
Why the Future of Work Is at Home - stygiansonic
http://www.psmag.com/business-economics/office-youre-already-dead-to-me-leave-us-alone-gawd
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whistlerbrk
Working from home for me was likely slowly sliding into a deep depression with
no one to talk to. I understand many people pull it off but I fundamentally
believe we are social animals who benefit enormously from being around other
humans. I don't think that means you need to work in a dedicated office, but
an office / studio / around other hackers (regardless of who they work with)
is a huge boon to life style and learning.

~~~
thearn4
I think everyone has a different optimal balance. I prefer being in the office
at least 4 days a week, while my head developer seems to excel at one day per
week, with others somewhere in between. I tend to get more distracted at home
then most (I have a pretty large property that always has some kind of chore
or new project to be worked on), but not everyone has this problem. I think
the flexibility to find a happy equilibrium is the key ingredient.

Hearing that some demand it be all-or-nothing is a bit puzzling to me. Though
I have my suspicion that recent high profile moves to eliminate telecommuting
(Yahoo and Reddit come to mind) were really just stealth layoffs. A way to
reduce FTE through self-selection.

~~~
mttddd
This, I think letting individuals/teams figure it out is the best option. Some
projects, and even specific times within a project, call for being physically
with the team and other times i am more productive being able to just focus on
a task at home.

Also I find that my time spent in the office depends on the season. During the
Spring and Fall when it is a perfect temperature for being outside i love
going into the office and being able to go out for a nice lunch outdoors
somewhere with coworkers.

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eknight15
I enjoy working remotely because I don't have to lie to myself. There's no
faking it for a boss who walks by. There's nobody to impress but myself (and
my teammates on chat).

I think that actually makes me far more productive. Now the two cumulative
hours I spent pretending to be working while in the office, I spend doing
things like exercising or running errands. Then when I return, I'm far more
rejuvenated than I would have been mindlessly sitting at the office.

~~~
mtbcoder
I think a balance of being in the office and working from home is key. I am
much more productive at home as well, but eventually that becomes a tedium in
its own right. It's hard to beat face-to-face collaboration with your
colleagues. Plus, putting in some face time at the office is still essential
for your career. There's no getting around that for the foreseeable future.

~~~
Disruptive_Dave
100\. I worked from home for the last 8+ years and it's been an interesting
ride. My experience: was amazing at first (productivity, independence, no
office drama), then got slightly uninspiring, then got downright depressing
("why even bother showering today?"). Now I mostly work in a small office, but
with a lot of flexibility and some days at home.

The combo is the way to go. There was a time where I worked from home 4 days
out of the week, then spent the entire 5th day in the office with no plans of
actually getting work done, just getting in-person face to face meetings and
collaboration done. That was an ideal situation for me, as I planned those in-
office days accordingly and wasn't busy thinking of all the work I needed to
do while in mid convo with a peer.

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YZF
Haven't we had those articles about 3 times a year over the last 20 years?

I worked from home for two years. The biggest issue for me was not being able
to influence decisions and create relationships with the various stake
holders. I like to be involved in more than just writing code for some corner,
i.e. I don't enjoy just being a cog in the machine. We had one of those funny
remote presence robots but that isn't really the same thing.

For me the social aspect was not an issue. My wife and kids are home
(homeschooling, the future of school is also home). I would go out for lunch
with friends and I have other activities.

Being able to occasionally travel and work from somewhere else was great.
Owning my work environment, having a standup desk, an office, my choice of
gear, was also great. Not so great was the expectation (mostly self imposed)
that you're always available online.

I also managed people from home. Some in the office. Some also remote. That's
also very difficult, making sure they didn't feel left out like I sometimes
did. Trying to gauge contribution without seeing them working physically and
trying to care less about how much time they're putting in and whether they're
always available :) I.e. trying to be a good boss.

Now I work from home two days a week. It seems like a reasonable balance.
Could probably even do 3 day a week. The office is in the same city vs. a
different country so coming in when needed is easy.

In the not so distant future I think you'll be able to put on your VR system
and be in the "office" or in a meeting, take it off and be at home. If
everyone was in that system I think this could be a good solution.

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egonschiele
I work from a remote office right now. Even though it is less isolating than
working from home, I've noticed a major communication problem. When you are
working with other people in the same office, you can notice unspoken things.
You can see when something you said is unpopular. If someone hates something
you said, its possible they will just keep quiet and avoid conflict instead of
telling you about it. So maybe everyone in the main office is slowly starting
to hate you and your ideas, and you don't find out till it has gotten pretty
far.

I know HN loves working remotely, and I do too. But you have to accept that
even if your office communicates well, no one is going to email you an update
of the general vibe in the office as it changes moment-to-moment.

~~~
chrisdbaldwin
Remote working requires VoIP, imo. I grew up collaborating with teams in
online games like WoW and Dota, and I learned that constant communication is
the only way to thrive when you can't see other humans face-to-face. It seems
ridiculous to be in a voice chat room with your coworkers at first, but it's
the best way to ensure everyone is on the same page and communicating. Written
communication, be it email, irc, or slack, is not enough for effective remote
teams.

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stevesearer
Increased working at home seems like it will be a good candidate to replace
open office plan workspaces.

I like to think of workplace design as moving back and forth between private
and open, each taking advantage of new technology when they become standard.

With good internet speeds and collaborative chat apps being ubiquitous, and
real estate costs soaring in the great tech hubs, work from home makes sense.

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dontstopnowbaby
I work from home, and it requires a lot of discipline especially when you have
to wake up for the early morning meeting then wake your kids up for school

~~~
kelvin0
Working from home for many years, here's my take: * Discipline to start your
day, but also to end it.

* You need to dedicate an area to be your office and come and leave it as if you had to commute to work.

* Go out and socialize! Especially for introverts, it's easy for us to neglect some social balance.

* At the end of the day, make sure you switch into activities which will 'switch' you off work and into something else (working out? Hobby? Kids homework?)

~~~
bcl
Good list. I would also add:

* Door on dedicated space.

* Pants. Or some other work like ritual to convince your brain you are 'going' to work.

~~~
majewsky
The last point sounds interesting. Gonna try that next time I do home office
(which I only do when really necessary, e.g. because of craftsmen appointments
at my home).

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LargeCompanies
What I loved when I worked from home was...

PROs

\- Wake up start working no shower or long drive in traffic

\- Can work anywhere I want either sitting or standing

\- Can take breaks anytime I want to go to doctor appt, go for a long
walk/hike at various parks close by

\- With my last two points I kept a healthier lifestyle .. didnt gain weight..
actually lost a little

\- Not a plus for me completely, but my output was crazy high and my co-
workers randomly gave me kudos for the work completed.

CONs

\- Pay was a lot less then say working at govt. office

\- Hours I worked due to the above was anytime between 10am & before I slept,
but I got things done & more.

The job noted above was great, but I went on a reality TV show and they
wouldn't work with me (show or job ... which i work remote so i didnt
understand their position.. possible ego thing). Now I am back working at an
office, fighting traffic and fighting the unhealthy aspects that come from
working at an office. Overall, I love what I am doing at my new job more then
the last (the actual work), so it's a trade off.

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sytse
"a certain numbers of hours in-person to maintain accountability"

At GitLab we think that accountability doesn't require to be in-person. We see
the value of regular 1:1 conversations with you manager but those can happen
in a video call.

~~~
heydonovan
Totally agree! The last company I worked for demanded we be in-person, even
though I was #1 in every single support metric (number of tickets resolved,
fastest response time, most bugs fixed per month, etc). I just don't get it.
If the work gets done, who cares if you're there or not?

~~~
brianwawok
I find the people who care the most provide the least value beyond showing up
themselves.

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teddyh
> _Once upon a time, working from home seemed a romantic and highly exclusive
> option for a luxury creative class._

Even this is not true; working from “home” used to be the _norm_. I ask you,
did a cobbler of old or a general store shopkeeper _commute_? No, they had
their home in the same building. It was only with industrialization that
commuting, i.e. not working from home, became the norm.

~~~
dredmorbius
I've been looking a great deal into technology, progress, change, etc., and
when you get down to it, the whole concept of the modern workplace is, well,
exceptionally _modern_.

Computers as a work classification didn't exist as such until the 1970s.
Office work was largely a novelty of the 20th century (though there were some
"clarks" prior to that). And as you note, manufactories, as places where
manufacturing, that is hand-making things, happened, outside the home, was a
creation of the 18th and especially 19th centuries.

Before that it was mostly farm and ag labour, some skilled trades, and a very
thin set of professional classes: law, medicine, military, clergy, and
government work.

Commuting required cars, not commonplace until after WWII. Before then, you
might have travelled on a streetcar or commuter rail, but _that_ dates only to
the 1880s. Prior to then, it was walking. Horse-drawn conveyance only if you
were quite wealthy. Otherwise it was "mind the gunk".

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mbrock
I don't really want to work at _home_ , because that just means sitting at my
kitchen table all day long... but I do appreciate working away from the
office, or at least having the flexibility to get away from there some days.

People get into these debates about working at home vs working at the office,
where some people like to be at home and some people like to be at the office,
but my primary desire is just simply to not be in the same place all day every
day.

 _That 's_ what depresses me, not any innate features of either an office or
my home. Both are nice enough places. I just want some damn variety and
freedom in my day to day life.

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eknight15
I work from home, but I spend half my time at coffee shops. Sometimes it's
hard to concentrate at home, but then there are times like this morning where
I've been in the zone. Wish I could nail down exactly what makes the
difference.

~~~
seivan
I've come close to trying to nail down the zone issue. Still not certain, but
it's related to decisions. The days I don't have to make an actual decision,
but to just solve the problems, things move faster.

But sometimes, when I'm uncertain of the design or whatever decision that
needs to be made, I fall out of the zone and into procrastination mode to
avoid making a decision that I feel might be wrong.

~~~
eknight15
Wow you may be on to something there.

I think that applies to me, especially in a small startup where there is a ton
to decide on (versus outlined tasks). I think when a task is already decided
on, I move quickly. Depending on my mood I think I get overwhelmed and
procrastinate when lots of decisions have to be made.

~~~
seivan
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analysis_paralysis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analysis_paralysis)

Do you also find "comfort" in only using Apple products?

------
slantedview
3 years working from home. There are pros and cons, but the pros for myself
and my company easily win the day. When I think of all the time - productive
and personal - that I and other people have wasted commuting, it hurts my
head.

Generally I think of working from home in terms of collaborative work and
execution. About 10% of what I do is collaborative while 90% is pure
execution. For collaborative work, there's no substitute for being in the same
room with other people. But when it comes to executing, which is most of what
we do, being in a private office at home allows me so much more productivity
than I ever have in a typical office. The social isolation that people mention
does occur occasionally, but there are ways to mitigate it.

Another thing to consider is that many teams or organizations are naturally
distributed across offices or companies already, including teams that work on
open source efforts. When it comes to this kind of work, collaboration must be
electronic and where you sit doesn't really matter. You may as well get some
more out of your day by skipping the commute.

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maxdemarzi
A trick that worked for me is getting a dog. They keep you on schedule and
give you breaks along your day (since they have to eat, go potty and go for
walks).

Plus they are better than rubber ducks.

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devishard
I sure hope the future of work is working in a location that balances the
needs of the worker and the team. For some teams that's an open office, for
some it's cubicles, for some it's completely remote, for some it's some
mixture.

But apparemtly, the future of work is claiming your work style is the future
of work.

------
song
I've worked from home for 6 years (with two years in between when I would come
to the office 3 days a week).

I never really had issue with the socialization but then I tend to travel a
lot (I travelled 7 months this year), and I tend to like meeting and talking
to people I don't know.

One thing is sure though is that it's harder to find the drive when working
from home. I'm usually more productive from home but if there's any external
event that causes me to be down, it's much easier to have unproductive days.
Overall, even with those unproductive days, I'm still more productive than in
an office (especially places with open plans).

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amelius
Sweden has a 6-hour workday, because studies have shown that is optimal.

Now I'm wondering how working at home influences that optimum.

~~~
seivan
This is a bit of a myth(?) that got out of hand quickly.

For _some_ government employees or agencies/body-shops _temporarily_ trying to
get squeeze some free PR out of it for government contracts. Not for private
employees, most certainly not S/W engineers.

On fun stuff, I get more done on 12 hours than I do on 6 hours, so not sure
what the variables are for the studies in question.

~~~
mamon
12 hours per day is only possible in short bursts, not sustainable in the long
term. However, I wonder how would that 6 hour work day compare to working just
3x12 hours per week. So, 3 really long days of work and 4 days of leisure time
in between. I know I would really like such schedule.

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transpy
For me, it's very clear how work/life balance is affected by working at home
vs. working at the office. If I work at the office all the time, my home
slowly becomes a mess: I'm always running late and I don't have time to clean
up and organize my home. I don't eat. I start hating everything. I'm less
productive at the office because I didn't eat and probably didn't sleep well.
I can't concentrate. Forced socialization makes me miserable. When I go home I
get depressed because I find a mess and I don't have energy to clean up.
However, if I work at home, I work very happily, ideas start to flow, I
concentrate, I take my breakfast when I need to, I take breaks not just to
drink coffee and do the small talk thing some like, but to clean up a bit my
home, eat, do errands, etc. If I stay at home, I'm happy, my home is clean and
organized, I eat, and my balance feels right.

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acd
I feel isolated when doing 100% remote work. Noting that isolation cell is a
form of prison punishment. For others it is total freedom to be able to work
remote from where ever they want which I understand. What I have found out
that I like to work with other real human coworkers. Have tried both working
in a normal office and 100% remote working and I prefer real colleagues. This
takes me to the analogy of the Bluezones where peopole live the longest in the
world one of the contributing factors to a long life besides eating healthy is
a strong community.

Checkout the concept of Bluezones here
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Zone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Zone)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Zone#/media/File:Vendiagr...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Zone#/media/File:Vendiagram.gif)

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jefurii
For me a coworking space is so much better than home. As long as they're not
talking directly to me, there's an energy I get from being around other people
who are intent on their work even if they're not on a team with me. At my
space there are other programmers; we can't all show our code toeach other but
we have great lunchtime talks, which is something I'd never get at home.

~~~
stevesearer
This is a great feature of coworking and definitely isn't just limited to
programming - I've had great learning moments in many different areas of my
work from talking to people not associated with my business:

1) how and why to set up a development environment

2) why to increase pricing on my product

3) various sales techniques

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joe563323
> Working from home for me was likely slowly sliding into a deep depression
> with no one to talk to.
    
    
          Thats why Working From Home is very productive. You dont get disturbed by others and can get a lot done.

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mbfg
as long as there are managers, there will always be a a high percentage of
'work in the office' situations.

People always talk about the future work environment from a rational point of
view. That is not how business works.

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wslh
I also wonder how this will impact the real estate market in a distant future.

~~~
rasengan
I noticed a lot of buildings here converting from once commercial to now
residential and renting at 2x the price that it once was when commercial (per
square foot/month price).

Edit: Here is some info in an older 2013 article:
[http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-06-18/king-of-
do...](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-06-18/king-of-down-market-
offices-bets-on-rentals-real-estate)

------
newman314
I love working from home but it makes problem solving some times a lot harder.
Issues that can be dealt with by all going into a room for a while now take
much longer over other mediums.

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pinaceae
the majority of marriages get started in the workplace. a safe place to get to
know each other, without the pressure of dating. working together teaches you
a lot about a person.

take the social cost into account. not everyone excels in the dating scene.

