My boss and I sit in adjacent cubicles and we often use IM for that exact reason. There are differences between working in an office all together and working r

My boss and I sit in adjacent cubicles and we often use IM for that exact reason. There are differences between working in an office all together and working remotely, and there are definite benefits to being in person, no matter what anyone says, but I've worked off-site for roughly half my career, and I am able to be very effective doing so. The only downside I've found is from being off-site is that I miss being around people more, so when I was working off-site, I started doing a lot more volunteer stuff that became a little more of a burden when I started back in the office with the concomitant loss of 1.5-2 hours a day or so in free time. In general, I prefer to work in an office, but my company is moving to the dreaded "open office" plan in about a month, and it's already caused me a lot of stress because I have a hard enough time blocking out distractions in a cubicle. I'm not looking forward to seeing what it's going to be like, but I fully expect to be exercising whatever options are available for working off-site.