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Biggest upsides (+) along with flipsides (-) of working at home in my experience: ------------ +: Get to define your own hours for the most part -: Convince

Biggest upsides (+) along with flipsides (-) of working at home in my experience: ------------ +: Get to define your own hours for the most part -: Convince your partner and friends these hours are real and you're not just making them up as an excuse to ignore them ------------ +: Can work in your pajamas -: End up looking like a bum when someone swings by ------------ +: Get to spend more time with the kids -: Young kids (mine are 1.5 and 3yrs) have absolutely no respect for what you're doing (my boys seem to have some sort of sixth sense to tell when I'm debugging & they'll have none of it) ------------ +: Team discussions and communication tend to have more thought and planning put into them -: Some simple questions/coordination become games of phone tag and far-more drawn out then necessary ------------ +: No commute -: Home doesn't feel as relaxing when you've been working in it all day ------------ For me, ideally there would be a happy balance. Maybe one and a half office days a week and the rest from home. I do mostly enjoy working from home.

majani 9y ago
This is a more balanced view of work from home. I'd add that loneliness is a big minus from my experience.
- animal531 9y ago
  This is a big problem when you're by yourself. I tried some indie game dev, and although I loved the code and what I was doing it meant that I was sitting at home by myself 24/7 with no human interaction. I'm just not social/agreeable enough to easily make friends or talk to strangers in random locations. At least at work, even though the work is often boring and I'm mostly working the whole day I still get to have some random interactions on a daily basis.
coldtea 9y ago
All the "working from home" negatives are soft issues -- things that can change with the right mindset/effort on your part (dressing properly, respect from spouses/kids, coordination, etc). The "work at office" negatives on the other hand are hard limits or require change of ways of doing business for the whole company -- commuting, meetings, fixed hours.
- alexanderdmitri 9y ago
  I largely agree. The way you put it makes me think of the trade-offs when choosing between configuration or convention.

majani 9y ago

This is a more balanced view of work from home. I'd add that loneliness is a big minus from my experience.

animal531 9y ago
This is a big problem when you're by yourself. I tried some indie game dev, and although I loved the code and what I was doing it meant that I was sitting at home by myself 24/7 with no human interaction. I'm just not social/agreeable enough to easily make friends or talk to strangers in random locations. At least at work, even though the work is often boring and I'm mostly working the whole day I still get to have some random interactions on a daily basis.

coldtea 9y ago

All the "working from home" negatives are soft issues -- things that can change with the right mindset/effort on your part (dressing properly, respect from spouses/kids, coordination, etc). The "work at office" negatives on the other hand are hard limits or require change of ways of doing business for the whole company -- commuting, meetings, fixed hours.

alexanderdmitri 9y ago
I largely agree. The way you put it makes me think of the trade-offs when choosing between configuration or convention.