Alone Time

  • Working at home as a contract consultant for many years, I found my effectiveness had ebbs and flows. But this is also true working on-site at work. I definitely liked being home for lunch every day, and already being home when it was time to quit. Such is not my current situation, as I go to a different office a couple days a week. That office is especially grateful, so working from home doesn't work out as much on this job. I also don't have the same at-home office environment I once had. Children have taken over the space(s) once occupied by my former office equipment. It is now all piled up in storage.

    Heh. Life.

  • I find that my productivity goes up a LOT when I am not interrrupted from work. I share an office right now, and although I really like my office-mate, when she isn't here, the distractions are fewer and I get to work much more deeply.

    At one point, I tried to close the door to my office and wrote 'Come In' on a post-it note on the door. I was told that the office is not a closed-door environment and I wasn't to close the door. I talked about working from home and was told that when people say that they are working from home, they are not really working at all.

    I have told people that I am busy, and they generally go away. But I don't want to seem like a grouch. Especially to the person sharing my office.

    I think that alone time promotes productivity - and so does the larger distance between me and my micromanaging bosses. 😀

    Mia

    I have come to the conclusion that the top man has one principle responsibility: to provide an atmosphere in which creative mavericks can do useful work.
    -- David M. Ogilvy

  • Robert Hermsen (12/10/2008)


    I especially like the upgrading to wife and family 2.0

    I agree, that shows real committment to his work!

    :hehe:

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    "stewsterl 80804 (10/16/2009)I guess when you stop and try to understand the solution provided you not only learn, but save yourself some headaches when you need to make any slight changes."

  • Or other issues.

  • On days I've worked from home my productivity goes way up.

    Unfortunately, the company I currently work for, although great in many respects, takes the view that working from home is perk and won't allow it to be done regularly.

    I'm still trying to convince them that when I say I'm working from home, I really am working from home.

    Derek

  • there is actually something I forget to mention about my working at home.

    I use a free service called rescue time to monitor how much work I'm actually doing

    www.rescuetime.com

    it is really awesome, and helps me make sure that i'm give the company I contract to a fair deal.

    it records the time you spend in each window/application, and then you can tag the applications as work or other things

    it then shows graphs of how much time you spent at your computer, and how much was work vs. other

    Companies can sign up and monitor employees that way.

    Maybe if your company used this, they would have evidence for you saying that you do in fact work at home.

    if you don't have the time to do it right, when will you have the time to do it over ?

  • Matthew Joughin (12/11/2008)


    I use a free service called rescue time to monitor how much work I'm actually doing

    www.rescuetime.com

    it is really awesome, and helps me make sure that i'm give the company I contract to a fair deal.

    it records the time you spend in each window/application, and then you can tag the applications as work or other things

    it then shows graphs of how much time you spent at your computer, and how much was work vs. other

    Companies can sign up and monitor employees that way.

    Maybe if your company used this, they would have evidence for you saying that you do in fact work at home.

    Hey, that's pretty cool! I wish I'd know about this 5 years ago, when I was working on multiple contracts. I probably spent 2 hours a week just keeping track of how much time I spent on each project.

  • Carla Wilson (12/11/2008)


    Matthew Joughin (12/11/2008)


    I use a free service called rescue time to monitor how much work I'm actually doing

    www.rescuetime.com

    it is really awesome, and helps me make sure that i'm give the company I contract to a fair deal.

    it records the time you spend in each window/application, and then you can tag the applications as work or other things

    it then shows graphs of how much time you spent at your computer, and how much was work vs. other

    Companies can sign up and monitor employees that way.

    Maybe if your company used this, they would have evidence for you saying that you do in fact work at home.

    Hey, that's pretty cool! I wish I'd know about this 5 years ago, when I was working on multiple contracts. I probably spent 2 hours a week just keeping track of how much time I spent on each project.

    I second that, I'm definitely going to check out the individual version (since I'm cheap) and see whether I like it or not. It better tell me I'm being productive, or . . . 😉

    ---------------------------------------------------------
    How best to post your question[/url]
    How to post performance problems[/url]
    Tally Table:What it is and how it replaces a loop[/url]

    "stewsterl 80804 (10/16/2009)I guess when you stop and try to understand the solution provided you not only learn, but save yourself some headaches when you need to make any slight changes."

  • I wish i could use it. The whole logging of locations and security unkowns is a showstopper unfortunatley. I wish it was a stand alone app. I may have to look into something like that or creating on. I used to have a time tracking app\db i created which worked well. I added all of my activities and it auto calculated durations. WOrked well.

  • Yeah, when I got to thinking about it, it would only be able to tell that I was using my program editor, not which files (ie. project folder) I was editing. Still interested in alternatives.

  • "'half-empty glass or a half-full one'. Reading that quote certainly made me realize I was looking at things the wrong way."

    Steve, I think you are still looking at it wrong. When working from home the glass is always empty, but hopefully there is more beer/refreshment in the fridge.:)

    <><
    Livin' down on the cube farm. Left, left, then a right.

  • Ha, I rarely drink at home. It's all you guys at TechEd and Pass that get me into trouble!

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