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As someone self-employed at home, I must say: it's easy to have a grass-is-greener-on-other-side-of-the-fence feeling. Open office plans are awful, but the opti

As someone self-employed at home, I must say: it's easy to have a grass-is-greener-on-other-side-of-the-fence feeling. Open office plans are awful, but the options aren't only open-office or work-from-home. There's also better office designs… For that matter, there are various setups to working from home, some that work well, and some that lead to WELL DAMNIT WHY AM I WASTING TIME REPLYING TO SOME BS ON HACKER NEWS‽

coldtea 9y ago
>Open office plans are awful, but the options aren't only open-office or work-from-home. In many companies, they are. And even with "better office designs" there's also the daily commute.
- sixothree 9y ago
  Even with my 15 minute commute each way I feel like that's a huge chunk of my life wasted. Still though. I just turned down a job paying more that would have required me to work from home.
- quadrangle 9y ago
  Long daily commutes in single-occupancy motor vehicles are on the short list of sources of society's greatest miseries, problems, and failures. There are ways to make commutes meaningful, like a beautiful bike ride along the river or a couple mile walk or carpooling with friends or good podcast/audio-book/music during a drive… but even with all this, long commutes eat up so much of life. Add in the insanely massive list of ills caused by car-centric life and infrastructure… Probably the right balance is something like working one or two days a week in an office with appropriate flexibility on how to use the space. I dunno. Meanwhile, people should put much higher priority on living close to work, above most other considerations about where to live.
christophilus 9y ago
I've worked on-site in my own private office, in cubicle farms, in open office plans, and (most recently) 100% from home... I vastly prefer my current situation. Subjectively, I feel more productive, though that's almost impossible to verify objectively. Here are my "must haves" to be successful working from home: - A private office, especially if you have others in the house - Being "away at the office" (e.g. uninterruptible) in the eyes of your family during work hours - Healthy social outlets - The ability to focus by turning off slack/phone/email for chunks of time without suspicion - Not being the only (or one of a minority of) remote worker(s) - A self-motivating, disciplined personality - Good communication skills, and regular upward communication (e.g. showing/telling your boss what you did)
- quadrangle 9y ago
  Great list! Honestly, I think my issues are more about being self-employed than about office vs home. If I just went to my own office away from home and worked alone, that wouldn't change everything. If I had set hours that I knew coworkers were online and we interacted in ways that focused on all of us helping one another maximize productivity, that set up would work well even at home.
Cpoll 9y ago
> WELL DAMNIT WHY AM I WASTING TIME REPLYING TO SOME BS ON HACKER NEWS‽ This isn't only a work-from-home affliction.
- quadrangle 9y ago
  I learned this when, to my shock, friends with normal day-jobs chatted with me online during their work days. Still seems weird and wrong to me.

coldtea 9y ago

>Open office plans are awful, but the options aren't only open-office or work-from-home. In many companies, they are. And even with "better office designs" there's also the daily commute.

sixothree 9y ago
Even with my 15 minute commute each way I feel like that's a huge chunk of my life wasted. Still though. I just turned down a job paying more that would have required me to work from home.
quadrangle 9y ago
Long daily commutes in single-occupancy motor vehicles are on the short list of sources of society's greatest miseries, problems, and failures. There are ways to make commutes meaningful, like a beautiful bike ride along the river or a couple mile walk or carpooling with friends or good podcast/audio-book/music during a drive… but even with all this, long commutes eat up so much of life. Add in the insanely massive list of ills caused by car-centric life and infrastructure… Probably the right balance is something like working one or two days a week in an office with appropriate flexibility on how to use the space. I dunno. Meanwhile, people should put much higher priority on living close to work, above most other considerations about where to live.

christophilus 9y ago

I've worked on-site in my own private office, in cubicle farms, in open office plans, and (most recently) 100% from home... I vastly prefer my current situation. Subjectively, I feel more productive, though that's almost impossible to verify objectively. Here are my "must haves" to be successful working from home: - A private office, especially if you have others in the house - Being "away at the office" (e.g. uninterruptible) in the eyes of your family during work hours - Healthy social outlets - The ability to focus by turning off slack/phone/email for chunks of time without suspicion - Not being the only (or one of a minority of) remote worker(s) - A self-motivating, disciplined personality - Good communication skills, and regular upward communication (e.g. showing/telling your boss what you did)

quadrangle 9y ago
Great list! Honestly, I think my issues are more about being self-employed than about office vs home. If I just went to my own office away from home and worked alone, that wouldn't change everything. If I had set hours that I knew coworkers were online and we interacted in ways that focused on all of us helping one another maximize productivity, that set up would work well even at home.

Cpoll 9y ago

> WELL DAMNIT WHY AM I WASTING TIME REPLYING TO SOME BS ON HACKER NEWS‽ This isn't only a work-from-home affliction.

quadrangle 9y ago
I learned this when, to my shock, friends with normal day-jobs chatted with me online during their work days. Still seems weird and wrong to me.