
Ask HN: Work from home (WFH) setup - n_t
I have seen stories like these - Productivity boost of working from home (https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=17045308) multiple times recently. However, my experience was quite contrary. I worked from home for almost 1.5 years and it was full of ups and downs, mostly downs. Multiple distractions (kids [3yr and 8yr], wife, guests, network disruptions, etc) along with home office setup issues (chair, workstation, monitor height, etc) were always nagging every week.<p>However, every case is unique and mine was very specific to me. So, wanted to ask those for whom WFH eventually worked out, what is your setup? Chair, desk, monitor, IP phone, headphone, &quot;do not enter&quot; boards, other hardware setup? Timings, schedule, kanban, scrum, GTD, meditation, long walks, other discipline rules? Any tips&#x2F;tricks which boosted your productivity?
======
akulbe
I'm guessing my opinion isn't going to be popular, but you can train your
children not to bother you. This requires participation from your
spouse/partner.

I've worked from home for four years now. We have a 6-year-old. And she has
been taught not to bother daddy when the office door is closed.

If she comes up to bring me food, she is quiet coming in, and quiet going out.

As far as network interruptions, I have two Internet connections coming into
the house, and my router fails over when the primary connection goes down.

Every single last issue you mentioned is solvable. If you're going to work
from home long-term, then buy equipment that works for you.

In my case, I have a desk that raises and lowers, and my display is mounted on
a VESA arm so that I can alternate between sitting and walking (I have a
treadmill as well. You need to keep healthy!)

~~~
swalsh
" but you can train your children not to bother you"

It really depends on the age, I'm struggling to get my child to poop in the
toilet, I'm not sure he's ready to learn not to barge into the office when he
knows his dad is in there.

~~~
joshuacc
You can also supplement training with physical barriers as necessary. :)

~~~
swalsh
My son is in daycare most of the time, so it's not a large problem. But the
few times he's been home while I have been working, the major issue with
closing the door is he knows I'm still in here. So he'll make a bunch of
noise, yelling for me to help him. It's often easier to just fix his
Duplo/juice box/etc issue.

------
michaelbuckbee
Been working from home for 10+ years.

OFFICE

I have a full dedicated bedroom setup specifically as my office. While there
have been a few issues with boundaries, having that physically separate space
mostly solves that. It helps that it's on the second floor and away from the
1st floor with the traffic of kids and family in and out constantly.

My desk it setup facing towards the windows (no glare). I have a ceiling fan
and a dedicated air conditioner so it's always a comfortable temperature.

DESK SETUP

I use a 55" Curved 4K TV as a monitor along with a standing desk. The center
of the TV is ~3ft from my nose.

4k -> It's like a grid of 9 laptop screens. I use Divvy as a window manager
and have it split into multiple sub-screens. Typically my setup is to have my
code editor in the center and then array around that with terminals,
documentation, previews, chat apps, etc.

My goal is try and cut out alt-tabbing and context switching as much as
possible: use live reload, auto running tests, dedicated virtual desktop per
project.

Curved -> The curve helps quite a bit with the larger size and using it as a
monitor. I upgraded from a flat 42" 4k and that was close to the corners being
too far away to be usable.

Standing Desk -> I'm a weirdo and just stand all the time, the desk doesn't
even move. I use a thick standing mat and sometimes a balance board. Also, the
combination of 4k + Standing is great b/c you can lean as needed.

NETWORK CONNECTIVITY

I've got an unremarkable (and relatively) quite slow residential cable
internet package. The few times there has been an issue, I've tethered to my
phone as backup so I could stay online.

Hope this helps.

~~~
windlep
What model of TV is that? I've been looking at going to a larger 4k screen for
a similar reason, but am wary of the increased input lag all TV's seem to have
(the dreaded molasses feel of the cursor).

Would love to find a screen around 43" or so without the lag.

~~~
michaelbuckbee
It's the Samsung non HDR 4k Curved.

In general, with 4k TVs you can tweak the settings so they work as a monitor.
Another commenter mentioned 'game mode', but all the different manufacturers
call it something else.

Normally the things I change the most are turning "sharpness" all the way
down, turn off smoothing and change the color balance to not be so blue.

------
zie
I've worked from "home" for over a decade now. I live in a van. I travel. I
have a normal 9-5 type office job. I normally only travel on weekends, and
spend the week wherever I happen to be that week. My internet is Verizon
Wireless (LTE most of the time, but sometimes 3G). I do devops work (mostly
ops/security).

90% of the time I'm out on National Forest or BLM public lands.

I work from a MacBook Pro. I do have an external keyboard (a MS Surface
ergonomic bluetooth). My electricity comes from solar panels.

I've been working and traveling this way for ~ 8 years now.

It's a very, very different lifestyle than the rest of you, but it works out
quite well for me.

So I would disagree that you need a $900 chair, I've spent about that building
out my entire house(not including the price of my van).

I do take breaks often, to stand up, stretch, etc.

~~~
oliv__
I've been thinking about something like this myself and I'm curious what you
eat and where you shower? Is it always cold food or takeout and does that not
get tiring or do you have some kind of stove setup?

~~~
zie
I have a fridge and stove, I eat whatever I want :)

I'm normally out on public lands, the closest towns are usually at least an
hour's drive one way. I generally stay out 2 weeks before returning to town to
grocery shop, errands and the like.

~~~
oliv__
Sweet setup! What's the make of the van?

~~~
zie
Just a normal cargo van. I added all the "house" stuff :)

------
larrik
I've been working from home for over 6 years, with young kids and a stay-at-
home-wife the entire time. I wouldn't have it any other way.

1) You need a good chair. No, a _good_ one. If it's not at least $500 new,
then it's not something to consider. I picked up a used Aeron chair for $350
(drove 90 minutes to get it), which goes for $900. Unless you are doing a
standing desk thing (which I wouldn't at first unless you are already someone
who does that), then you need a chair that will let you sit for a while and
not feel a thing. It's the most comfortable chair in my whole house, because
it needs to be. No other one gets used 40+ hours a week.

2) You need an office. You can't work from the kitchen table or the couch or
your bed. The office doesn't need to be a den or bedroom, but it needs to be
dedicated and ideally somewhere you can be undisturbed. Honestly, your kids
shouldn't be allowed near it, even when you aren't working.

2) You need to keep set hours, and you need your family to respect them. This
is a job. You aren't on vacation or fooling around. Do work at work times, and
home at home times. You'll find you can blend them once you get the hang of
it, but you shouldn't let work bleed too much into home time, and you can't
let home intrude onto work when you aren't in a place to accept it. Ideally
these set hours should match the rest of your team, or at least heavily
overlap. In the end you need clear "work time" and "home time", like everyone
else gets, except you don't have to commute in between.

3) Family buy-in: your family needs to understand that you need to be
professional and are NOT available whenever is convenient for them.

4) Environment: I don't think any specific desk will help you more than
others, but you shouldn't be sharing it with the kid's homework or your wife's
projects or anything like that. It should be work only, and either be clean
and empty, or have work stuff on it. In terms of other equipment, that's very
specific to you and your needs. Of course, I've really only had a single
network outage in that entire time.

5) Sometimes working from home is awful for you, and you shouldn't do it. It's
not for everyone.

------
alexose
I've worked from home for about a year and half now, so I'm not as much of an
expert as others in this thread. However, I do have the experience of doing it
completely wrong when I first started.

What not to do:

\- Don't 'rough it'. Creature comforts are absolutely key. Get yourself a
comfortable chair and the biggest, coolest, sturdiest desk that you can fit in
your house.

\- Don't interact with anybody in the real world while you're at work. When
you're working, you're not at home. If you have a parter, you need to get buy-
in ahead of time.

\- Don't work without backup internet. A hotspot works. Ideally, it should
fail over automatically. This is very easy to set up with UniFi equipment,
which you should use anyway, especially if you're relying on wireless. Keep in
mind that three nines of availability still means 10 minutes of downtime per
week, and you can be assured that those minutes will be during your next
company-wide presentation.

\- Lastly, don't do this on the cheap. Recognize that you'll need to spend
money on the right tools (see above) and don't forget a quality monitor,
webcam, and microphone.

Working from home means that you don't get to blame management for having an
uncomfortable chair, shoddy WiFi, or a slow computer. Recognize that
maintaining a functional office is now your responsibility, and failing to do
so only reflects poorly on you as an employee.

On the flipside-- Doing it well gives you superhuman productivity in the eyes
of your coworkers. Plus, no commute.

------
swalsh
People have the equipment thing down, and the separate office thing has been
mentioned already so I'll try to add something new.

Open up your /etc/hosts file, think of EVERY website that's not work-related
that you visit regularly. And redirect it to 127.0.0.1.

Once you get working, you'll forget its there... but especially if you use
this computer for non-work things, it can be hard to get the engine started.

Another thing, I dual boot my computer. Windows for fun, linux for work.

~~~
chasedehan
>Windows for fun, linux for work.

That is horrifying backwards :) I'm forced into the opposite scenario with my
job.

~~~
swalsh
I'd never have to go into Windows if my VR games worked on Linux :D

------
znpy
I worked from home very briefly (less than three months) while I was a full-
time university student and was sharing a room with another student.

My setup was basically a "scavenged" setup: I carved four holes in the middle
of a single-person ANEBODA ikea wardrobe in order to lower the upper shelf to
a desk-like height. This way I had what could be called an "office in a
closet" setup.

In there i put a 18" monitor and my thinkpad X220. I used the wardrobe doors
for post-it, calendars and todo lists.

Frankly, it worked quite well. Consider a similar setup if you're tight on
either budget or space (or both).

Also, a nice thing about that setup is that you can close the door and you
don't see your "office"anymore".

------
bcx
I more or less have ONLY worked from home for my entire work career, so my
experience might be different than most.

Like many of the commenters here I think the following are key:

#Creating Time for Work (work hours)

\- This could mean setting hours for yourself, closing a door, getting
yourself in a certain mindset. Setting clear expectations for others in your
life that you are 'mentally' at work even if you are physically present, this
is ESSENTIAL.

#Creating Space for Work

\- I've worked at home through remodels, nannys, and guests. If you have a one
room apartment, and a few kids, working from home is likely impossible.
However, if you have at least two rooms with some separation of space. You can
close a door, go to a coffee shop, or generally find somewhere where you won't
be distracted.

#Creating time and space for NOT WORK

\- This is probably more of a challenge for startup founders and work-a-holics
but if you don't. You will not be productive. period.

#The ability to focus and prioritize work

\- I am blessed with the ability to block out distractions when I am at home,
and be very focused on what is going on, on my computer. I have no idea how to
describe this to others, but I can often miss comments from my wife, text
messages, etc when focused on a task.

#Some basic nuts and bolts:

\- You need good internet \- You need backup internet (I have both a Verizon
hotspot, and LTE on my iphone) \- You need an employer and coworkers who
understands that working remotely requires a vastly different set of
communication protocols than working in an office.

------
samastur
Have been happily working mostly from home for over a decade.

I think three things are really important: \- have a separate comfortable
working environment \- have a routine \- no kids

I don't think it matters what equipment you use as long as you like it and you
yourself can separate when you are "in the office" and when not. I have a
separate room, but separate computers worked for me too.

Routine usually requires some experimentation and negotiation with your
company and your family, but once you find something that works, make it a
routine.

Kids is a short-hand for consistent presence of difficult to control and to
remove interruptions. Some of it can be ameliorated with a noise cancelling
headset, but they tend to become uncomfortable before end of workday so are
really only something to get you through occasional interruptions (like
neighbour drilling or work on the street).

------
lunch
I'll offer a slightly different take--

I've worked from home full-time for about 1.5 years, coming from the standard
open floor-plan tech company office. I live in a 1 bedroom apartment in the
city so I don't have a dedicated office. Instead I work from my desk in the
living room, the couch in the living room, a makeshift standing desk in the
living room, or the coffee shop around the corner.

My quality of work and productivity is as good or better and I work less hours
than before. You don't need an elaborate home office or expensive furniture,
just a good work ethic.

------
dboreham
One thing: if you have trouble "enforcing boundaries" (the psyc kind) then
take steps to insert some kind of physical interposing barrier between you and
your potential boundary-invaders. I've always had a separate building from the
house to work in and find that invaluable. Outbuilding, heated shed, that sort
of thing. In the past few years I've used an office 10 miles from my house
(but close to my kids' school) that has no other people in it. Not sure if
that still counts as WFH though.. Basically other people have to go out into
the rain, or get in their car to interrupt you..

You definitely want to reduce cognitive load : avoid having to walk past the
unfolded laundry or your distraction du jour, to get coffee, snacks -- have
those things in your office space.

I find music very helpful for concentration. I switch between speakers and
headphones during the day. Not sure why really but the change seems to keep
concentration going. Invest in some decent sound equipment.

I have found that the right headset make a big difference for participating in
conference calls (or whatever we're calling them now "formerly known as
hangout?"). I settled on a Sennheiser model : PC-36 that has integrated USB so
avoids the crappy analog ports on the PC. Bluetooth probably works nicely now
but I've become so used to the PC-36 and I have three pairs of them.

You need a reasonably decent connection to avoid voice call frustrations.
Doesn't need to be super-fast, but good QoS (low packet loss, jitter). The
easiest way to achieve that in a home setting is probably to just get the
fastest connection available from your fastest ISP. Consider deploying your
own router that can enforce traffic prioritization so your kids' Netflix
traffic doesn't delay your VoIP packets. We mostly use Skype for voice, which
works ok, or Google. For PSTN interface I'm using Vitelity.net and Panasonic
SIP phones or the Bria desktop and mobile apps. Google Voice might be an
easier option for those who don't like debugging SIP and RTP protocols ;)

I've never been too picky about chairs and desk height and all that. I do like
specific keyboards (Cherry Red) and lighting (fairly dim, diffuse, and
balanced such that the screen is slightly brighter than the background).

------
tlb
It's great to work on your own, but not from your house. The ideal setup is to
have a small office 10 minutes walk from home. When you're at the office, you
only do work. If you find yourself being unproductive for 15 minutes, leave
the office and go for a walk, or back home. That way you train your brain to
associate one environment with working, and it becomes easier to avoid
distractions.

------
rdiddly
A pair of these: [https://www.amazon.com/Bose-QuietComfort-Acoustic-
Cancelling...](https://www.amazon.com/Bose-QuietComfort-Acoustic-Cancelling-
Headphones/dp/B00X9KV0HU)

...and this: [https://www.simplynoise.com/](https://www.simplynoise.com/)

Works great at the office too, or on the plane/train/etc

------
Tehchops
Been 100% WFH(office is 2000 miles away) for over a year now.

Have a separate room for the office. That being said, it's adjacent to the
kitchen and has no doors, so there's still traffic.

I don't think kids are a non-starter for WFH. Have one ten year-old kid. I
think it's about setting and enforcing expectations in terms of "work-time"
vs. "home-time".

Of course, if your family doesn't respect or support you in that, you're going
to have problems no matter what. _Everyone_ (kids, spouse) needs to be
involved in an honest discussion where expectations are set.

Architectural nice-to-haves:

* Doors on the office.

* Multiple floors, with the recreation room on a different floor.

* Plenty of windows for natural light

As far as equipment/hardware:

* Adjustable standing desk(love my Jarvis Bamboo)

* Good chair. I mean a _good_ chair. Herman Miller Aeron for me.

* Dual monitors mounted on arms. Amazon Warehouse has consistent deals on Dell 27 in monitors.

* I use a MBP, so I've got a vertical stand and Pluggable TB dock.

* Logitech MX Master

* KBC Poker II

* Comfy, decent headphones

What's been huge for me is the ergonomic stuff(chair/desk). It's a big expense
up front, but believe me, it's worth it if you're going to spending 8-10 hours
a day there. Plus it's tax deductible. Do yourself a favor a splurge there.

Overall, WFH has been a huge productivity boost to me. I make sure my employer
sees the benefits of my productivity as well, and I work very hard to ensure
they have no reason to be displeased with my output.

~~~
sockgrant
I have been wfh for 5 years and I have similar recommendations to you (jarvis
bamboo, natural lighting, good noise cancelling headphones... dual monitors
all that stuff). The only thing I'd add is for ergonomics. Back support when
sitting -- for me the Better Back has done more than a chair can do.

[https://getbetterback.com/](https://getbetterback.com/)

I've tried a few things for sitting and they all were crap compared to this.

------
valar_m
I have worked from home 3-5 days per week for the past 4 years. I think there
are two keys to being effective when WFH:

1\. Minimizing distractions. Kids, significant others, television, etc. can
make it extremely difficult. IMO, there are two main reasons for working at
home: convenience and avoiding distractions. If you can't do the latter, it
may not be worth it.

2\. Maintain a work routine similar to your office routine. Keep your normal
morning routine -- shower, get dressed, eat breakfast, etc., but instead of
leaving the house, go to your home work area. Set a start and end time for
working and stick to it. Take breaks and lunch the same time you normally
would.

As far as setting up your home office/workspace, try to re-create the elements
of your office workspace that you like. If you use a dock station or
large/multiple monitors at work and that's effective for you, setup a similar
configuration at home.

Also, invest in a good chair. I have a La-Z-Boy office chair that I believe I
paid $250-$300 and it is outstanding.

------
rjspotter
Standing Desk: Just a desktop from IKEA and some pipe from Home Depot

I get memory foam bath mats and replace them approx 1-2 times per year. I also
have a yoga block and lacrosse ball at my feet so I can change my stance.

I've a 48" monitor on a stand that sits perpendicular to a window so I can
look out the window and change focal length while thinking

Headphones are super important to me Massdrop x HiFiMAN HE4XX I wear them even
if I'm not listening to anything.

Keyboard is an ErgoDoxEZ with a mousing mode so I never have to take my hands
off the keyboard

I use the Mission Control Productivity system and sometimes the Pomodoro
Technique if I'm having a hard time getting into flow

in my experience residential internet isn't any less reliable than the
commercial internet I had when I went into an office

A nicer microphone is a must have for remote work so that people can hear you
clearly in meetings. I use a Blue Snowball

I don't have kids but, if I need to ensure my dog will be quiet for meetings I
just give her a kong. My wife is just great about not interrupting me.

------
wink
In my last job I did 1-3 days WFH per week.

I was often laying down on my sofa, occasionally sitting at a desk.
Interestingly I usually managed to cope with a small laptop screen. But to be
fair I tried to schedule the time where I really needed 2 screens to be on the
office days or plug it in. Never had a dedicated desk, had to make room on my
personal desk. (For me development work more often needs a "proper" desk
setup, whereas ops and debugging go easily even on a 12.5" screen)

Distractions.. well, mostly not - but no kids and no pets. With other people
around I could tone it down to "a lot less interruptions per day than in the
office", but not always zero.

And wow about the network disruptions, I've always had more of those at work
than at home :P

The downs were: too lazy to cook a proper meal for myself, so usually frozen
pizza or something quick. No coworkers around (I tend to work for/stay at
companies where I like interacting with the people.)

The ups were: no 2x45min commute, a lot less interruptions.

------
joshuacc
For distractions, my office is on the basement level, separate from everything
else in the house. There is a baby gate at the top of the stairs to prevent
the kids from entering. My wife is very good about not interrupting
unnecessarily. Guests may come over during my workday, but the most that I
will do is say hi and then go back to work.

I built a standing desk out of a solid wood door and stainless steel pipe. It
is at the perfect height for my wrists to rest correctly when typing. I mostly
stand on a rubber mat, but I also have a bar stool I can rest on occasionally.

I have 3 external monitors (2 wqhd and 1 1080p) as well as my laptop screen.
The externals are at the perfect height. The laptop screen is a little low, so
I just use it for supplemental things that I don't have to look at for long.

I've used my phone maybe 4 times in the past year, so for that I just used my
cell phone. I use WebEx, HipChat Video, and Google Hangouts to videoconference
with my coworkers. I use a Kingston HyperX gaming headset, which works
phenomenally well.

I follow the exact same routine every day. Drop the kids off at school. Start
work at 9am. Pick kids up in the middle of the day, go back to work. Sign off
by 5pm.

I use GTD, implemented using a Filofax organizer, with a custom set of
inserts. For me, it is essential that my task management system be paper
based. It's easy to reference, and unlike phone/computer based task systems,
it doesn't set me up to be interrupted/distracted. I also use a kitchen timer
and the pomodoro method when I need to be most productive.

At a minimum I go on an hour long hike with my kids every evening, but I also
supplement that by going to CrossFit one or two times per week. When I am able
to go for multiple short walks during the day and do some meditative prayer,
that's when I'm most likely to be at peak productivity.

------
cygned
Working from home for 5+ years.

Getting up at 4:50 am, meditating 16 minutes, work till 9am, walk the dog and
eat something, then continue working till 3pm or 4pm, lunch, work till 9.40pm,
16 minutes of meditation. On weekends, I work till noon usually. My spouse
respects my work and the time required, there has never been an issue.

Setup: MacBook Pro (13 inch w/ TouchBar), MagicTrackpad 2, 34" curved screen,
HHKB 2 Pro (white w/out prints plus a wooden wrist rest). Consuming music via
Apple AirPods, speakers or Atomic Floyd Superdarts. Simple chair and desk
(don't care about that).

I have no special system to get things done. Sometimes, I turn off the phones
and close email clients to work w/out interruptions. When coding, external
things get ignored unless my business partners call. When I don't write code,
I sort things by priority and required time to complete.

------
aivarsk
I work from home 1-3 days a week. I'm also father of 3 boys (2, 8, 10) and
wife is working full-time.

My only setup is my ThinkPad T450s. That's all.

At some point in my carrier I used 4 monitors, specific low profile keyboards
and mice at the office but I don't miss that. It took some time (years!) to
adjust my workflow to a single screen and maybe I'm not as productive as I
could be but I'm still among the most productive employees at my company.

What I achieved is that I'm equally productive and +/\- comfortable anywhere:
at work, on the couch or office room at home, on a train, at airport, in the
garden, anywhere. That consistency is more important to me than maximum
efficiency.

So that and I choose what kind of tasks I work on when I'm alone or when
family is at home because you can't expect to fully isolate yourself.

------
cs02rm0
It's all about the dedicated room for me.

[https://i.imgur.com/ehJKHJ9.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/ehJKHJ9.jpg)

Aeron chair, 4k monitor, some storage. I shut the door when the kids are home,
I know which cafe I'd head to if the internet goes down, but it doesn't.

------
eloycoto
Hi!

Here, working remotely for six years. I think that it's all about home-office,
if you have a unique space, called office all changed a lot if not is still
your house and you feel like extra-hours.

For this six years, for one year I didn't have a spare bedroom for the office,
and that was bad, I was working from the dining room and a lot of problems.
(As you have now)

Now working from a spare bedroom-office, with nice desk, large 4K screen, a
good chair, etc.. Highly recommend. Around network problems, I have two
internet connections, one for failover with another company, all wired, so I
don't need to worry about the wifi.

Around kids, I don't have it yet, but a lot of my friends said that it's about
that they should understand that you're working, and for that, you should have
an "office".

Regards

------
cdnsteve
You need buy in, understanding and ground rules with family members. When I'm
working from home and my office door is shut, they aren't allowed to come in
or bug me. It's your best way to communicate with family, no interruptions
allowed mode is turned on. Being physically present but unable to engage with
you is really hard for kids to understand. With some practise they will start
to get it.

I've worked in a basement office before and I highly suggest you don't unless
it's a full walk out with lots of large windows. The mood between being in a
basement office (underground) and ground/above ground floor is very different
and takes a toll long term. I personally found I would never do basement
again.

------
dejv
Working from home for past 10 years. Major thing is having dedicated room with
doors that close (really important now that I have two little kids (2 months
and 2 years). Older kid know that when the door are closed she can't go inside
and should not knock or yell at me. I am at my office just during office
hours, after the workday is over I don't go inside this room.

Other than that just boring stuff: good chair, split keyboard (MS Sculpt),
gaming mouse (Logitech G603) and single 27" monitor (HP Envy). I also have a
nice sofa where I can lay and read if I want to.

------
dhruvkar
I've been working from "home" last 2.5 years. I've tried working:

A. from home.

B. from coffee shops/public spaces.

C. at a dedicated desk at a co-working space.

D. in a private office.

This may be a personality thing, but I realized I need routine, but not
rigidly so, and I need some activity happening around me. (A) and (B) were too
isolated for me.

What's work best is mostly sticking with (C) with a sprinkling of (B).
Problems with inconsistent internet and the fact that I'm paying for (C),
keeps me in a routine and productivity high. Throw in a 3 - 4 mile walk to
work with a 25lb backpack, and I get my exercise in too :)

------
riffraff
working from home for about ten years, as happy as ever (though I don't mind
offices either, provided there's flexibility).

I didn't even have a proper chair and desk until some time ago, worked from
bed, couch, dining table, standing, kitchen counter etc. I still do from time
to time, but I wouldn't advice doing it :)

I didn't have kids for most of the period (I have a 2yo and 4yo now) and
they're certainly disruptive, in my case they're not home most of the time
now, so it's basically: work from nice desk and chair in the living room while
kids are out, move to secluded room and close door when they're not. They
definitely learn not to bother you too much, but they can still be noisy, for
which a nice set of earphones might help.

If for some reason your home is expected to be too noisy one day, go work in
some other place.

I have not done this for a long time, but I'd advice having a scheduled daily
outing (go jogging in the morning or evening), it's good for your mind and
body, and slightly more important than if you were working in an office, as
you don't even have a daily walking commute.

If possible, try to separate work and home, i.e. separate "office room", to
avoid the feeling of being always at work.

------
DoofusOfDeath
I've been working from home (basement office) for about 4 years. I've recently
concluded that in order to minimize sound-related distractions I need to
finish my basement office with full-blown soundproofing.

The alternative is to impose a really onerous burden on my wife and kids to be
quiet, which is particularly difficult during summer vacation.

Unfortunately the project isn't cheap. In the end I'm probably looking at
$15-20k for the final result.

~~~
bmpafa
Has to be an easier way.Noise cancelling head phones? White noise machine?
Even some sort of cheap sound dampening material applied to the ceiling etc
should make a meaningful difference no?

~~~
DoofusOfDeath
I wish. I have much better things to do with $20k :)

To go into a little more detail:

Regarding noise-canceling headphones: \- I find them uncomfortable to wear for
really long stretches \- They don't fit well when I'm wearing glasses (contact
lenses aren't an option for me). \- I can't solve the problem by just wearing
them _sometimes_ , because I can't guess when distracting, transient sounds
will occur. \- They don't filter out low-frequency sounds enough to solve the
problem.

Regarding sound-dampening materials in the floor above my office: \- Likely to
help, but not sufficient. Also, we're not ready to put carpeting on that floor
yet because of dust issues. (We can solve those eventually, but not quite
yet.)

Regarding less extensive soundproofing in my office: \- There are just too
many pathways for sound to get in currently. \- From the research I've done,
it looks even a single pathway is enough to let in more sound than is
acceptable.

Also worth mentioning that I've got a nasty case of A.D.D., so I probably take
longer to recover from minor distractions than many others do.

~~~
bmpafa
That's a pickle. And what abt white noise? I know a lot of therapists use this
machine[1] to maintain privacy--sort of a similar goal

[1]: [https://www.amazon.com/Marpac-Classic-White-Noise-
Machine/dp...](https://www.amazon.com/Marpac-Classic-White-Noise-
Machine/dp/B000KUHFGM)

~~~
DoofusOfDeath
White noise can mask relatively quiet transient sounds.

Sadly, my kids' sound spectra don't really fit that profile :)

------
aaavl2821
have been working from home for almost 5 years. i travel 2-3 times a week for
meetings so try to schedule all mtgs during those days. doesnt always work,
sometimes have to travel for a half day, or do random calls throughout the
day, but nowhere near as distracting as random interruptions working at an
office

i track my productivity and am doing productive work ~65% of the time. i used
to use pomodoro method but now sort of do extended pomodoro (45 min on, 10 min
off), with 1.5 hour break midday to exercise and eat lunch

my gf lives with me but works away from home. when she gets home i either stop
working or go to starbucks (small apt so not really fair for me to enforce
silence / no distractions while i work)

i just have a desk and a monitor / keyboard / mouse from my old job. but ive
had months long stretches working on a coffee table with just a laptop which
is generally fine. just use iphone and default headphones for calls

------
dougmwne
I WFH and I move around a lot, so I’m constantly re-setting up my office and
trying tweaking my current location to be productive.

I need a room separate from the bedroom or other living spaces that’s very
quiet. This helps me separate work and life and keep me in the work zone when
I’m “at work.”

I’m off-limits to friends and family during work hours. I keep a strict
work/life schedule. This can be truly awkward since popping in or asking for a
quick favor seems like no big deal from their perspective, but is productivity
destroying from mine. No kids, and I honestly don’t know how anyone can have
their office in the same house as children.

Comfortable ergonomics. I’ve stashed a few folding plastic desks(the kind you
can get from wal-mart) in various locales, along with office chairs I find
comfortable. I also don’t hesitate to buy another $90 external display when I
need one. My bluetooth keyboard comes with me since I find it’s too much of an
interruption to adjust to a new key layout.

Excellent headphones, non-isolating for calls. Being able to understand people
in a conference room is a huge plus. I used to use pricey open-backed Grado
headphones (the frequency response seemed to be well matched to voice), but
I’ve been recently trying to use cheap earbuds from ali express that have good
hifi audio recommendations and that seems to be almost as good(Monk VE at the
moment).

The laptop comes with me, but my SO has been using Amazon Workspaces (a hosted
workstation) which seems promising from a security and redundancy standpoint.
Laptop bites it? Just dust off a backup machine and log back into the server.

2 or 3 levels of internet connection backups. I prefer to use a wired
connection for my primary. I always have at least one LTE network as a
secondary and usually a second on another carrier. I use google voice so if
the cell network goes down I can still receive VOIP calls to my business line.

Put yourself close to your hobbies. Since you don’t have to be commuting
distance to the office anymore, make sure there’s something you love nearby,
preferably right outside your door so there’s a very low barrier to entry.
Surfing lunch break? Morning Hike? Afternoon cycle? There will always be WFH
downsides, so set yourself up to enjoy the upsides.

Keep your people nearby. WFH is isolating, so don’t isolate yourself. SO and I
spend most of the year within 10 minutes of family. We’re planning on spending
a month near friends later this summer.

------
jwilliams
A close friend has worked from home for a decade and has four kids. One
routine that really works is he gets dressed for work every day. Just by
adding a collared shirt, usually. Gets him in (and out of) the headspace and
the kids get a clear signal that he's "working."

~~~
5555624
This. Years ago, someone here mentioned not simply rolling out of bed and
starting to work. Go for coffee, walk the dog, etc. In that vein, I switch to
a blue work shirt. If I'm wearing it, I'm working. It has two pockets, so I
can put my phone in one if I'm on a conference call, and walk around. If I'm
wearing one of the blue shirts -- I have several, all the same -- it means I'm
working, whether I walk downstairs to the kitchen, step outside for a breath
of fresh air, etc.

------
kevinherron
I WFH a couple days a week. Nice monitor, nice desk, nice chair, dedicated
room that serves as my office, etc...

That being said, probably the the most important contributor to this being a
productive setup is we don't have kids. Can't imagine why you'd even think
that would work out.

~~~
n_t
> Can't imagine why you'd even think that would work out.

It was not by choice :)

~~~
geoah
> It was not by choice :)

Kids or WFH? :P

------
edj36
Uses this: [https://usesthis.com](https://usesthis.com) is a cool site to
check out other people's setups and see their workflows, not necessarily WFH
but provides cool perspective.

------
convolvatron
i don't have to worry about the distractions so much, my wife works from home
now also, but we have separate offices.

barring that the one thing I would advise is trying to get out every once and
a while. since I have an infinite amount of work, and cook meals, its entirely
possible to spend a week without leaving the house.

I find my productivity goes down pretty drastically just sitting the in same
spot day after day.

taking a 30 minute walk in the afternoon helps alot

if I get up and do something else involved, I may not get into the right mood
to start working again afterwards, which is another hazard.

still working that out

------
inertiatic
I can't imagine having to deal with my kid while working from home.

I think I'd say that if you have your kid around and your kid isn't a very
special case, don't attempt working from home.

------
moltar
I used to work from home for years. Recently rented a desk in a coworking
place. Best decision I’ve ever made.

------
allsunny
chair, laptop, monitor, standing desk, headphones / mic for conference calls.
my wife and son cannot be around, they're too distracting. i end up getting
frustrated with them (can't you see i'm thinking?! :)

------
hkmurakami
I can’t do it. I go to a share office.

------
jfalcon
I've worked from home for the past 2 years now. The type of work I do and the
amount has me busy all the time. Plus if it's something you like doing, you'll
find yourself easily doing 50+ hours - especially if you work salary.

Sometimes I'd have a slightly crazy older friend come by who doesn't work a
day job and he'll just come in the check on me or smoke a bowl while he runs
around town. It can sometimes be a distraction when that happens. One just has
to reiterate that you are at work but keep it real and _do_ have that time.
Same with phone calls from family. Treat your telecommute like you're at the
office just that the scenery looks like early fuck because it's your design,
not someone who's paid for aesthetics of the corporate image.

First week I started my full time telecommute, I did go out and buy an Aeron
chair. But while it's a nice chair and I've used them at the office, if you
don't move around and work out, that chair could also be the most
uncomfortable chair of your day.

I also try to leave the house at least a couple times a week for lunch but
keep it short as ultimately, the clock is nobody's friend.

Once a week, I'll take some time to do a cleaning. I do all my meetings via
BlueJeans or teleconference or Slack. So I make sure that my video presence is
always "Business Casual" appropriate... including anything in the background
of the camera.

Technology: While I am issued a laptop, I ended up using my gaming desktop
more as you really cannot have enough monitors. I run 3 and could see going to
5 with 2 in portrait configuration for coding or document reading. I'd also
get a comfortable mechanical keyboard. Mouse as well. I recreated a dedicated
workstation within my homelab using VMWare and that is only used for the
company including their VPN client. I have another access point for corporate
VPN which I use fairly often. I also have a MiFi and ensure I can reach
another access point that is on another ISP with my network should my primary
internet go out - which it has a few times for a week. Beyond that, it's
whatever makes you more productive so you can keep your work/life in balance.

And that's the crux of it, while I don't commute, I also don't have that
"unplug" time in the car anymore. That's now done when I prepare the evening
meal which can vary at time. The only major distraction is my whiny old cat
that requires me to ensure that the mute button is in easy reach. But people
are actually quite cool and understanding when they hear her meow that first
couple times before you can mute. My GF I think feels that she needs to leave
me alone more than she really does. But then I'm a bad person because
sometimes I'll go much later than I should or spend more time working than
living.

Also, when you're now spending on upwards of 16-20h at the keyboard, your
sleep will be impacted. You'll also go through a phase of Bi-Modal sleep where
you'll sleep in two separate periods. But my case likely isn't normal. I have
no kids. Few interruptions beyond the cat and that I'm older.

Will you save money? It depends on your other spending habits.

It is good to keep a daytime schedule for the company. But you'll also find
working at night or early morning is your most productive.

Not everyone's situation is suited for WFH. I would only recommend WFH for
true introverts and people who work abroad. Maybe those who have kids should
plan to still have daycare or do some desk sharing situation. Family
interruptions are real and household emergencies will happen while you're
there that may or may not work out. Don't do it all, do hire out. Use delivery
services and hired help.

------
jefurii
I was hired to my current (remote) job literally the week my son was born; he
and my job are both 6.5 years old. I worked from home (with headphones) until
he started walking, at which point my job paid for a spot in a local coworking
space. He's now in kindergarten and has a great afterschool program, so I'm
mostly back at home now. My wife also works from home, and we go to a local
coffeehouse a couple times a week. When my son comes home from school he plays
with the other kids in the apartment and I put on my headphones.

I do all of my work in Emacs, Terminator, and browsers in Debian with OpenBox
on a Thinkpad x220. I've tried multi-monitor setups but I always go back to
the laptop screen. Partly this is because I work in multiple locations, but
also because I prefer switching windows or workspaces to navigating among
windows in a huge screen, though I do often split the screen into halves. I do
much of my typing on a mechanical keyboard - a Happy Hacking Pro 2. I have a
simple Ubiquiti firewall and wifi setup hooked up to basic DSL, which is the
only option in our building. This works unless I need to upload something, in
which case I either exercise patience or go to the coworking space or a
coffeehouse. For voice comms, I can't count on apps working with Linux but
there's always an app for my Android phone.

At home my physical setup is an Ikea Fredrik desk and an Aeron chair in a
corner of the living room. The desk is highly configurable; initially a
standing desk it's now readjusted for sitting. I don't recommend this desk
unless you have short legs - an Ikea Jerker would be better for my physique -
and lately I've been moving my Aeron to the kitchen table. I have a pair of
Audio-Technica ATH-M50x studio headphones for when I need to focus.

I get exercise by walking my son to school, taking occasional walks, and I
have a set of small weights. I get up at least once an hour to walk around the
room, get a glass of water, whatever. I could definitely exercise more.

Regarding focus, I deal with this by having multiple workspaces and browsers
for different tasks. Workspace 1 is personal mail/chat/news/blogs in Firefox.
Workspace 2 is personal projects. Workspace 3 is work mail/Slack and GitHub
Issues in Chromium. I spent most of my time in Workspace 4 with Terminator,
Emacs, and Chromium. Having personal stuff several workspaces away is a mild
deterrant to looking at it. If it's really distracting to I'll "pkill
firefox", which removes the distraction for now; I can go back to those tabs
next time I start Firefox. Certain types of music help me focus: Bach, 60s
cool jazz, 1970s Steve Reich, techno and electronica, and Radiohead. I accept
that my mind is going to drift sometimes. I find that I often have useful
thoughts and ideas when I step away from my computer for a bit.

My setup is very basic and simple. I don't need a whole lot in order to do my
work and I like that I can do my work in different places.

------
thisjustinm
My setup after working from home for 3 years:

OFFICE

Dedicated bedroom converted to office. Couple of shelves, my desk and a bed
for the dog are the only furniture in it. I have a window next to my desk that
faces our street and front door so I can tell if the knock at the door is
something I actually have to answer or just a package drop-off I can ignore.

DESK SETUP

My desk is a hand crank standing desk from Multi Table
([https://www.multitable.com/product/multitable-manual-mod-
tab...](https://www.multitable.com/product/multitable-manual-mod-table/)).
It’s the smallest size and it’s perfect for me - just enough room for the
essentials but not so much that the Law of Flat Surfaces kicks in and it gets
cluttered with junk.

CHAIR

Steelcase Leap. I can’t recommend this chair enough. Chairs are a very
personal thing so you have to find what works for you but wow does it make a
difference when you find the right fit. Yes, it’s expensive but it should last
quite a while and even if you’re part standing you’ll still spend lots of time
in your chair. It’s worth every penny.

MONITOR / COMPUTER / ETC

2016 era MBP (no touchbar or “new keyboard” which I purposely avoided even
through they were available when I bought it).

Monitor is Dell UltraSharp 27” like [https://www.amazon.com/Dell-
UltraSharp-27-Inch-LED-Lit-Monit...](https://www.amazon.com/Dell-
UltraSharp-27-Inch-LED-Lit-
Monitor/dp/B00P0EQD1Q/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1526054494&sr=8-2&keywords=dell+ultrasharp+u2415)
mounted on an Amazon basics arm for ultimate flexibility and to free up desk
space the monitor platform would otherwise occupy:
[https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-Premium-Single-
Monitor-S...](https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-Premium-Single-Monitor-
Stand/dp/B00MIBN16O/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1526054545&sr=1-3&keywords=amazon+basics+monitor+arm)

I’d probably get a higher resolution monitor if buying this all today but I
have 0 complaints about my current one.

My MBP sits on a simple laptop stand to bring it’s monitor up to similar
height as the main monitor and it’s my “2nd” screen.

Keyboard is Kinesis Freestyle2 Blue to help mitigate tendonitis I developed in
my wrist after using an Apple trackpad for too long (side note: if there’s
ever a class action around these I’m 100% in - they _can be_ absolutely evil
in terms of ergonomics).

Mouse is a Kensington trackball ([https://www.amazon.com/Kensington-Orbit-
Trackball-Scroll-K72...](https://www.amazon.com/Kensington-Orbit-Trackball-
Scroll-K72337US/dp/B002OOWB3O/ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1526055822&sr=1-4&keywords=kensington+trackball)),
again, for ergonomic reasons.

Headset: Plantronics C720 bluetooth I can use for calls via the computer or my
phone and the quality is excellent. I can’t even stand using my actual phone
for audio anymore when I’m away from my desk.

For mats I have two standing mats folded over that I stand on and I try to
always wear some sort of supportive shoes (or sandals) when standing. I
typically stand all morning until lunch and then sit for the afternoon.

There’s a FitDesk under desk elliptical under the desk which I used for about
a month but now I broke the habit and it’s just taking up space.

NETWORK

Comcast (my only choice) residential internet - ~250mbps down and ~10 up. They
refuse to give me more up no matter what plan I ask for but other than that
it’s pretty good. Sometimes it goes out which leads me to my backup kit which
is a regular iPad (with cellular) with a Logi keyboard case on it for easier
typing. In the event of a critical event and my internet going out at the same
time (has happened once in 3 years) I can buy an on-demand data package and be
online in a few minutes. I have to take the time to make sure the iPad can do
whatever things I need it to do (have some basic text editors on it along with
SSH apps and updated keys, etc) but being able to just grab the iPad and go is
great (also great for taking it on trips when it’s necessary for me to be
available “just in case”).

------
proverbialbunny
I've done full remote work from home, and one day a week.

Starting with the one day a week: I dedicated a day a week to studying,
reading, learning, growing. Anything that required a book. I had a hard time
concentrating on the job so I was grateful they let me leave whenever I needed
to. Also, the building was walking distance to a joint library cafe. Score!

Full work from home / remote:

I did 1 and a half years working remote for a startup where I was the only
software engineer. Communication was rarely needed, sometimes giving me 5
weeks at a time on my own. I was also local to the company, so if it was ideal
to come in to talk with my boss, it was easy to do. I think I came in roughly
8 days in a year and a half.

During this time I shared a room with my girl friend. Her desk was next to
mine with plenty of space in between us, enough where I couldn't see her
monitor without leaning over. She was quiet during work hours, but not like
headphone quiet. I'm slightly ADHD so having some background music out of my
speakers and/or her having background noise out of her speakers aided my
concentration. Also, we kept volumes reasonable so no clashing noise/music or
anything like that. Also, if I needed it for any reason, I could ask her to
put headphones on.

I had room mates who pretty much lived in the living room. They had desks
setup behind the couch and had background tv going on seemingly 24/7\. It was
pretty great, because for lunch or if I needed a break, I could go sit out
with them and watch some tv or a movie and just hang out. Likewise, they were
pretty chill, so if I was in a thinking on a problem kind of la la land state
they never distracted or took away from that, so I'd still get the environment
without the distraction.

I lived two blocks from a cafe, three from a 7-11, 4 from a trail that would
go out to a lake. And it's the SF/Bay Area, so weather is pretty nice all year
around, so I could go for a walk any time I wanted.

Being at home I did have an exercise routine and a kind of neurological
depression slowly kicked in. It wasn't a typical pessimistic kind of
depression with a lot of woe, but more like a zombie like state where I wasn't
quite aware of what was going on with slowed reflexes. It left me somewhat
antisocial. I'd stare blankly at people on the street that would say hi. I
ended up taking the dog out for a walk and 30 minutes of walking would clear
it right up. It was weird, like walking out of a fog I wasn't aware was there
until it was gone.

Was it hard or challenging? No. I excel in a work from home kind of
environment. The more spacial reasoning a problem requires the harder it is
for me to concentrate on it unless I'm in a place comfortable enough for me to
close my eyes and feel safe. A cube doesn't do that for me. Anyone can come up
and touch my shoulder or look at me or whatever. At home I can jump on my bed,
close my eyes and just visualize what I need to, then jot it down. Of course,
these kinds of problems are not the only kind of problems, but they're the
ones I benefit from the most from being at home. I benefit from studying as
well. It's easier to read a text book and concentrate on it. Also, it's way
easier to unwind and fall into a diffuse mode of thinking while pondering on a
problem at home or walking. I often do this while youtube is playing or while
I'm surfing Reddit. The fear of looking like I'm not working keeps me from
utilizing this helpful part of the mind in the work place.

Working from home does require some skills, but the bar isn't high. It comes
down to organizing activities. Every day creating a new schedule is massively
helpful. Also, ordering tasks that take the most concentration first in the
day is super helpful, because concentration goes down as the day goes by.
Organizing space is very important. Having an office helps a lot. If you do
not, a clean desk and a separate login for work is a must. This
compartmentalizes habits, so impulsive habits usually tied to social networks
are minimized if not extinguished. You can even go as far as to block social
sites on the work account, then switch over to the recreational account when
it is ideal to do so.

I like it, and recommend it. Though, the bit about the kids is killer. If you
can work and babysit at the same time, you've got a skill.

