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One of the interesting things I realized when I went back to the office and then again back to remote was just how much time is wasted in the office…but it feel

One of the interesting things I realized when I went back to the office and then again back to remote was just how much time is wasted in the office…but it feels like you are working. If I spend 8-9 hours in the office I feel like I deserve a reward. Even if I did nothing I endured being in an office. At home the only measurement I have is my output and depending on the day and how many meetings I have it can feel like I didn’t do much.

bamboozled 4y ago
I usually do interesting things when WFH home , then decide it’s time to work. Sit at a computer (which I find boring in itself after a morning of hiking) then waste time on YouTube watching hiking videos for 3 hours before I start work. I just think work is a chore and procrastination is easy. No matter where your ass is located. Maybe the wasting time part is actually part of work. I’ve learned to just accept that. Planning my time in advance means I waste less time but I don’t always bother doing it.
- pcthrowaway 4y ago
  When I was in office, we were wasting time there too[1]. Just in different ways. Mainly socializing with coworkers, chatting by the watercooler, talking about our families/friends/social events, reading hacker news(?[2]), going for walks, fucking around with the coffee machine, going for walks with coworkers to get coffee, going to the bathroom 10 times a day to check my phone (I also have Crohn's so this isn't unheard of for me to do outside of procrastination reasons), and lots more captive meetings with little value (where I could otherwise be working during the meeting while WFH). During a typical 8 hour day in office I might only get 2-3 hours of actual work done. It wasn't until transitioning to WFH that I realized it's actually incredibly hard to get even 6 hours of productive work done in a day. [1]: https://xkcd.com/303/ https://xkcd.com/303/ [2]: Arguably there is still some career-related learning happening on hacker news
  - 331c8c71 4y ago
    I personally don't consider socializing with co-workers is necessarily "waste" and a negative factor on productivity. It depends... Currently working in a place with very few formal meetings so the experience might be atypical.
    - pcthrowaway 4y ago
      I mean, I agree, but when you WFH you don't really socialize the same way. A little bit of chit chat between breaks in meetings maybe, but there's no equivalent of "stand around in the kitchen talking about hobbies"
      - nicolas_t 4y ago
        I've worked from home remotely most of my carrer and I have actually spent quite a bit of time talking about hobbies with my coworkers. Even with my current coworkers, one of them is a tea afficionado and we have exchanged teas we like, one has similar taste in computer games (point and clicks) and we talk about this, another's husband has similar taste in novels and we have a semi unofficial book club and, finally, we have an actual book club within the company... So, at least in my experience, socialising like this is entirely possible.

bamboozled 4y ago

I usually do interesting things when WFH home , then decide it’s time to work. Sit at a computer (which I find boring in itself after a morning of hiking) then waste time on YouTube watching hiking videos for 3 hours before I start work. I just think work is a chore and procrastination is easy. No matter where your ass is located. Maybe the wasting time part is actually part of work. I’ve learned to just accept that. Planning my time in advance means I waste less time but I don’t always bother doing it.

pcthrowaway 4y ago
When I was in office, we were wasting time there too[1]. Just in different ways. Mainly socializing with coworkers, chatting by the watercooler, talking about our families/friends/social events, reading hacker news(?[2]), going for walks, fucking around with the coffee machine, going for walks with coworkers to get coffee, going to the bathroom 10 times a day to check my phone (I also have Crohn's so this isn't unheard of for me to do outside of procrastination reasons), and lots more captive meetings with little value (where I could otherwise be working during the meeting while WFH). During a typical 8 hour day in office I might only get 2-3 hours of actual work done. It wasn't until transitioning to WFH that I realized it's actually incredibly hard to get even 6 hours of productive work done in a day. [1]: https://xkcd.com/303/ https://xkcd.com/303/ [2]: Arguably there is still some career-related learning happening on hacker news
- 331c8c71 4y ago
  I personally don't consider socializing with co-workers is necessarily "waste" and a negative factor on productivity. It depends... Currently working in a place with very few formal meetings so the experience might be atypical.
  - pcthrowaway 4y ago
    I mean, I agree, but when you WFH you don't really socialize the same way. A little bit of chit chat between breaks in meetings maybe, but there's no equivalent of "stand around in the kitchen talking about hobbies"
    - nicolas_t 4y ago
      I've worked from home remotely most of my carrer and I have actually spent quite a bit of time talking about hobbies with my coworkers. Even with my current coworkers, one of them is a tea afficionado and we have exchanged teas we like, one has similar taste in computer games (point and clicks) and we talk about this, another's husband has similar taste in novels and we have a semi unofficial book club and, finally, we have an actual book club within the company... So, at least in my experience, socialising like this is entirely possible.