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>Do these talented people really need to be in an office in Silicon Valley, sitting opposite you, tapping away on their keybosrds with their headphones on to as

by lsc 12y ago

>Do these talented people really need to be in an office in Silicon Valley, sitting opposite you, tapping away on their keybosrds with their headphones on to as productive or better than me or you? It really depends on the person. I know for me? I'm vastly more productive when I'm trying to ignore the other people in the room and work. For me? It's at least in part about immediate and constant social pressure. That, and showing off. I would be super embarrassed, say, if a co-worker noticed me reading HN during work hours. How come I haven't been able to implement something remote for this? Could you rig up webcams or telepresence bots to do the same thing? I don't know. Working remote? oh well, I just won't put that hour on my timesheet. I mean, I'm honest about my hours, but in the last few remote situations I was in, I just didn't put in the hours. Now, not everyone is like this. I know many people that are vastly more productive when alone, in fact the most productive individual contributor technical people I know are vastly more productive alone. But for me, my own faults and weaknesses line up such that I need an office. I need that social pressure keeping me on track. The difference in productivity is vast; enough, at least, to justify significant rent and some commute time.

junto 12y ago
I understand this too. I prefer to rent a desk in a co-working space rather than work from home. Hence I'm still remote, but I don't work in "THE office" nor "at home".
- lsc 12y ago
  How has the co-working space worked for you as far as social pressure goes? Being the only person from my company in a co-working space hasn't worked well for me, but I've mostly only used the hacker dojo, which is perhaps a little bit too social for what I need? As far as I can tell, I need people that are working on the same project as I am. I need that feeling that I'm betraying or failing those people if I'm not working on the thing I'm supposed to be working on. (why don't I get this with remote work? I should. it's irrational, but those feelings seem to only "work" in person.) On a more rational level, I can, and will say "Hey, I'm distracted. Can someone put me back on track?" and that seems to work better in person than doing the same in IRC.
  - junto 12y ago
    I speak to people in "the office" via Skype regularly throughout the day. I have a daily 10 minute team stand-up via conference call (our team has a good microphone in the main office). My code check-ins are there for everyone to see. If there was a lack of them, it would be pretty obvious that I was not pulling my weight. The people in my co-working space are heads down busy. I go for lunch with some of them, but other than that, there isn't that much chit-chat whilst we sit at our desks and work. That's not to say that I'm never distracted or procrastinating. However, the cause of my procrastination is the same regardless of environment. Whether it is my old corporate cube environment (surrounded by by co-workers), my co-working space (surrounded by random people working), and my home office (surrounded by my cat) the root cause is that the work is uninteresting and uninspiring. A change of project is the best way to change that. A new feature rather than support another. A walk around the block and some fresh air a short term fix.
    - lsc 12y ago
      >That's not to say that I'm never distracted or procrastinating. However, the cause of my procrastination is the same regardless of environment. Whether it is my old corporate cube environment (surrounded by by co-workers), my co-working space (surrounded by random people working), and my home office (surrounded by my cat) the root cause is that the work is uninteresting and uninspiring. A change of project is the best way to change that. A new feature rather than support another. A walk around the block and some fresh air a short term fix. Yeah, for me? that usually doesn't work. I mean, I switch tasks and goals often, but that doesn't help me focus, usually, at least not long enough to accomplish something. Work is one of those things that is less immediately satisfying than, say, hacker news, games, or a billion other distractions, but work is vastly more satisfying when I accomplish something. For me? it takes a lot of effort and tricks to get myself to focus long enough to finish something, but when I do? it's incredibly rewarding. Maybe I need to break up my tasks into smaller chunks? But a lot of my work is support-type work, where it's already in smallish chunks. But... yeah. I suppose other people are better able to focus on that further-out reward than I am. Maybe it's just me? Maybe it's that I'm coming down off of a long period of being less than productive? Either way, I think that personally, I'm way better off showing up.

by lsc 12y ago

junto 12y ago

I understand this too. I prefer to rent a desk in a co-working space rather than work from home. Hence I'm still remote, but I don't work in "THE office" nor "at home".

lsc 12y ago
How has the co-working space worked for you as far as social pressure goes? Being the only person from my company in a co-working space hasn't worked well for me, but I've mostly only used the hacker dojo, which is perhaps a little bit too social for what I need? As far as I can tell, I need people that are working on the same project as I am. I need that feeling that I'm betraying or failing those people if I'm not working on the thing I'm supposed to be working on. (why don't I get this with remote work? I should. it's irrational, but those feelings seem to only "work" in person.) On a more rational level, I can, and will say "Hey, I'm distracted. Can someone put me back on track?" and that seems to work better in person than doing the same in IRC.
- junto 12y ago
  I speak to people in "the office" via Skype regularly throughout the day. I have a daily 10 minute team stand-up via conference call (our team has a good microphone in the main office). My code check-ins are there for everyone to see. If there was a lack of them, it would be pretty obvious that I was not pulling my weight. The people in my co-working space are heads down busy. I go for lunch with some of them, but other than that, there isn't that much chit-chat whilst we sit at our desks and work. That's not to say that I'm never distracted or procrastinating. However, the cause of my procrastination is the same regardless of environment. Whether it is my old corporate cube environment (surrounded by by co-workers), my co-working space (surrounded by random people working), and my home office (surrounded by my cat) the root cause is that the work is uninteresting and uninspiring. A change of project is the best way to change that. A new feature rather than support another. A walk around the block and some fresh air a short term fix.
  - lsc 12y ago
    >That's not to say that I'm never distracted or procrastinating. However, the cause of my procrastination is the same regardless of environment. Whether it is my old corporate cube environment (surrounded by by co-workers), my co-working space (surrounded by random people working), and my home office (surrounded by my cat) the root cause is that the work is uninteresting and uninspiring. A change of project is the best way to change that. A new feature rather than support another. A walk around the block and some fresh air a short term fix. Yeah, for me? that usually doesn't work. I mean, I switch tasks and goals often, but that doesn't help me focus, usually, at least not long enough to accomplish something. Work is one of those things that is less immediately satisfying than, say, hacker news, games, or a billion other distractions, but work is vastly more satisfying when I accomplish something. For me? it takes a lot of effort and tricks to get myself to focus long enough to finish something, but when I do? it's incredibly rewarding. Maybe I need to break up my tasks into smaller chunks? But a lot of my work is support-type work, where it's already in smallish chunks. But... yeah. I suppose other people are better able to focus on that further-out reward than I am. Maybe it's just me? Maybe it's that I'm coming down off of a long period of being less than productive? Either way, I think that personally, I'm way better off showing up.