December 29, 2010 at 10:21 am
I haven't worked in an office in some time, but I do remember a constant stream of interruptions. An hour of time without someone talking to you was rare, and I assume that the situation is similar with many knowledge workers today.
Depending on the household, there can be interruptions when working from home as well. OK, how many work from homers have ever been intently studying a buggy piece of T-SQL for an hour, and just when you're on the brink of forming a solution to the problem in your head, in walks a five year old who wants new batteries in her Barbie Glam Convertible or a spouse who asks you to please help open a jar of pickles and take out the trash? 😛
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho
December 29, 2010 at 11:18 am
I have been working at home for more than 10 years now and love it. I worked for IBM for 8 years from home and was on of IBM's top performers.
I will say that working from home has some pros and cons.
Pros
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Flexibility - need to run an errand just do it.
Autonomy - no one bugging you
Focus - very few interruptions. This took some training but sometimes it is nice to have a kid come in and say "I love you dad".
Cons
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Always working or have the potential to work. Work life balance gets out of whack.
Isolation - it is hard when at times you just need people around to chat with about an issue your having.
OutSourcing - everyone thinks it can be done cheaper somewhere else. Today in the US there are excellent developers willing to take less money to work and in the so called "low cost" countries their pay is going up. I believe the scale is tipping back to the US a bit. Also the delivery is not as good in the low cost countries. Yes they have some excellent programmers but they just don't understand the details of our business/economic environment so they have to learn so much before they can do anything.
Anyway, I love working from home but I would take a job in an office if I had to. Thankfully I don't. 😀
JD
December 29, 2010 at 12:05 pm
Personally, I love working from home. While i do not have a declared "Office" area, no one else is home during that time. I have found that my productivity skyrockets as I am able to be more focused.
But I do value the office time for many of the reasons already stated. I just believe a good mix of office and working from home increases my overall productivity and value.
December 29, 2010 at 12:16 pm
Mike B in AK (12/29/2010)
. . . a good mix of office and working from home increases my overall productivity and value.
Which is why I'd love to be able to work from home just one day a week - then I could plan ahead and dedicate that day to a big project, and use my office time to interact with others.
December 29, 2010 at 3:58 pm
jay holovacs (12/29/2010)
Don't forget: any job that can be done from home can be done from a 'low cost country'
I'd highly disagree with this. Just because it can be done from home most of the time, does not mean it can always be done. Think DR? Think face to face meetings. They can be conquered over time from another country, but for ad hoc items, you might like the ability to pull someone together next week for a day. That's not likely to happen often from the other side of the world or even another country.
December 29, 2010 at 4:27 pm
I think the whole "can be done cheaper in a low cost country" is a case of perception vs reality. The problem comes when it is the perception of the decision makers and you can bet your sweet life any metrics will be skewed in favour of proving the point.
I've seen applications out-sourced and developed to spec that merely prooved that the spec was either wrong or missed out large and crucial considerations.
There is a wonderful article on "technical debt" that explains that when a green field development project takes place that project will be done faster simply because it hasn't inherited any baggage from legacy systems. The pressure to complete the project means that there will be quite a few loose ends floating around. The next project is slower because of those loose ends and pressures of time mean that compromises are made and even more loose ends result and so on ad infinitum until the business perceives the need for a total green field development.
The problem comes is if that greenfield development was outsourced. The management perception will be that the project was delivered on time and to budget and that subsequent developments weren't as good. The reality is that the project was only delivered on time and to budget because horrendous compromises were made.
December 29, 2010 at 5:21 pm
Here here Mr. Poole great points. I have blogged extensively about this very topic.
December 30, 2010 at 4:24 am
Dream on guys. This will never be adopted wholesale in this business simply because most managers are against people working from home. There are five main reasons for this:
1. They can audit your start and finish time at work easier if they see you come and go. This is not as easy for them to do if you are offsite.
2. They can find/interupt you anytime they need to by simply walking into your office/cubicle. Contacting you and talking to you offsite over the phone is more difficult for them, particularly in emergencies.
3. They tend to be very cynical about your time you are putting in if you are offsite. This is a very common complaint I hear from managers.
4. Manager's call meetings all the time and many of them like face time in a conference room.
5. They like their teams physically together in one office. Everyone working from home makes it more difficult for them to communicate to the team as whole.
"Technology is a weird thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other. ...:-D"
December 30, 2010 at 7:06 am
Steve Jones - SSC Editor (12/29/2010)
jay holovacs (12/29/2010)
Don't forget: any job that can be done from home can be done from a 'low cost country'I'd highly disagree with this. Just because it can be done from home most of the time, does not mean it can always be done. Think DR? Think face to face meetings. They can be conquered over time from another country, but for ad hoc items, you might like the ability to pull someone together next week for a day. That's not likely to happen often from the other side of the world or even another country.
Outsourcing doesnt necessarily have to be from another country. For example, companies on the west coast may decide that they can hire remote employees living only a few hours drive away for 30% less than the local talent. In some cases, employees who have the option to remote from home will actually move out of state soon afterward in order to take advantage of lower costs of living or be closer to their extended family, so they're no longer local talent at that point.
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho
December 30, 2010 at 8:16 am
Eric Russell 13013 (12/30/2010)
Steve Jones - SSC Editor (12/29/2010)
jay holovacs (12/29/2010)
Don't forget: any job that can be done from home can be done from a 'low cost country'I'd highly disagree with this. Just because it can be done from home most of the time, does not mean it can always be done. Think DR? Think face to face meetings. They can be conquered over time from another country, but for ad hoc items, you might like the ability to pull someone together next week for a day. That's not likely to happen often from the other side of the world or even another country.
Outsourcing doesnt necessarily have to be from another country. For example, companies on the west coast may decide that they can hire remote employees living only a few hours drive away for 30% less than the local talent. In some cases, employees who have the option to remote from home will actually move out of state soon afterward in order to take advantage of lower costs of living or be closer to their extended family, so they're no longer local talent at that point.
Outsourcing and Offshoring are two different things. It's the offshoring to countries like India that is killing the American jobs in the IT industry here. I see evidence of this every day and I believe that was what Jay was referring to. 😀
"Technology is a weird thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other. ...:-D"
December 30, 2010 at 11:24 pm
I have seen both places to be productive. I prefer a good mix between both environments. That way some face-to-face resolution can be done. Also, by working from home there would be the more productive moments without interruption.
Jason...AKA CirqueDeSQLeil
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January 3, 2011 at 8:23 am
CirquedeSQLeil (12/30/2010)
I have seen both places to be productive. I prefer a good mix between both environments. That way some face-to-face resolution can be done. Also, by working from home there would be the more productive moments without interruption.
I've found that during long stretches of development or support, a home office is just as good as a corporate office cube, but during the design phase of the project and initial deployment, it's beneficial to have face to face contact between the team. However, it can be effectively done either way; it depends on factors like the quality of the project specifications, quality of the VPN connection, time management skills, and level of communication between the team. During those crunch weeks where the team is working 50+ hours, we may work a full day at the office, go home and break for a couple of hours and dinner, and then work remotely from the home office into the night.
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho
December 7, 2015 at 2:45 am
I find that I am more productive at home but as long as there are regular face-to-face meetings.
Regular does not mean every week but every month or so. Also these face-to-face meetings can be tagged onto client visits etc.
As for interruptions, I never got/get interrupted at home. Unless it is an emergency and then I would have been interrupted by emails and calls anyway. The worst interruptions I get when working from home are delivery of cups of tea (many thanks kids :Wow:) and notification that a freshly made lunch is on the side (huge thanks Mrs V. :kiss:). My wife is smart enough to know, almost literally, which side the bread is buttered as do my children (also they learned very quickly to appreciate that my time is not my own when I am working).
Gaz
-- Stop your grinnin' and drop your linen...they're everywhere!!!
December 7, 2015 at 5:46 am
I work from home now. Not sure how long the gig is going to last. Started as a contractor actually making more money, took the fulltime job taking less to secure the gig. After that, I've been plasterd with 60-80 hour work weeks often on schedules I can't dictate. Nothing like telling a boss, I have to leave for 45 minutes to get my kiddo from daycare, I can't be in this meeting at 7:00 eastern.
There is a plus side as some mentioned about no commute time.
I think what may not have been mentioned is this is actually better for society. Taking people off the roads reduces traffic burdens and helps the environment. If you care about those things, that is a positive.
Face time is overrated. Virtual meetings and presentations can be handled just fine online. Yes, I'm aware anything done here can be done there. But they'll put things over there if they want in office or remote.
December 7, 2015 at 5:57 am
etm1109 (12/7/2015)
...Face time is overrated. Virtual meetings and presentations can be handled just fine online...
I think that most meetings can be virtual but there are some that benefit from being in the same room. Identifying which require a physical presence isn't always easy but most of the time it is.
Gaz
-- Stop your grinnin' and drop your linen...they're everywhere!!!
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