to do whatever (check emails, talk to each other, eat a
sandwich, workout, etc), but what has increased productivity for us the most
so far is scheduling out our day hour-by-hour the night before. Combining that
with the rigid :55-:05 break schedule has really kept us on track (not a
single dev delay since we started). I think it's the combined effect of having
to plan out your tomorrow at night (forcing you to think about priorities,
rather than guiding by gut), and the fact that when you're working during the
day, you don't need to take any time to figure out what to do next--all you
have to do is look at your calendar. We've been incredibly focused and on-
target as a result, so if you're looking for another productivity hack I'd try
that :)

Edit: another positive side effect of scheduling out your day is the fact that
it forces you to get really, really good at setting personal expectations, and
it helps you be more realistic about what you can accomplish in 50 minutes. No
more are the days of mis-estimating how long a task will take

------
ericdykstra
For me, the best place to work is where I can be in a "work" environment, but
without worrying about anyone disturbing what I'm working on.

Living in a studio and a half apartment means I'm either in the room I sleep
in or the room I do everything else in. It's not a good environment for me to
work, and I really don't like bringing work into that environment, either.

Working in an office with a certain kind of culture can mean that you're
expected to be available and to respond to any inquiry via email, IM, phone,
or someone walking over to your desk at any time. This really doesn't work for
me, either.

So working at that kind of job means I really find I work best when I'm
completely disconnected (phone off, email not open, not signed into IM) in a
cafe. I have my laptop, and that's all. No distractions, pure focus.

The absolute ideal for me is an office environment where I can work in blocks
of at least a couple of hours without being expected to respond to any non-
emergency immediately.

Does anyone else have a similar experience?

~~~
pyre
I have to agree with the idea of being in a place where you can be isolated to
focus on work. When working in an office, I've often found that the best times
to work are either early in the morning or late at night when the office is
basically empty[1].

That said, I think that if you are disciplined enough, you could work in the
same place that you live (even as someone that finds it difficult to keep
work/home from blending). If you set up a routine that you do when you wake up
on a work day, and stick to the routine, you could 'trick' your brain into
differentiating the space based on what you are doing. The thing is that you
would need to have a certain level of discipline to pull this off.

[1]: It also helps that I find the sound of an empty space with just the HVAC
noises as background sort of soothing. I liked just stalking empty classrooms,
etc at university too.

------
peacemaker
Where are people finding all these 100% work from home jobs?

Whenever I suggest it to HR/recruiters they just aren't interested. Most
places will only allow a day or two working from home, if that.

~~~
SyneRyder
I worked 100% from home/remote for almost a decade. I found it via
connections/chance... I'd emailed someone I read about in a magazine, we kept
in contact, a few months later he asked if I'd like to help _his_ friend with
a small website project. Apparently they liked my work, because they kept
sending me more of it.

~~~
peacemaker
Yeah, I'm getting the impression it's usually a more casual deal or something
you grow into after 'proving' yourself at your current work-from-office
position.

Perhaps it's a niche for a jobs board? If you try and search for
remote/telecommute jobs at the moment all you seem to get is spam.

------
ronyeh
Working from home is great! You also cut down on commuting time, which can be
a big source of unhappiness in your life:

[http://www.economist.com/blogs/gulliver/2011/06/perils-
commu...](http://www.economist.com/blogs/gulliver/2011/06/perils-commuting)

Also, a +1 on the pomodoro technique. It helps me get back on track if I
_accidentally_ open up FB or HN. :-)

------
pyre
I've found that some people are perfectly fine working from home without a
separate 'work' space, and some aren't. It definitely feels like something
that varies from person to person and situation to situation. For example,
working at home when you live by yourself is different than if you live with
your wife (stay-at-home mom) and child.

I've found that I need to be in a certain mindset to really focus on work, and
sometimes that's hard to achieve at home. I found myself really forcing myself
to work against my focus, and that tended to cause stress. (Though it's also
possible it was just an indicator that I needed to find another job)

I also think that working remotely without much physical contact with 'the
office' is definitely a detriment. Going to 'the office' once every couple of
months can help you feel more in-touch with your team/co-workers.

------
wallflower
Most organizations spend an enormous amount of money on offices. Offices can
be argued are temperature-controlled, resource-hogging (if not LEED
certified), calibrated, noise-attenuated (sometimes), free of most
distractions (possibly pre-Facebook [1]), constrained, regimented environments
with strategic floor layouts designed precisely to get people who are paid a
salary to focus and produce value for their company. Schools are similar
(witness the backlash against home schooling). Focus is very important but as
the OP posits - it is a matter of learned self-diligence and control.

[1] The companies I've heard of that block Facebook, personal email et al.
(e.g. financial institutions) typically make it near impossible for work to be
brought home (which can be good - separation of work and home).

~~~
rwallace
Is that actually true? Seems to me the typical office is an ergonomic
nightmare designed to tickle some manager's social dominance instincts at the
cost of a hefty productivity hit (and schools are similar indeed). Obviously
there are companies like Fog Creek that do optimize offices for productivity
but I was under the impression these are still exceptions?

------
mrcrassic
I posted this on the blog:

I worked remotely frequently at my last job (which I left a few months back,
so the experiences are still pretty fresh). I discovered that being in the
right environment is absolutely key…and absolutely non-static. I did some of
my best work on the bus to the coffee shop (and in those same coffee shops as
well). Conversely, I’ve hardly been able to work while at home because of the
lack of noise (weird, I know.).

White noise and chatter helped me think, and fending off the distractions was
pretty easy because I was in a zone where I was most productive.

Nice reference to the Pomodoro Technique; I’ve, unknowingly, done variations
of this technique and it works really, really well. It’s exactly like
exercising.

------
larrik
I work from home for a company that is 100% remote (even the local guy) with
all of its 60+ employees (almost entirely developers).

We basically just work regular hours like any normal job, except no commute.
Seems to work very well (at least for me).

------
imroot
I've worked remotely for most of my career.

I've had companies that didn't care where my 'remote' was (my home, a coffee
shop, my farm, etc), but I've had companies get really anal about where my
'remote' was.

I'm working a mixed-mode gig now -- in the office two days a week, remotely
the rest -- and I'm far less productive when I'm on-site than I am when I'm
working from home. (For example, I'm on-site today, and they're watching
Spaceballs on the tv nearest my cube -- so the next two hours are a total wash
to me; as a consultant, I couldn't really ask for anything better)

------
inthewoods
Great article - off topic and feel free to ignore (assuming the author is
listening) - but I find your product, based on your website, very difficult to
understand. Description on the homepage left me with questions. Finally went
to the tour, and got an idea what it is, but not why I would use it, or how it
actually integrates with whatever CMS I'm using.

All that being said, after I figured it out, it looks like a cool product.

~~~
sak84
Appreciate the feedback (author, here). It is optimized for our qualified
leads which are the top online publishers on the web. However, we've heard
your feedback a few times in the past. We're working on a revamp to make it
more descriptive for anyone who hits the site.

------
brettkw
For me it's less about the distractions and more about not having people to
pull me out of the rabbit holes I fall down. At the office I have constant
reminders that I shouldn't be spiraling down into wikipedia hell while at home
I don't.

So my solution was to download a chime app that sets off a bell every hour on
the hour. Now every time I hear that I find I automatically turn productive
again.

------
girlvinyl
I honestly think the best approach is a blended one. Some time physically in
person with your team, and the rest of the time WFH. I find my occasional
trips into the office (2 hours away) to be incredibly useful and productive.
The key is finding the right balance between in office and WFH to get the most
done and benefit the most psychologically.

------
weeksie
I just want to say that I fondly remember Gramstand from around 2008-9. That
was such a nice little cafe to work in.

