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Ask Slashdot: What Are Your Tips For Working From Home?
ichard writes "In a couple of months I'm going to start working from home full-time. I've been thinking about the obvious things like workspace ergonomics, but I'm sure there are more subtle considerations involved in a zero-minute commute. What are other Slashdot readers' experiences and recommendations for working from home? How do you stay focused and motivated?"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co_DNpTMKXk
If you don't have an office in your home, get a different job. Close the door and make sure your spouse/family knows that between XX:XX and XX:XX hours, you're working, you're not home.
It takes some getting used to...but they'll get it eventually. Just keep the door closed.
For me, the most important thing was to still have a morning routine. I still showered, had breakfast, got dressed, etc. Casual business attire isn't necessary, but you need something more than pajamas to work in all day. When your morning routine is done, you know it's time to work. It still gives your brain a launching-point for the day.
You need something to make you get out of the house and walk 20 minutes at least twice a day. Get a little dog. I've 2 Bichon Frieze and without them I would need surgery to get off my computer chair.
1000s Warcraft Gold while you sleep
Seriously, don't have a significant other or children at home. It's my biggest hurdle. I used to be all about working from home, but trying it after having a daughter means "Daddy's trying to do work" turns into "Yay! Daddy's Home!!! Let's bug him ALL DAY!".
If I got a job that required working from home, I'd probably build a small shed in the backyard with insulation, power, and ethernet and just work out there so they're less likely to bust in every 5 minutes or be screaming down the hall or whatever.
-=JML=-
Your wife and/or kids will not be able to understand that working hours mean you are unavailable. You will have to be a jerk to try to enforce your working hours, leading to the dumbest fights you've ever been in. Like the classic - "Why didn't you fold some laundry when you were on the phone?" That you were trying to concentrate on your biggest client is not an acceptable excuse.
Rent yourself a storage closet up the block, steal some wifi, and build yourself an office 3 minutes from home. AND DON'T TELL THEM WHERE YOU ARE.
If you cna have a home office, with no TV or distractions, as you'll get nothing done. Also if you're wire/significant other has a job, keep the same work hours as to not b disturbed when you need to get work done.
...there's not enough customers, and I have to cash out to my GF.
(been working from home for 6 years...)
You don't realize how much you walk during the day until your office is 20 feet from your bedroom. I find it helps immensely to take a quick walk in the morning, lunchtime, and after work to clear my head. Also... you don't realize how much "de briefing" you go through on your drive home. You still need to do that instead of jumping right into family/kid/dinner time. Maybe not as long, but something to detox...
And lastly, if you've got wife/kids at home, it will be an adjustment for *everyone* and can take a long (6mo - 1yr) to get used to.
Make sure you know what you're going to do when your VPN or phone line or cell phone fails. It doesn't happen to me too often (thankfully I've got two different ways of connecting to my companies VPN) but when it does it's a PITA. You need a plan for whether you phone in and take the rest of the day off or drive in to the local branch office and use the backbone network there.
You also need a very reliable ISP. My lovely ISP in Aberdeen, Scotland are fantastic, when BT make my ADSL break Internet for Business are straight on to them. I get a nice warm body to speak to that speaks English and addresses me by first name - I don't get some random call centre in the Sub-Continent.
Sigs. We don't need no steenking sigs.
And only use it for your job. When you're in it, you are "at work". I'll "work from home" evenings or weekends at my kitchen table or couch. But there is a physical difference between when I'm "at work" vs "working from home" even though it's in the same house. Been doing it that way 8 years. I'd spent months at a time working from home before that and this is much better.
Don't have children.
You definitely need to schedule some outside activities like sport or walking or whatever gets you out of your home. You also need to have social activities, it gets quite weird after months of working alone, even though you have a wife. No outside activities and no social interactions make the home worker go CRAZY. Trust me.
Dress professionally. Keep regular hours. Work as though you were at work.
Apache guy, Open Source enthusiast, runner
Dedicated
Workspace
Also, good time management is a must; sitting around the house can make it tempting to attempt to multitask (i.e., clean the garage while your code compiles), but every divergence from the job you're being paid to do will negatively affect your ability to do said job in an efficient, timely manner.
At least, that was my experience working from home. YMMV definitely applies to this one.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
They're either too distracted to comment or too undistracted to comment.
In all seriousness, I am trying to do contract work from home with a child who spends some time in the week at kindergarten. It's next to impossible to work when I am awake and in a productive frame of mind. - You need to make sure the kids are out of your hair so you don't have to reserve any brain energy to keeping an eye on things. - You need to make sure any older children and adults understand to leave you alone while you work except for lunchtime. - If you can, set up in a room that isolates you as much as possible from the rest of the house. - Occasionally mix things up and take the laptop the local library (most in .au have free WiFi and cheap printing) or someone elses house (where it's quiet) so you don't get cabin fever in your own home.
- I have found that I work best when I have a room with a lot of natural light. If you can't to that get some flouro tubes that have spectrum similar to sunlight.
- Start early. Working late is bust for me.
- Have a solid brekkie.
Get a remote desk top that can accomodate cloud storage so you can move from device to device to keep you freash and not feel compelled to stay hours in your bunker. Schedule time that is consistant that you won't internally negotiate away. Enjoy the freedom and celebrate your successes. Done right you will get more done in less time. The first three weeks are the toughest.
Make sure you have a separate room with nice lighting and a door that you close to keep out any distractions. Keeping the door closed worked for me as a mental exercise enforcing the idea that I am at work. The kitchen and entertainment areas of the house are closed.
Also, it helps to go through a morning routine like you would if you had coworkers in the same office. Get dressed, eat breakfast, and then go to your office.
Enjoy the benefits of skipping the long commute to a remote office!
Have a room devoted to being a home office, and don't use the home office for anything other than job-related work, otherwise there won't be enough of the job/play disconnect.
Put out the cat. Put out the kids. Put out the girlfriend/wife/paramour/needy friend. Put on the headphones. Focus, focus, focus...
Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
Here's the first few things that spring to mind from my experience, working from home about 50% of the time:
1) Construct a sturdy firewall your work time and personal time. Don't allow family and friends to treat your work hours as "free time," and don't allow your workplace to say "since your workplace is your home, you're always at work!" Honestly for me, the hardest part was telling family and friends, "yeah, I'm working from home, but that doesn't mean I'm not working," and getting them to accept that they can't just pop by whenever.
2) Video- and/or voice- chatting can be super helpful, if you can get your coworkers used to communicating that way. Also, a consistent & constant instant message presence allowing people to reach out and get in touch with you quickly and easily can be helpful. You won't be in the office, but availability via other methods will help dilute the "out of sight, out of mind" phenomenon.
3) If you like a little social interaction during your day, investigate co-working setups - with people you work with, or at commercial/public co-working spaces. Or, find a coffee shop/library etc. that might allow you to set up camp for the day. A day like that now and then I find to be fairly energizing. Your mileage may vary.
Not only will there be endless distractions, but your significant other may resent you being present but not helping around the house. Even a very intelligent and rational significant other can fall into this resentment, and probably will. I don't recommend it.
Draw a really clear line between working and not-working. When you sit down to work just work - no web surfing, personal email etc. It may help to have some ritual like getting dressed in real clothes instead of PJs, putting on some article of "work clothes". Find some way of making work different from sitting at your computer other times.
Once you stop working actually stop and don't login to work, check work emails, etc. If you decide to do these tasks, go through the "working" ritual to draw a clear line.
Failure to make these distictions will mean that you will never really feel satisfied that you have worked enough and will never really relax.
If your company give you stipend, use it. Get both DSL and Cable so that you are not cut off when one goes down. Thats what I did. Do the same with phone, have cell phone and regular phone so that you are reachable.
- Make sure you compensate by going out regularly, even if it's just running errands. Removing the workaday social interactions you would otherwise get from an outside workplace can have noticeable effects even in the short-term.
- Make a schedule and stick to it. This will keep you from procrastinating or irregular hours. The advantage is that you can choose which hours are best for you, but the challenge is to stick to it.
- Set an office space up for yourself, not a desk in your bedroom. This space should be a pure *work* space. If you end up finding you have trouble with this, considering renting a single-room or shared office-space and set up shop there.
- Make sure you understand all the finance aspects of going into business for yourself. I can't speak for other countries, but there may also be a ton of government programs at your disposal, from simple information seminars to help desks to grants, financing, and tax benefits. Figure this out first!
- The toughest part about working from home for me has been selling. It takes up half my time, and it's the toughest/least enjoyable part of the job. Consider this, if it applies to your situation of course.
I've always thought that if I return to working from home, I'd build a backyard office:
https://www.google.com/search?q=backyard+office&hl=en&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch
By being separate from the house it's easier to separate work from home life. When I used to work from home I got distracted by home things. And TV.
First, I get up and fuck my wife.
Then I drink a bottle of scotch.
Then I program.
Then
I say Fuck you. I'm getting my work done.
Kiss my ass.
It's too easy to slip into a bad routine where you intermingle work and home. YOu might find yourself working all the time, or interrupting work to do a few domestic chores here and there.
Both are bad.
Set up an office area. Keep all your work related stuff there. That way work is still 'at work', even if you don't go to the office daily.
Get good comms. Either an all you can eat phone plan, VoIP, or a company provided phone. You'll find it gets real expensive real quick the first time you have to make a long distance teleconference that churns on for 4 hours. Get your Internet sorted out. Very important to be as quick as possible... You don't want to be waiting to download that 20M email attachment that some PHB sent you. Waiting sets up temptation to slack off for a few mins.
Keep receipts for everything. If your company doesn't reimburse you then deduct it on tax.
I also recommend a couple of inline power meters. Set them up to measure the consumption of all your work related gear. Log it daily. If you need air-con then keep a log of running it. Most countries allow deducting work from home expenses, but unless you have detailed logbooks you'll be stuck at a statutory rate which really isn't indicitive of the real cost.
Oh, and get a good desk and chair. You will be able to get the company to spring for the chair under OH&S provisions. Don't skimp here, your comfort is important.
I drink to make other people interesting!
I've been telecommuting for ~20 months now. For me, the key things to do to stay focused and productive are: separate work from the rest of your life, have a plan of what you are going to do next, and have a plan for dealing with the inevitable times when you become unfocused.
To keep life and work separate, you can have an office that is only for work (no gaming/web surfing), or, if that isnt in the cards, have a different computer. I really like having the work computer run a different OS. Linux is for work. Windows is for play. That way I am not tempted, and I have that sense of 'being' at work/
Having a plan is crucial to keeping going. If you finish something and think 'what should I do now' youll be reading slashdot within seconds. I try to do my planning at the end of the day, so I have a nice list of bite sized tasks for the next day already waiting for me.
Despite my best efforts, sometimes I realize I am not focusing on work. When that happens, I have a few things I can do to get refocused. The first is to change desks. A change of scenery and position (sitting vs standing) is nice sometimes. Next, I can make coffee. It takes a few minutes, so it gives me a chance to psych myself up, knowing that when the coffee is ready it is time to get back to worrk. Finally, I have ear protection, usually used while chainsawing etc. When I put it on, I cant hear anything but my own breathing, and focusing on your breathing is a common meditation technique, so maybe tat is why it works. Anyway, it really quiets the mind and gets me back to focusing on work.
For me the most challenging aspect of working from home was that I treated it as a chance to do all the "work" that I had to do around the house, like cleaning, changing light bulbs, taking out the garbage, and so on. The little dopamine rewards from completing these small tasks were more rewarding than actually biting into the bigger projects I had for the work day.
So, keep your home clean and tidy all the time. Make sure these little tasks aren't calling out to you. If you just can't help yourself, set out a 30 min period at the beginning of the day to do all of that stuff, then get down to work.
Good luck!
Time management boils down to willpower, which is a trainable skill. A podcast I listen to talked about related topics a few weeks ago. Questions of ergonomics and workspace arrangements and flow are probably specific to your particular job and preferences, but a good chair makes a huge difference. If you splurge on anything in your workspace that should be it.
Until there's a way to install and replace hardware over the internet, I'll never be able to work from home; not with my current job at least. :(
If you build it, nerds will come. Soylentnews.org
It helps to have a job you love and are committed to. The biggest issue that I have found is that I need to be vigilant to keep my work out of my personal time.
Work as far away as you can from the kitchen! When you do eat, don't turn on the TV. There's always an episode of Star Trek or Seinfeld that while stop you for an hour (or more)
The advice about making sure the family knows work comes first during your work hours is good. Make it clear that if you come out to stretch your legs and chat for 5 minutes doesn't mean you are done for the day or can take an hour to mess around, and make sure if you are in the office, no one should bother you unless its an emergency. The biggest thing for me was setting goals based on accomplishments instead of time. You WILL spend time getting distracted by family etc or just taking advantage of the fact that you can go for a nice walk at 3:00pm (if you are allowed to be offline). You will also end up spending time on evenings and weekends working because if you think if something at 11:00pm on a Saturday you are much more likely to do it right then then wait until your "at work" Monday.
Either way, its really really hard to accurately track your time when working from home. Some people seem to like a rigid schedule, but as a programmer I much prefer flexibility. Some people rigorously track their time, but that gets annoying. My solution is to set myself daily / weekly tasks though should be reasonable if I worked ~7 hours day for 5 days and measure myself more on that then on trying to figure out exactly how much time I spent in my seat. You still have to feel it out a bit, but it means you don't have to sweat too much about the fact that work and home will blur together a bit.
I have a 27" iMac and 2 27" Thunderbolt displays. It makes a world of difference. I can have multiple remote sessions and lots of VMs open.
You need to be very careful or you will soon be "out of sight, out of mind". I worked from home for more than 15 years (recently involuntarily retired), and except for the people who had to deal with me, it was as if I did not exist. This may be fine with you, but if you are at a place where you need to schmooze to get ahead, it's bad. Also, you need to have the company finely delimit what is *their* IP and what is your own. My former company's attitude was that if I thought of it, it was their idea. Working from home blurs the lines. On the bright side, I was *much* more productive as a programmer/ software designer at home than in the office.
Do not use any form of instant messaging. Do not use Facebook. If you really need to ask someone a technical question, join a pertinent IRC channel and leave as soon as you are satisfied. You might have the motivation to work from home, but do not expect other people to understand. It was very difficult getting my wife to understand that I really needed to work and I didn't have any time to talk; if you have family who will be around, you will need to lay down rules and boundaries. The most important aspect of working from home is enjoying what you do. If you don't feel motivated to work, then you are fucked.
Note that I live by myself in a small apartment, so YMMV. Some things I do:
1. Always wear pants while on the phone. I like to imagine everyone else is wearing pants while I'm talking to them, so I do so myself.
2. Find some noise maker, because silence will make you go a little nutty. I used to do music, and still do sometimes, but I've found sports talk radio is best. Doesn't matter if you like sports, It sounds like there are people talking, which will make it not seem so lonely. I don't mean lonely like "I'm so sad", I mean "fuck, there's no one here all day". lonely.
3. Go out to lunch fairly regularly. You need to remember to leave your home sometimes, and interact with people (especially outside your normal comfort zone, like your family). Otherwise you fairly quickly forget how to interact in a group.
4. Work hours change a lot. I find myself working in the middle of the night a lot, and taking the afternoons off. Don't forget to take advantage of the perks, it's not just a 0 minute commute. You can go grocery shopping in the middle of the day now. Banks are open just for you. Same with post offices. Just make sure your workmates vaguely know your schedule, and how to get ahold of you. Communication is key.
5. More perks. Those times where you just can't get past a mental block, you can go to your home PC, or to your musical instrument, or to your TV, and just blow off some steam. It's OK! Don't feel bad about it, just don't spend too much time away, and don't let your IMer show you as "Away" for too long. I always come running back if I get an IM or an Email.
6. Work hard. Make your managers feel like you're an integral part of your team, even when you're not in the office. In my case it's helpful because everyone works from home, but you can do it even if that's not the case.
If you work with other people, make sure to reach out to them often. At least one person, once a day. Check in with your bosses at least once a week, probably more. (Maybe that's built in, who knows)
Ideally, have a door on your office. And make the family/roommates understand that work time is that and that only. They should pretend you are not there for the most part.
Get dressed for work, at least at first. This helps you get into work mode.
Using a chat program with the main people you work with will be helpful to them, as most of them have idle markers to show if you are there and using your computer. This can help keep you honest if you have trouble with that sort of thing. Although, I suppose if you do have trouble, there are about a million ways around that one, the most obvious being that watching a movie at your computer would let you keep the mouse moving every few minutes. But don't do that. Don't even have a TV on your office.
Keep yourself honest. If you are sleepy and NEED to nap, take a nap. But then make sure you work late to make up the work/hours.
I personally try to check email only about 3 times a day(8am, 11am, 3pm). I am an engineer working on projects, so interruptions are a bad distraction and there is never anything so urgent that I can't take 3 hours to get to it. Your situation may vary, or may not even apply.
Don't keep facebook/twitter or any self-updating news or distractions open. If you must, check them at lunch.
Eat a good breakfast. So many office goers skip that meal, or eat something packaged/processed rushing out the door. But you have time, and you don't need to eat right as you get up; you can wait an hour or two if needed. http://www.webmd.com/diet/guide/most-important-meal
Give yourself a real lunch break, even if it's only 15 minutes. Use that time to check social media, news, investments, whatever you like to keep tabs on throughout the day.
Prevent home office ass: Don't even keep snack food in your house. Don't buy it. Then when you are bored, or frustrated, or whatever it might be that would drive you to your kitchen, there won't be anything there to eat.
...don't participate in ride your bike to work day.
I've been a 100% telecommuter for 7 years now and here's the important things I've learned:
1) Set a clearly defined schedule that works well with your team. I work with many people still in an office and I work a 9am-6pm schedule with 1 hour lunch at the same time they do so I'm always available when they are.
2) Dedicated office space. You need to have a work head space in addition to a home head space. The lack of decompression time in a commute and such is very noticeable, especially during crunch times at work.
3) Optimize your communication setup to be available to your team. My work relies a lot on IM, plus I've got a VOIP phone line, and I use Growl/Prowl to forward my instant messages to my phone when I'm working on a secondary machine, or otherwise not sitting at my main work machine.
4) Be proactive on communication: You'd be amazed at how much useful information gets conveyed in water cooler and casual conversation in an office that is actually relevant to work. You need to be very proactive in maintaining strong communication with your coworkers to stay in the loop and keep others in the loop.
...and say that I do the exact opposite.
I've no set hours, no routine, no dedicated space, I play guitar when I'm blocked and have a movie or TV series playing all the time to provide a distraction (for some reason not multitasking doesn't work for me).
So what I'm trying to say is that this is completely subjective, just do what feels natural.
The most important thing is to be passionate about the projects you pick up, if you are then never mind staying focused, you'll go into overtime without even realising it.
Good luck man.
Just like when you worked elsewhere:
- Set the alarm and get up
- Take a shower, brush your teeth
- Dress for work (this one is important). I've known people who did the work-in-your-pajamas thing, and everybody could tell the difference.
- Keep proper food around for lunch, or if you can afford it go out for lunch most days.
- If you have a spouse/significant other you SERIOUSLY want to sit down ahead to time to make sure everybody is clear that just because you're home all day it doesn't mean that the cleaning, laundry, and dishes will be done at the end of the day. We all know that housewives used to do all that and more, but they weren't on somebody else's clock when they were doing it.
Also, be sure to set up a proper work environment even if the best you can do is to put a decent computer desk and chair in your bedroom. A couch or kitchen table is not a workplace, and you don't want it to be one.
You never really know how close to the edge you can go until you fall off.
"2 27" Thunderbolt displays"
I'm guessing work is paying for them.
I used to have productivity problems when working from home. Sometimes it was just to easy to get distracted with Youtube, or maybe it was watching people walk past my window, or even my cat deciding that was the right time to bug me for attention. To my surprise it turned out the problem was simply not having strong goals.
Usually when I'm working from home I'm doing scripting and sometimes these projects take several days to complete. It was a little too easy to get to the end of the day and feel like I hadn't accomplished anything. (Which often made me work longer throughout the day.. something I wasn't getting paid for.) I finally got a handle on it by doing things like saying "Okay, I've got to get this functionality done by noon. Then, by the end of the day, I have to have these things done." By working towards that goal, distractions were not as distracty and sometimes I'd get done even a little ahead of time. By that point it was a lot easier to put the mouse down and say "okay, I'm done for the day." I could even treat myself to being done a little early on Friday!
I think this is the sort of thing people have been saying all along, but I didn't realize just how important that was until I tried it myself.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
The most difficult thing for me is focus. Without that frustrating ritual of getting up early, commuting to/from work, and physically walking into a different space, it can be difficult to snap into "work mode". The temptation to slack off can be quite strong, especially if what used to be your play environment is now your work environment.
What works for me is a combination of half-steps. For one, I have a separate little area, away from all my tech toys and other household distractions, where I can sit with a laptop and stare out the window. When I'm having trouble starting a new project, that's where I go to clear my mind and be inspired.
Other times, I actually pack up and head to a not-too-busy restaurant or bar. I find the background noise actually helps to isolate me from distractions, and being waited on certainly helps me stay on-task. Obviously this won't work for everyone, but it's all about comfort.
Perhaps the biggest piece, and the one most likely to screw you up, is the fact that you're at home. You have a million things to do at home, and often times the people you live with may expect different things of you. You must set proper boundaries, which is harder than it sounds because you might not work 9 to 5. How do you communicate to your S.O. or kids that you're trying to work and they need to avoid disturbing you ? If you have a big enough house, dedicate a room as an office and make sure everyone understands it is off-limits.
Conversely, don't overwork. You need be able to switch out of work mode too! Try to set a goal for the day and stop once you reach it. You must be able to walk away and be satisfied with your day's efforts. That goal might be a set number of billable hours, or a project milestone. The important thing is that once you attain it, you can take a break and not think about it until the next day. Just as you must not let your home life encroach on your work, you must also leave work "at work", even though that place is now a logical construct rather than physical. When I'm watching TV, or cooking, or playing video games, my mind is blank. I don't worry about bosses, clients and deadlines. I just kick back and enjoy myself. It took some time to achieve that distinction, but it is the one thing that keeps me sharp and revs me up for the next day of challenges.
-Billco, Fnarg.com
Nonsense! Working from home can actually accelerate your career if you do it well. Not only that, in many companies, they are doing webex and conference calls even when all the participants are in the same building. I've been working from home for years with some of the worlds largest companies. All of them are virtual. I don't think I've had a meeting where everyone id physically present in a decade.
I've been home-working for 2 years now, and for most of the last year have been living somewhere far more interesting than my normal home (and about 5000 miles away). It's not often you get the opportunity to do this, so if living in another part of the world is something you've always wanted to do, why not combine the two?
43 - For those who require slightly more than the answer to life, the universe and everything.
My wife doesn't get it and my kids are in early elementary school psycho stage so I ended up taking a cheap share on a semi office. It was either that, sit around cafes (too old) or only get 4 hours a day.
Physics is like sex: sure, it may give some practical results, but that's not why we do it.
I worked from home for 7+ years 100% telecommute from Seattle to the Bay Area.
Commute to work was awesome (ie, down the hall).
Minuses:
- you get cut out of the stuff you hear when you have a physical presence in the office. gossip, rumors, instant collaboration, etc.
- it is harder for you to make yourself known and get credit for the stuff you do unless you are really, really good at subtlely making your accomplishments known.
- a change in management can make your work situation (ie, work from home) untenable. After 7 years as a senior contributor, a new Chief Technology Officer (my boss) arrived. The new CTO liked to see his "kingdom" and decided all the remote workers should move to where he was. I had the choice of move across the country or take severance. I took the severance and played full time dad for a couple of years.
- you need to be really, really good at written communication.
- you will need a good phone headset for POTS calls / VOIP calls / Skype / whatever
- who provides the hardware (laptop / desktop), the infrastructure (firewall, switch, VOIP phone), the support (backups, patches)? That all needs to be nailed down before you start working from home.
- you will need to find out what works for you. I found that waking up at 10AM, work for an hour (mail, calls) have lunch, work for a couple more hours, a short nap, work for a couple more hours, dinner with wife, then a marathon session into the night. Decidedly unstandard but I was remarkably productive.
- schedule regular, appointment-like "face time" with the office, whether you need it or not. You need to keep track of people and people need to keep track of you.
What's your "out"? As in, how does this fit into your long term plans?
It still doesn't get easier. There are constant conflicts for your attention when you're at home. I have a separate office, but pretend all I want, I'm still at home. It's just so convenient; sure I can here for the cable guy, Mailman needs a signature, etc. etc. Family is very supportive but that also comes up against my guilty part when the little woman is determined to move the furniture while I'm "at work" ::arrghh:: . In the past 20 years I've also remodeled and moved my office within the house 3 times. If you have an option, choose the most remote room/space in the house to work out of. The last thing you want to be is in the "mix".
One thing that I don't believe anyone mentioned yet is your utility costs.. don't underestimate this. Prior to my home office I went to work for someone else every day; I shut off the lights, turned down the heat, I even got to take my daily dump in their septic system. Being home means more lights on, using the stove at lunch, keeping the heat up, etc. My electric bill went up by at least 50%. Yes, you can manage it, but either it's too tough & time consuming or I'm too lazy.
The best advice you've received so far is that of scheduling.. if you don't manage your time you'll end up feeling like you are working constantly.. and so will your family.
Yes, but since I work for myself it all comes out of the same wallet. The extra productivity meant they paid for themselves in a week or two. Having the right tools is worth the cost.
That's it. Make time, make space. Been doing this on and off for over 15 years. Everything else you get suggested is nice and helps, but the biggest two are these.
Recently watched a talk by John Cleese who basically came up with the same two things for his working process.
Task Mangler
It helps that I'm the only one home now.
She rarely uses her cell. We still have a land line (and this still goes for VOIP), and we have multiple cordless phones, and two corded ones. One in the bedroom so we don't miss that special call in the night if need be, even if ALL the cordless are dead, and she has a corded speaker phone on her desk, even though she also has a cordless. Too many phone calls lasting longer than your average cordless phone will handle, and the batteries for that last a year. Especially if the old system has a few years on it, and the phones only last five minutes, and give you zero warning that they are running out. So now we have a new cordless system, 4 phones, not 3, and the base is also a speaker phone for when you can't find a phone.
Now that the kids are all out of the house, it's not a huge deal, but I think it would certainly help if you do have kids, or anybody else for that matter. This system might actually last longer, the batteries are rechargeable AAAs, so the replacements will be cheaper than replacing the system, unlike what we were looking at with the previous system. It also helps that this new system can keep a list of numbers that can be blocked. They ring once, and then nothing.
I cook her breakfast when she's ready (it takes her awhile).
Unfortunately, she doesn't really keep a morning routine, she hits her office in her housecoat, and only gets showered and dressed when I drag her out, or she has a lunch appointment with somebody.
She has no problem with cutting somebody off at the knees if they call (or God forbid knock at the door) and she's busy or expecting a phone call. Even me if I'm out and need to talk to her.
She not only has multiple monitors, she has multiple computers, a work laptop (at one point two of them) with a second bigger screen, and her home system.
She usually VPNs in with GotoMyPC (the ability for the other computer to show what she's doing, and for the other side to take over and do something as well is an absolute must for her). The laptop will go to one PC, and her home machine will go to another PC at the office. Different operating systems, one's XP, the other Win 7.
We live in Florida, her office is in New Jersey.
The FTP server is full. Why they don't upgrade with more storage is beyond me. So instead, they use Outlook's Mailbox as a way to keep things synced among machines.
Bryan
Everyone seems to be telling you to act as if you wouldn't be working from home. If that is so, then what's the point?
I'm currently running my (small) company from home. It was founded recently, so it's too early to say if I'm doing this all wrong or all right, but here's my experience so far:
Do take advantage of this style of working. I absolutely enjoy being able to have breakfast and lunch when I feel hungry and not when the clock says it's the time and my co-workers are waiting for me at the usual place.
I enjoy the company of my pets - lots better having them there in person than having photographs on your desk. Children might be more difficult to stuff back into the cage after a few minutes of raising your spirits, so you may want to develop a protocol, but if you have any, they are probably one of the reasons you are working your ass off, so do what you couldn't do at the office - at the very least, have lunch with your family or something.
Do enjoy the flexibility. Doing grocery shopping during the day, when the shops are empty, is so much more relaxing compared to doing it in the evening when everyone does it after work (YMMV depending on how shops are open in your place).
Keep time. Software or good old watch, doesn't matter, but keep a record of the time you actually spend working. This will help you much, much more in keeping in line than some arbitrary "working hours". And it will help you in both directions, stopping you not only from working too little, but also from working too much.
My personal opinion is that pretending that it's just like work at the office isn't the best way to do it. The number of comments advising it suggest that it is definitely a workable way. Still, there is quite a bit of potential for making it better than work at the office, at least in some respects.
Our ancestors often didn't have any seperation between work and private life. If you are a farmer or something like that, that is still pretty much the case today. Then again, your job probably doesn't feed you and doesn't have the same kind of immediacy and direct meaning. Still, it's a point to think about when people tell you to keep the two strictly seperated.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
Where work-from-home at my place of work has become highly scrutinized because of people using it as a free vacation day, I've never ever had a problem with it at all. I think there's some prerequisites to this advice, though. Firstly, if you haven't proven yourself at work already as a reliable person that doesn't have to be micro-managed, or managers have an wishy-washy feeling about your 'work' character, then ignore my advice, because it's just going to be an epic fail or a bit harder when you start out.
1) Be available when you're suppose to: For shit's sake, I see so many of my co-workers who are 'suppose' to be available during core hours, who, when they WFH, cannot be reached by inner-office instant message, e-mail or phone, don't call into the meetings they are suppose to. I repeat, you do not want to be one of those people. It makes you look bad and it will catch up with you sooner than you think.
2) Set realistic daily work goals: Myself, I accomplish more at home because I'm not being fucked with or getting cube drive-by's, but that doesn't mean I don't kill myself in the process because I am more productive. Test the waters for the first day and see what you get done. At times, I've gotten what I needed to get accomplished in 5-6 hours and I called it a day. There's nothing wrong with that if you're showing production and results.
3) Have what you need to succeed: I have a very nice VPN solution, so I can rely on my own personal computing environment that I'm comfortable with (and also mirrors what I have at work with my desktop). But if you are issued a work laptop that they only allow you to connect into 'their' network with, then get what you need to 'feel' that comfortable productivity. I've never been at a place that wouldn't pay for a wireless keyboard/mouse set or get me a decent enough laptop to take home. Also, if you have books, paperwork, materials, bring that shit home. Don't think that you can get to everything 'digitally' because rarely does that play in your favor.
4) DONT abuse it: I always laughed in my younger, insubordinate and rebellious years when I'd hear "WFH is a privilege, not a right" and now that I'm a bit wiser, that's 110% the truth. I'm just like any other person, I have the TV on sometimes or stereo going, or use my lunch break to go to the hardware store quick for something. See it as your work trusting you do be independent but still a very reliable asset that they depend on. There's no reason to be uptight, you're at home, but don't be a douche and not do a thing get paid for it. It makes you complacent and lazy, and IMHO, that'll see you right out the door in time.
When the wife asks you to move the clothes to the dryer when the wash is finished, just go ahead and do it during a mental break. Just because you work in your office at home doesn't necessarily mean you can ignore what's going on around you in your environment. Trust me, just do it...because it will save a lot of complicated arguments later.
I'm not sure why working from home is such a "big deal". Our farming ancestors (or tailers, bakers, storeowners, etc) did it for 5000+ years.
Were trade secrets licensed from a supplier as big a deal then as they were now? One well-known license agreement specifically excludes home offices due to lack of security.
If the pay you'll be getting will accomodate it, I'd recommend renting a small office. If it's located near some food and coffee places, you'll be likely to get up and walk some.
Mainly, if you have kids or a significant other at home during work hours, you will experience a lot of interruptions.
I have two kids. Some days I work from the house until just before they come home from school, then I go to my office for the rest of the day. Other days, I go to my office from the beginning of the day. It gives a little variety that is impossible to get when you only have a house or job location. Also, my office is a nice 5-mile bicycle ride from home, which gets me a little extra exercise on the days I ride to work. I won't go back to a full-time home office as long as I can afford the $250 rent, $80 wireless service, and insurance.
1) Separate your family/friends from your work life. People tend to think that if your at home, you're available to talk/hang out. Family is especially hard to convince otherwise.
2) Make sure you get voice time with your co-workers. Don't just leave it to IM.
3) Follow a productive methodology. In my case, I used Scrum. I have a full Product Backlog, and a Sprint Board in my office. Don't try to replace these with electronic organizers. And make sure if you do Scrum from a work at home job that you participate in a Daily Scrum either through Skype or conference call. This goes into #2. The reason, if you're out of sight, you're out of mind of your co-workers. That plays big when its time to make cuts.
4) Take breaks. Walk around the neighborhood, go running/jogging. Go out to lunch. Anything to force yourself out of your house for a little while to keep you from going stir crazy, and to force you to interact with people other than family and co-workers. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy after all.
I have had many discussions about this, and most of the time it comes to this:
It's job promotion time at your company
You and a fellow employee are up for the spot with a decent pay raise
You work at home
Your fellow employee works in the office
Who gets the promotion?
The guy at the office usually because the person that has to make the decision, has to see him every day.
This is just one example and maybe you will get the promotion(the first time) but I think the guy in the office has a better chance
When I started from a home office 7 years ago, I got a high speed color laser printer (Dell 5100cn). The ability to rapidly print documents for review, etc, in full color, has been the critical productivity enabler.
The second thing is a cordless headset. If you're like me, you'll spend a lot of time on telecons, and being able to work unemcumbered (type, walk around, etc) will let you be productive and (e.g. when walking around) keep you sane while working. Of course, make sure you have the headset properly muted if you wander into the bathroom. (Made that mistake once, yuck!!!)
The other thing is Buy A Very Good Chair, since you'll be sitting in it probably a lot more than you'd sit in a drive-to/commute-to office chair. That's the mistake I made when I set the office up.
Finally, don't forget the IT basics, UPSs for everything, backup hard drives, offsite backup if you're not backing up to corporate servers, etc. I have all my networking gear on its own UPS.
I can't speak for the Mac guy, but there are some of us who actually spend our own money on nice equipment. I don't have Thunderbolt displays per se, but I do have the exact same high-end panels in my Dell monitors and they weren't cheap. I didn't buy them with "company money", I bought them because they're kickass LCDs and I wanted them. Then I bought a calibration puck and tweaked them to perfection. The funniest bit ? I don't do any precision graphics work, I'm a coder/sysadmin. But boy, do these things look nice, and they're brighter than a thousand suns so glare is a non-issue (my retinas, they burn!)
Some of us, especially when working from home, feel the need to invest in higher quality equipment. It's a comfort thing. I spend 16 hours a day in front of this thing, I want it to be the most pleasant experience it can be. Nice screens, nice speakers, a fancy mouse and a very comfy club chair make my working hours enjoyable. I don't know about your career, but if it helps me log those billable hours without losing my marbles, that's a couple thousand dollars well spent.
-Billco, Fnarg.com
There are alot of variables here that may affect how well this will work for you. Are you required to be at a computer most of the time? Available for meetings at a moments notice? I have been doing this a while and this is what I have learned thus far:
- Family are difficult co-workers. Keep boundries but also keep things flexible. That's half the fun of working at home. The abillity to help out the wife / take a break with the kids, etc... Don't try and keep an imaginary wall that only exists between 9 and 5, if you do you may as well have gone into the office.
- I take frequent breaks to keep myself sane.
- Dont try to make your home the office. Make your area comfortable, I would rather the cubicle be in the office than in my house.
- You will feel like you're not as productive for a bit at the beginning, that is normal. Keep track of your progress and wait for your work to speak for itself.
Hope that helps,
Nick
I telecommuted years ago and am preparing to do it again.
1. Be away from your cube as much as possible. Get your co-workers used to phone/ chat/ video call to contact you. be "down the hall" or 'with ______ in a meeting'. and can communicate electronically now or f2f by later appointment.
2. Webcam: dress your office and body professionally. Videocall people NOW to get them used to it.
3. Some people are going to HATE you for this. Sow all the goodwill you can and never mention to anyone who doesn't have to know. if your office on camera looks like your work cube, so much the better.
4. If you're asked directly, say it's a temporary arrangement for medical reasons. If they dig, remind folks about medical privacy laws.
Good Luck!
********* sig: If you don't like the law, get filthy stinking rich, and buy a better one.
Honestly chaps, it would seem to me that /.ers have the worst partners in the history of mankind.
If I say to mine I am working from home, see you at 17:00, she says "yeah, no worries, see you then".
As for getting out of the house, again, honestly, do you have a life at all? Why should this need to even be mentioned?
As for the close the door nonsense, it looks to me like a bunch of teenagers are discussing how to get their homwork done instead of seasoned professionals discussion a serious topic.
This is my 2 cents of advice: be profesional. That is it.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
You need to know your partner and they need to be able to understand the concept of working at home. One thing that will help is there's an office. Make a room an office and have it for work ONLY. You only go in there for work hours, and nobody else gets to come in.
You need to clearly explain that when you are working at home you are WORKING and everything related to that needs to be respected. If your partner can't handle that then you either need to not work from home, or find a new partner, I'm not telling you which is right.
You may wish to line up a councilor to help. When you have your first fight over it, make an appointment and go, they can help explain to your partner that indeed work from home is serious and they need to respect that you are working, not just hanging around.
If they are unwilling or unable to understand, and many will have that problem, then you have to choose which one you are going to keep because you can only have one.
Now you can be flexible about things to an extent. You don't work 100% of the time at the office, neither will you at home. You'll take off lunch and probably a couple of breaks. So you can schedule things with your partner in your off time. You can say "Yes I can watch the kids on my lunch break," or the like. However make it clear that it is during a given time and it can't run over.
A good bit of this can be mitigated if your partner works as well. Then they'll be at work, so not available to bother you. However if you have kids that aren't in school, then remember they need daycare. Don't think you can babysit while you work, even though it saves money. You will either be a bad worker or a bad care giver, and possibly both.
Office with a door - Mandatory. You'll find that you'll always be "on" and that is bad. Telecommuters either slack off (and get fired) or work too much. I love my current setup, my current office cannot be accessed from my home, it has a separate entrance. So my commute is about 10 seconds of walking.
Hours - You'll want regular hours and stick to them. Again, this is to prevent overwork. It is also good in the begining to prevent goofing off.
Water Cooler - you don't have one. You will be out of the loop on everything that goes on in the home office. Oh well. 90% of that was crap anyhow. Missing the 10% can hurt you, but don't worry. You'll get by.
Perception - All of your co-workers will think you are goofing off. So you will be held to higher standards then they are. That's ok, they get to fight traffic on I-whatever twice a day. If you work 9-5 you are home at 5:00:01.
Headset - get a nice one. And I don't mean a $100 Bluetooth one. A $10 wired one that is comfortable is far better.
Pets - get a cat or fish. I have 4 fish tanks in my office. I'd love to let the cat in but with the walk outside that's just asking for trouble with her.
Enjoy your new life, congrats!
Head over to your local coworking establishment.
100% worth it.
I'm a 2000 man.
Unless there is a real compelling reason (like your company really wants you to or your commute is stupid long) I wouldn't. The reason is not just because of the distractions others have mentioned, in my case that is no issue being single, but because you will get seen as less valuable. If you aren't around people will start to have this idea of "This guy doesn't do anything," because you aren't visible doing something. Stupid, but human nature.
It also depersonalizes you to an extent, even when you make an effort to stay in contact all the time. You because just some thing that generates code, IT support, whatever. People don't identify as much with you because they don't see you around.
It can also make you seem lazy when you aren't. You are sitting there, waiting for someone to get you what you need. We've all experienced that. I can't count the amount of time I spend waiting for a professor or grad student to give me the information requested so I can deal with their ticket. When you are at work waiting, people still see you as "working." However if you are at home, people may see you as "slacking off" since you are just doing nothing but waiting.
All of those make you much easier to pass up for raises and so on, and to lay off. Many managers dislike conflict and want the easy way out. So rather than going and confronting someone and telling them they don't have a job, having to see them hurt, listen to their pleading, etc, will just choose to lay off the guy who isn't there anyhow. Send you an e-mail saying "You are done, your final paycheck will show up in the mail, thanks," and then lock out your accounts. So much easier, since they don't have to see the mess.
So that's my take. If my job offered me the option to work from home right now, I'd decline. Not because I'd mind or get distracted, but because I'd be worried that when budget cuts hit, I'd be on the table.
I've been experimenting with this as well (as of late), and what I've learned is simple:
1.) You need a room with doors that lock. This keeps family out, and allows you to focus without interruptions. The locks are a trigger for your mind, to know that you can safely focus on large amounts of code, without a context switch from those people with less intense occupations.
2.) Noise-cancelling headphones. To help with the first task.
3.) Energy-drinks / sugary snacks nearby. Gotta keep the brain fueled up.
4.) Some white-noise / entertainment, to let your mind relax for a few moments here and there.
5.) Socializing (i.e. leaving the room) when you want to.
Since most programmers are introverts, they recharge by being alone. That's not being antisocial, that's just how they are built. Do not be suckered in by the extrovert people who tell you it's wrong to want some quiet time to yourself, to think.
I am John Hurt.
You may want to investigate if you have any co-working locations nearby, I've been using one for about a year and there is something to be said for getting out everyday they can also be reasonable networking places.
Seriously. Some work environments enable the web cam remotely during calls. One poor lady came on without a blouse on, just her bra.
I cover mine now with a red paper so I know when I don't see it, I'm "on camera".
Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.
Get a cheap timer (cooking timer, tea timer, or similar), and set it for 2 hours.
Every 2 hours when the alarm goes off, get up and stretch. Be sure to stretch all parts of your body - legs, torso, arms, and neck.
Then do something short which is pleasant and provides a bit of exercise - walk around the block, jog a half mile on the treadmill, juggle or practice scales on an instrument for 5 minutes.
Doing this will greatly improve your productivity, health, and mood.
tell that PHB that gas is to high and if you want us to come in then give us a raise
Working at home is the BEST. If you have a job you like, and you want to do good work, motivation is no problem. If anything, the problem is trying to carve out non-working hours. Still, if you need to get a quick thing done at midnight, it's quite convenient since you've already got your work computer set up. I've even been exercising more since I began working from home as I can take a quick break during the day, in which I get on the mini-elliptical and watch the previous night's episode of the Colbert Report (all about 5 feet away from my desk).
I make sure the kitchen is between the office and the bedroom on my morning commute. In my old house I could go from bedroom to office in a straight line and that "let's see if there's any important emails before breakfast" turns into "2pm and still haven't eaten". Having a pet that forces you to take walks is a great break. Don't punish your pet by trying to go faster, it's bad for both of you.
Try checking out the Pomodoro Technique... the basics of it are you set a 25 minute timer, work for 25 minutes uninterrupted, set a 5 minute timer and take a 5 minute break, after the 4th work session ("Pomodoro"), you take a longer break (15-30 minutes)...
This has helped my focus by having planned lack of focus moments... =) Hope this helps...
-Myke
At least not until the days work is done. Or you don't have any work the next day, depending on the person. Keeping your system clean definitely helps if you have to transition back from home employment to outside employment... It's a lot easier to pass a drug test if there isn't anything in your system... =)
-Myke
No, not like that. Work is also a social activity. Make sure you get out and see and talk to other people.
There is no "-1 offended" or "-1 you don't agree with me" mod options for a reason.
Only check your email once or twice an hour to avoid distraction. Get a good headset for Skype audio/video calls. Schedule a weekly call with your boss and another with the team. Be comfortable. You will need exercise as you'll be getting significantly less of it now that you've no commute or large office to walk around in. Eat right, not too much caffeine. Take a lunch break and a couple of coffee breaks like you would at the office. Above all, be alert to imbalances in your work or personal life as a result and be sure to correct them.
I'm a single parent, and even though I work from home I still take my child to daycare so I can work during work hours. While it's nice to have the easy flexibility working from home affords when daycare is unavailable or my child is sick, it really makes a difference being able to have a quiet place to work. The irony of having to leave the house to work from home wasn't lost on me either. :)
. 62,400 repetitions make one truth -- Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
If you use your PC for both work and non-work activities, or anything else like that, one way to keep yourself from distracting yourself is to maintain separate logins.
For example, I have a desktop PC in my home office that I use for both work and for pleasure/gaming/etc. It's usually running Windows 7. I maintain two independent desktop logins - one for work, one for non-work. In this way when I'm on the clock for work, my whole environment says it's work time. That cool web site I was reading last night? The bookmark for it is on the other desktop; I can't see it from here. When I finish work at 5pm or whatever, I switch desktops, and now all my work-related stuff is invisible again. Likewise I have separate mailboxes and domain names, separate logins on my Linux box, ... it's as if I'm two complete people. I find this helpful to avoid distractions.
Find some way to get out of the house in the evenings and see people. Unless you are a complete introvert, lack of social contact can feel very isolating. This is true even if you live with other people: if the only people you see on a daily basis are the people you live with, that can put a lot more strain on those relationships than they are used to. Getting some exercise is a good idea while you're at it, and can easily be combined with the social activity (in my case, I go dancing (contra, English Country Dancing, Scottish Country Dancing, Balkan dancing, blues,...), but there are lots of options). Take advantage of your flexibility to visit friends in other cities without having to take vacation time (I just got back from a week of working on the road).
Good luck! I've been working from home for eight years now, and it's sometimes difficult, but it definitely has its perks.
Don't forget about taxes.
Now that you work from home, the space you use as an "office" is tax deductible. Therefore, it's in your best interest to make sure you have as much space as possible as your office. You get to write off a portion of your utilities used for work - electricity (having your hot water heater in your office would help), phone/Internet bill (um, 100% on that), water/sewer (poop during work hours), etc. If you're driving for work, and that includes driving to Staples to buy yourself an ink pen, that mileage is deductible as well. Ok, realistically we know you're going to steal all of your pens from the bank teller window, but you get the idea.
Second tip: all of these people told you how to work from home. What they really meant to tell you was what was important to present the illusion you're working. The real goal should be to not work and get paid for it. Now, there's a good chance you're employer is smarter than you and understands that, but... maybe not.
----- obSig
I'm a programmer. I've worked from home for a decade. It's usually a 10 hour bus ride to the company office. Even when I've had a designated desk at the company, somebody else would take it over because it was unused.
I've worked from home for longer than I've had this family. Or the one before that.
If possible set up your home workstation in a spare bedroom; otherwise family traffic through the room will upset your work frequently.
You'll be surprised how easy it is to do two hours of work at midnight. Go for it; I have ideas in my sleep that I can implement immediately.
Kids come first. The day I booted my daughter out of my home office was the day she died.
I raise my head above the notebook screen and wonder where the family went. They get used to it; I don't.
I'm not a phone or IM person. E-mail is my professional lifeline. Know thyself.
No problem with the wife; she knows that this is where the money comes from.
I've always been on-call 24/7 so home/work separation is no problem.
My clients treat me like an outside vendor. Yes, I get paid for results, not for time. But if I put in half the time, I'll get half the results, and get paid half as much, and that's bad for my family.
If possible have a cheap desktop computer at home to store backups. The kids can play games on it, but you need a a place to store a daily backup of your notebook. Uploading a 1GB backup through the internet is something you only do once.
It's easy for the boss to forget that you exist, but in the long run people who don't exist don't get paid. Stay visible. Stay in contact with various people at work, not just the boss.
I've been an independent computer consultant for more than 15 years now, and spent many of those years working from home on my own schedule. I find it helps to set aside a specific work area and specific hours of work (assuming those aren't set for you). It helps if you have a spare bedroom you can turn into an office. Keep non-work visual clutter to a minimum to avoid distractions, but don't be afraid to schedule breaks for yourself. I do most of my work in Linux, so on the computer end I keep all my work related stuff in a different account or at least a different virtual desktop.
The Bolachek Journals
Seriously.
http://dailyroutineapp.com/
It's probably more useful for writers, but it allows you to fully structure your day. That's important, because at least you know what you're supposed to be doing in a given time period.
I've been working remotely for years on and off, and if I had this years ago, well, I would have done more work!
Working from home doesn't mean pretending to not be home. If you try to work 9 - 5 from home, you're either going to fail, or are missing the point.
By sacrificing what, for the sake of conversation, we'll call the motivation of having others around, you get to chunk your time. Time chunking is an awesome thing once you get used to it. And it's a scary thing until you do.
For example, today, I went out mid-afternoon to buy running shoes, toothpaste, and to enjoy the wonderful weather. Right in the middle of the work day.
The trick is this: chunk your time. Take whatever work you have to do, and chunk it up into manageable chunks. What's manageable? The smaller the better. The first thing that you'll discover is that you'll have varying sized chunks. Some as long as 10 hours, and others as short as 1 minute.
Decide how many chunk you want to do, or how long you want to spend working, or just start. But you get the feeling that you've accomplished something, start again -- either get up and leave, or start another chunk. Some chunks aren't whole invoices, or even entire tasks. Some are just minimal things like readying a new environment, testing something, calling someone, or designing something. Others are full blown work efforts.
The goal of chunks is really to make the task so small and atomic that nothing can stop you from doing it and getting it done. So there's no fear in starting. In truth, some bits of work hit walls of horror, and when they appear, you don't get up until you reach the end of your chunk. Otherwise, start subdividing your chunks.
Every time you get up, something has been completed -- even if it's just that you defined new chunks. And every time you sit down to work, you know where you'll be starting.
After that, it doesn't matter when you do the chunks. I love that one hour chunk saturday afternoon when I'm ready to go out on a date, but am still an hour early. Or that Tuesday midnight 3-hour chunk that seems to be free time out of no where.
Break often.
Simple, do only what you love and nothing else! It sounds inane or naive, but I assure you, it works! It's the only thing that does! I've been a work-at-home writer, so to speak, for years. The only thing that keeps everything straight, from money to family to work time is to do only what I'm inspired to do in every moment. The world takes care of everything else. My love, my wife and I, have been separated for months at a time. The only thing that kept us wanting to be together was the fact we loved that neither one of us would ever give in to someone else's ideas of what we "should be" doing and have done only what we loved to do! Believe it or not, it is not a fairy tale life! But, it is better than anyone else I've known to try to work at home! So, God bless you, if you're into that sort of thing! It will work out fine if you're supposed to. If not, get to work, and you'll figure it our sooner or later! If you love what you're doing, it'll be really easy! If not, change careers, immediately! That's my only advice to you. God says so too, by the way! It's my "alter ego" that disagrees sometimes :)
-John P
Everybody is different, and all family situations are different. In my case I have a wife who works full time, no kids, and no dogs. So these were the rules that worked for me. They might not work for you.
1) Have an office. A room set aside from the rest of the house that other family members don't need to access.
2) Treat your home office like a work office. You have times that you start and times that you end... more or less.
3) Get dressed for work. I don't mean tie and jacket, unless that's what floats your boat. I would wear jeans, t-shirt, and sneakers. The idea being that you want to mentally differentiate "lounging" from "working". This also helps protect your lounging times.
4) When your are at work, you are at work. We quickly settled on the rule that my wife would come into the office to let me know she was home, then head off. When I was done at work I would leave the office and walk into what ever room she was in announcing "Honey, I'm home."
5) I took breaks. For the first time in years I actually ate lunch someplace other than working at my desk. I'd go downstairs and make coffee when I wanted it. When you're hitting your head against a brick wall (I did software development) take a walk around the neighborhood. You don't need to explain yourself to anybody but yourself.
6) And this is important; when you are not at work, don't work. My office was also my household office so it was where I did bills, email, etc. But I was always careful to not just take a quick peak at whatever I'd been working on earlier. In my case, this was the hardest part. I'd get an idea on something to try that might solve a problem. The temptation is to sneak away for a just a few minutes... next thing you know it's 11:00pm and your wife is asking if you're ever coming to bed.
Good luck. I enjoyed working from my home office. But it all came to an end when I hired my first employee and my wife said "No employees working in the house." So then I was back to a downtown office again.
I've been working at home for close to two years now, and I can say it's not all it's cut out to be. 1) Make sure you have a set time when you start work, and a set time you end. There's the issue of watching too many movies, etc, but this also goes the other way—don't work all day and all night or you'll get burned out. 2) Join a social club (check out Meetup.com). Don't build your whole social life around your spouse. You'll start to lose it, and they'll start getting really annoyed. 3) Make sure you still get fully dressed, put on deodorant, etc (all the things you'd do if you were commuting). It sounds funny, but you'd be surprised how many people work from home and stay in their PJs all day. 4) Use an application to track where you spent your time (I use Stone Hill Time Card on the Mac), at least initially, that way you can make sure you're staying on task.
"tell that PHB that gas is to high and if you want us to come in then give us a raise"
Quite a good way for the PHB to think (he is a PHB after all) "well, if I don't see their faces nor usually hear their voices, what's the difference with those indian guys they talk me about? -and they don't ask a raise!"
Beware of distractions. If you have family, they have to understand that being home doesn't mean you are always available.
I established hours when I was working, and the family was not to disturb me during that time unless it's an emergency.
The family has to realize that you're not the "stay at home spouse". You're not free to run every random errand or do every household chore during your working hours, any more than you did so when you were in the office. You may have better flex time and more freedom to take care of non-work issues, but don't fall into the trap of handling every little thing just because you're available. You're not available, you're working. (My wife and I fought over this -- things like dropping the kid off at daycare. When I worked at the office, we each did one half -- one of us dropped off, one of us picked up. When I started working from home, she naturally assumed I'd do both. And all the grocery shopping. And the vacuuming. And dishes, yardwork, dentist appointments. Sorry, no.)
Establish a territory and call it your office, then work from there. I found that it was too easy to nod off or reach for the TV remote when I was trying to work from the couch. Also, I don't know why, but I'm told I sounded more professional when I was sitting at my desk than when I was lounging on the couch.
I had a heck of a time keeping office supplies on my desk. The problem with always having a good supply of pens, paper clips, yellow stickies and printer paper is that everyone knows where to go if they need one of these items. I tried tying a string from the cap of my ballpoint to my desk, but after too many times seeing a forlorn empty cap sitting on my desk with a string tied to it, I finally bought a cheap lockable filing cabinet and put my office supplies in there. It's important for tax purposes too (see below).
If you lack appropriate furniture, check your area for an office liquidator. I found that working from the kitchen table was fine for an hour or so, but not ergonomic over the long haul.
Don't get too comfortable. I got up with the alarm, showered, shaved, dressed, then went to my designated office in a spare room and put in a day's work. At first I just worked in my bathrobe, because I could, but like a Dilbert cartoon, the family started to complain that I smelled like a dead animal and I had to change my ways. I found that when I followed a routine, it was easier to stay focused.
Know when to quit. It's too easy to decide to take care of that next issue, and the one after that, and the one after that, because you're right there. Just as it's important to establish a work ethic, it's also important to establish a quality of life. After you've put in your time, knock off work and do something else. Like, you know, interacting with your family. Or going out with friends.
Have a contingency plan if you suffer hardware or resource failure. In the early days, I had two desktops, two modems and two different dial-up accounts. (One of which, sadly, was AOL, but let's not go there.) I then progressed to one desktop and one laptop, DSL backed up by a dial-up account. Then cable modem backed up by dial-up. Now I have fiber optic backed up by cellular modem. Similarly, I had two phone lines when I used dial-up, and later had home and cell phones on my business card so there was a way to reach me if one or the other failed.
Prepare to be amazed at how much money you save just by not having to buy and maintain business clothes, eat out for lunch, and drive to and from work. These days I alternate between working at home and working from the office, and I see a bump in discretionary income proportional to the number of days I worked at home. Especially with the price of gas.
THIS IS IMPORTANT: Talk to your tax preparer ahead of time to figure out what kind of documentation you're going to need, because working at home you can likely take a lot of stuff off your taxes as a business expense. The square footage of yo
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
I applaud you for your audacious accomplishment ;-)
Slashdot Valentines Beta Massacre: iT WORKED! The boycotts killed Beta!!
5. Ink jet printers are worthless, get a laser multifunction device.
This tip is universally true and has nothing to do with working from home.
Inkjet printers are as useful as square wheels on a car.
That said, you don't need the MFD part, unless you really do a fair amount of scanning or copying existing paper documents. Non-MFD laser printers are dirt cheap these days, while the MFD varieties usually cost a lot more.
When you sit down to start your work day, send an email to your team and manager saying what you plan to get done today.
At the end of the day, send another email saying what you did get done today.
This helps by keeping you focused. It is harder to slack off when you've already told people what you're doing. It's ok to miss your targets occassionally, but you become conscious of doing that too often.
It also keeps you connected with your colleagues and manager. It is a virtual hello/goodbye, and helps people see that you are getting work done.
I've been telecommuting for four years now, and the idea of EVER working a regular 9-5 again absolutely terrifies me.
Seriously. The phone is dead technology. I've been freelancing from home for 3 years, making good money, and have not had to deal with a single telephone call in the entire time. I was hired by email, and that's how I submit my deliverables. Get paid with a cheque in the mail. Phones are for chumps.
If this programming stuff is your passion as well as your job.... watch the time you put in and bill it. What other have said applies double.... specially about family and personal activity adjustments. Personally, I'm back working from home after working for banks for several yrs. Loving it...
For me, the main thing is distinct space... a threshold you have to cross to your office. It can even be a doorway that, when you walk through, you are now in the "work zone." As much psychological distinction you can create between your home and your office will help you make the transition.
If you have a job where all you need is connectivity, then take advantage of being able to work anywhere/anytime. This won't work for all jobs, but a couple of years ago I found myself in this situation. My "office" is my MacBook and my iPhone. I did a couple of Eurail trips and it works great being able to work, even on the train. I've had a few other trips as well, and it's a really cool thing, as long as you can get the work done, and stay up late to do so if needed.
There are plenty of more important points already given in this discussion (the most important being that family members need to know not to bug you unless there are flames or blood involved), but one I haven't seen was a good "No Solicitors" sign, especially if you're working at home alone. Seriously, you have to be that grumpy "get off my lawn" guy. Those little b@stards have some sort of ESP and can tell when you're home... BTW, there's no law that says you "have" to answer the door.... even if you're right there in the window to see.
Real programmers use "copy con program.exe"
I've worked from home now for about 8 months, it's gone very well, and has only taken a few adjustments. I have kids, but they're in school, and my wife also works part time from home, so with those two things it's gone well. One thing, have a separate place to work, my workspace downstairs has turned into my office, and I ordered an Ikea desk in order to make a standing desk out of it. I bring this up because standing to work has done wonders for my concentration and focus. Work provided me a 27" iMac, I use the built-in camera, VPN, IM, Skype, and lots of SSH, to stay dialed into the dev group fulltime. IM chat rooms help me get answers from a group, or direct IMs to work on specific issues. We do agile dev and also do a bit of pairing, where screensharing allows me to share my screen, or vice versa, to work one on one. It's really worked better than we expected, and it's been very enjoyable - I'm glad I'm getting the opportunity.
fak3r.com
It is a particular problem if a woman is in one or both of the following categories:
1) Someone who has never held a real job. By real job I mean something where you were expected to be at work all day every week day, keep a regular schedule, and have regular responsibilities.
2) Codependent.
When you get someone who is both they feel the need to cling to their SO as much as possible and also lack the understanding of what it means to have a job with all-day commitments. they are hurt that something is a greater commitment than them.
You can even see that kind of thing for some people at work. My boss is like that. Exceedingly, exceedingly codependent wife. She calls him at least 5 times a day and he basically takes the calls no matter what is going on. He has to be involved in something really, really important before he'll ignore it, and if he does she'll call his cell right back, call the office line, etc.
Now she's a pretty extreme case (and he enables it in a bad way) but people who are less extreme can be more problematic when you are at home and there is less of a boundary.
Hell a friend had a problem with that with his parents, even though they both had been career individuals (they are now retired). He went home for a vacation, but on a couple days, he had to work. He is a consultant and there was an important project that required his attention. While he made it will known that it was a "work day" and set him self up as such his mom would come in and bother him all the time, ask if he wanted to go shopping, etc. She just had trouble with the idea that he was "working" and that meant he needed to be left alone.
Now if you have an independent partner, that's great. However if someone has such they don't really need any warning or help. This advice is form people who've had problems, and thus know things to watch out for.
My recommendations:
1. Avoid mental distractions BEFORE work. If you set yourself up with a distraction before you even start working, the whole day can easily go down the tube.
2. As many others have said, maintain a morning routine.
3. Excersise before work. In my experience, exercising before getting to work results in significantly increased motivation and focus.
4. Don't snack! It's a very slippery slope.
You have ears shaped like Steve Jobs? That's gotta make buying hats difficult. And how do you get a turtle neck over an ear?
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
Wear pants.
Shave every day.
Water your cactus on your birthday.
Go outside and get a face full of sun and some fresh air an exercise once a day. This is important.
Take your vitamins.
Need Mercedes parts ?
What kind of chair do you have? I spend anywhere from 8-16 hours a day in mine and need something comfortable but that can stand up to the use.
Shower. Just because you work from home doesn't mean you can get in a bad habit of not washing up.
This sig no verb.
When I was home (working a long way from there now, sadly - trying to get back), I had quite the nice setup. I had full run of the basement in our (smaller) home.
In one quarter of it, I had my workstation. I had my desk, which I'd made some time previously, a nice office chair (something cheap, but it fit me well), and a lazy boy recliner. I had a small sound-insulated closet where all my home server equipment sat, which was just next to the workstation.
In another corner, I had my workshop. I had/have everything here, from a drill press and bench vice with all the appropriate tools to an electronics test bench.
In yet another corner (subdivided by doorless walls) I had an 'empty room'. It's been in need of renovation for years and has basically become a shop. I did some vehicle body work in the room 2 winters ago.
If I got tired of sitting at the computer (distracted) I'd get up and work with metal, wood, or electronics (or prep for one of the many household projects I had elsewhere, upstairs). I could move whatever i was working on to the 'empty' room if it was too large to complete on the bench.
The best part was that I could hear my kids running and playing overhead, letting me know it was probably time for me to come out of my cave and breath some fire into their daily lives. After things were settled for the evening, I could go back down into the basement and do one thing or another. Probably the most productive year of my life, so far.
~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
| Where the fuck do you work that not only do get to work from home, but you're making $40/hr?
It's called a REAL JOB. If you haven't found that yet, then it's time to re-evaluate your situation.
I did network administration, and shell script development for a publishing company in San Diego, from the hills of
West Virginia, while taking care of my mother during her last days. The in-office guy covered days, and I worked
nights, while monitoring my mom on CCTV in the house.
Seriously finding the right job is probably more important than anything else. The gravy, and advantages come later.
Jim
Maybe OT, but if in the UK do check out the 'PCG Guide to Freelancing', 84 pages .pdf. Obviously the tax and law detail is specific to Britain, but the general advice is very sound.
Lock the fridge door......
"The hands that help are better far than lips that pray." - Robert Ingersoll (1833-1899)
Make time to leave the house at least once every day. Seriously, enforce a lunch break, leave the house and TALK TO PEOPLE - go to the coffee shop, go get a newspaper, whatever, but you need genuine face-to-face human contact every day, otherwise you can go a bit.... weird.
I worked from home for 3 months before my current startup had an office, and my wife would ring me every day at about 2pm. The conversation would go something like this:
"Now, have you left the house yet today?"
"No, I just want to get this bit finished first..."
"Have you spoken to anyone yet today?"
"No, but I will once I..."
"LEAVE....THE....HOUSE.... OK?"
"...OK"
http://instantbadger.blogspot.com
Funny you should be in this situation as I starting working from home 2 years ago and I've been ok. I travel to our main office 270 miles away every 4-6 weeks but travel expenses are paid for. I have a room with an office setup in my house and do try and keep the door closed. I do miss the office atmosphere but in all, I have no problems and work like I would from the office, (OK sometimes I get distracted!).
Thank you all for your comments. The most important things to take away seem to be dedicated workspace (I'd pretty much guessed that one) and the discipline to keep a bright line between work and real life. I think the thing I'm looking forward to the most is the lack of a commute: at the moment I despise it more than anything else. I can leave work feeling bright and awake, but after battling through crowds and enduring the awful train service home, I'm shattered when I walk through the door and can only think about dinner and the sofa.
I should have said at the outset that the company I'm going to be working for is small, and everyone works from home. I suppose that introduces a different dynamic when it comes to communication, and I assume that they have some sort of regime to talk to each other during the day.
i hate computers
Why all the confusion? Its just like being on call, just like back in 1994, and getting a call at 2am, except you're (supposed to be) wide awake, and this call lasts 8 (or more) hours. Or "the call" is at 9am every monday instead of randomly like 3pm on saturday.
If you can handle being on call and doing "something" for an hour or two, doing "something" for 8 hours or so is not that big of a deal. One thing I've noticed is you can't as a civilian buy furniture as cheap as a company can buy for a cube, with the exception of office chairs. Everything else, lighting, desks, climate control, floor material, food, air quality, background music, bathroom facilities, everything but chairs are better at home than at work.
My crazy employer is old fashioned so I can't "work" at home unless its a callout or roughly once a year during a blizzard or roughly twice a year. In summary there's no way humanly possible to work at home if I want to work at home, but if they want me to work at home, then its OK and a great idea. Which is no big deal, you just convince the boss that its his bright idea all along. The world really is a live action role playing Dilbert cartoon. My wife worked at home for years and years when the kids were little. Its not as big of a deal as you'd think...
The other funny thing is that supposedly according to the comments one of the kids spending 5 minutes showing you her homework when she gets home is infinitely worse than the office... where the heck do you people work, I wanna apply. All I hear at the start and end of the week is endless hours of "weekend talk" about whos doing what on the weekend where. The morning after any idiotic sports event the sportsfans have to babble to each other for hours about who did what with whos ball. Did you see dancing with the stars last night and/or breaking bad and/or survivor and/or walking dead blah blah blah. Endless griping about meaningless BS. Then there's the guy who plays music... music you can't stand. And I work in old fashioned cubes not one of those crappy open plan areas. You guys must all work in a zen monastery, at least in comparison to my workplace. At their worst, my two kids are about a tenth the interference level of my coworkers.
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
I recently made the switch to working full-time from home. One thing I noticed was that I spent way less time being active, as I didn't have to walk much farther than from my bed to the desk which was only a couple of steps, at most. One of the best decisions I ever made (I wish I had done this years earlier) was to build a treadmill desk. I wrote a blog post and how-to on the process here: http://www.toesalad.com/articles/treadmill-desk-part-2-how-i-built-my-treadmill-desk
I am now much more active on a daily basis than I ever was.
I've had a long history of working from home and for the last 10 years, that's been my sole workplace. I co-founded a company on the West Coast but live on the East Coast.
The pros:
* Don't worry about weather and traffic.
* Can set your own routine that includes de-stress breaks. I made sure my office was comfortable and has a nice view out the window. I get a chance to watch the ground hogs, birds, and the occasional deer play in my backyard between my "in the zone" sessions. My day consists of getting up early, exercising (at home), giving the cat some attention and then working until lunch. I eat lunch at home with my wife, then it's back to work until a set time to end my day. Since I get up early, I can end early and spend quality time with the family.
* If there is a good distance between your boss and co-workers, it's easy to diffuse the occasional blowups. "Your absolutely right. I'll prevent this from happening again".
The cons:
* No matter what you do, kids and animals will not understand that you're working and need to concentrate. Fortunately my wife gets it.
* If the office is in a different time zone, expect interruptions during your own time. "I'm at a customer's site and I'm having a problem..."
* Social interaction. I had a brilliant co-worker that I could video chat whenever I wanted to bounce ideas off someone (and visa-verse). This worked great for 30 years until last year when he passed away. Now I make sure to schedule a couple of days a month to get together with friends that I worked with previously just to enjoy some technical interaction.
Side note:
I always have a lot of things on my todo list (100-200 at any time). I have my boss periodically go through my list and note the top ~10 issues that should get addressed first. When that list is almost exhausted, I have him go through the list again. This keeps both of us happy, focused, and productive.
Your home is a big office to heat/cool. Make sure you calculate that.
Seriously. The cheques and mail are dead technology. I've been freelancing from home for x years, making good money, and have not had to deal with a single cheque in the entire time. Get paid with a wire transfer. Cheques and mail are for chumps.
For me, the big issue with working from home was that I wouldn't take breaks, wouldn't get up and move around, and basically blobbed out a bit from it.
What I'm doing now is I have set up my workstation to be viable if I'm standing (atop my regular desk I put 2 18" high tv stands and put my monitors above them, and I have one of those raise/lower hospital tables for the keyboard and mouse) OR sitting (add in a high drafting stool for when you need to sit) and with anti-fatigue mats so my feet aren't in agony by day's end.
At first it was a little difficult to do stuff that required heavy thought (designing software) while standing, so I would sit for that part and then stand when I was working on easier stuff (implementing the design, sending email, whatever). For about a week my feet and lower back hurt all the time, but I got over that once I acclimated. Now I stand pretty much all day and have a LOT more energy.
I've also been experimenting with adding in a treadmill - I tend to pace back and forth about 3 feet while I am standing and just reading stuff, so if I can add walking while I work to the routine that should be another healthy thing to do.
Also, I'll chop a ton of veggies 2x a week and store them for snacks that I can eat while I work. Peppers, carrots, celery etc. are great.
The other stuff - make sure you have a routine, make sure you get time with family and co-workers, make sure you minimize distractions - that's all no brainer stuff.
Since I can't tell them apart, I treat all ACs as the same person.
1) Use 2 computers: one for work, and one for leisure.
Do not mix leisure and work, try work in a dedicated room if possible.
2) Define what you want to do today at the beginning of your day.
It's important to keep the motivation, and will help you concentrate your effort on what you have to deliver every day.
3) If you are a programmer, try agile. Pair-programming is much more efficient this way.
4) Try to commute once every week, just to keep contact with your coworkers.
If you work with agile, select the day they hold retrospectives.
Dedicate this day to communicate with the team, not to program.
Better luck next time bro.
Once upon a time I WFH'd for ~ 5 years with occasional travel and trips into the office. I was home alone all day with no one to distract me but myself. I increased my satisfaction and productivity by identifying and correcting some bad habits I developed early on. I suggest you keep a routine you are comfortable with and try to stick to it. Try to do the things you would do if you were going to head into the office and be face to face with people. Simple things like waking up to an alarm, brushing your teeth, shaving, showering, getting out of the pajamas all before starting work at a set time. Instituting that type of structure allowed me stop taking conference calls in my underwear with a 3 day beard, stinking to high hell with a bowl of Cap'n Crunch. By getting ready for work, I felt like I was respecting the job and my responsibilities by not anonymously being a slob. (Not that I don't long for those days in my current role.... M-F 9-6 Shirt and tie) -Gregg
If you are worried about staying focused and motivated, working from home probably isn't for you ...
I've been working from home for most of the last decade. Some people on here say you need an office with a door, and others say you don't. I guess that means that we're all different, and take the advice that works for you. Here are some of my observations and experiences.
If you have a stressful home environment, you won't get any work done. If you're in a bad relationship, are caring for an ill or elderly person, or have other stress like this at home, it will be very very difficult for you to concentrate on work. At least, it was for me. You might just need to get an office outside the house.
I have a supportive wife, which is helpful. However, she says that she doesn't know what I'm doing and whether or not she can interrupt me. Sometimes (like now!) I'm not working when I'm supposed to be working, and I don't care if she bothers me. However, basically when my office door is closed, that means I'm working and only interrupt me with the sort of things you'd call me about if I was at work.
My office is in a bedroom which is integrated right into the house. It works, but with two young kids at home almost all day, it can be a challenge to keep my work quiet when they're napping, and keep the phone muted when I get a call and they're running around being kids. It works, and I find that my clients generally understand that I'm a human being and have a life. This isn't a problem as long as I am available for them and do my job. However, if/when we move, one of my main goals will be to have an office that isn't integrated right into the living part of the house. One of my friends spends hundreds of dollars a month for an office outside the house. For me, I would rather be a little less effiicent, make less, spend less, and have the time at home. I'd rather put that money onto my own mortgage. But, whatever works for each person is good.
I spend time and money to make my work environment the way I want it. I have a fast computer with nice monitors, and I pretty much just buy what I want (within reason!). I spend a huge amount of time sitting here, so I want my interfaces and environment to be pleasant. I go to some clients' offices and see dumpy little monitors sitting on noisy ancient HP computers, uncomfortable crappy chairs, dirty carpets, whatever, and it makes me very thankful for my work environment here.
Communication is important. I am very proactive with my coworkers and boss with regards to what I'm doing, and I make sure I send detailed status updates regularly. I make sure that people know if I'm going to be out for an extended period, and I try to be available during working hours for phone, videoconferences, IM or emails. I want people to be really impressed with how easy it is to work remotely with me, not to think, "yeah he's good but it's hard to work remotely with him." As much as possible, I try to be the one who bends my work hours to fit others' time zones so that my location isn't an issue.
My family and I enjoy travelling. I have a backpack which contains my "mobile office", and it's almost always ready to go. I just need to slip my laptop in if it's not there already. That way, I can go to a coffee shop if I need a break from here, and have everything I need. We've gone on multiple international trips that have been part work and part vacation, and overall they've gone really well. I know that if I have my backpack with me, I can respond to any work issues that come up. On the other hand, when I'm on vacation, I'm on vacation. People know that I probably won't respond to an email or phone call unless it's really and truly and emergency.
Overall, I really enjoy working at home. I get to be part of my kids' childhoods in a way that I could never be if I worked somewhere else. It's great for my relationship with my wife too. Those minute-long interchanges through the day are invaluable. I can go down and get a glass of water and admire my daughter's drawing, or give her a hug. You can't do that from the office.
www.clarke.ca
I worked from home for several years for a company that by and large doesnt do that and feels extremely uncomfortable with it. And I was quite successful! Heres what I did.
You have to overcome the fact that people wont see you, and that makes them suspicious of what you're doing, you have to make the short time you're physically together count as much as possible, and you have to make sure everyone knows what you're doing.
1) You work from home, but get into the office once a week for at least a few hours. Talk to as many people as possible to raise peoples awareness of you. Be as freaking positive and happy and "I love my job and everyone!" as you can. They're only seeing you a short time. The perception you want to leave is as positive as possible. If you have complaints and things that annoy you, tell your spouse and leave it at that.
2) Status reports. Put everything you do in them north of taking a dump. Send them to everyone until they ask you not to. I was sending a status report out to a hundred and fifty people. Key learnings for the week, key accomplishments, some useful tidbits, and then laborious project status.
3) Do not ever, ever, ever say anything to anyone at work about how great it is that you work at home. Someone will get jealous and fix that little problem for you.
4) Be reachable and available and respond quickly all the frigging time. Carry a smartphone with internet, have a business line at home, and have everything there or accessible that you might have at work. The first time you simper "But I dont have a fax" or "my printer doesnt do double sided printing" you're hosed. People I worked with used to call me "Mr Always On, Always Available". Booyah.
If you wrap it up with having everyone know who you are, what you do, that you're a great guy that loves to work for the company, and they have a fairly positive view of you, you're golden. If nobody knows who you are, what you do or where you are, you're doomed. If you dont get yanked back into the office, you're going to get the crap end of the stick at review time.
By the way, 100% of this stuff is equally good to do when you work IN the office.
You may begin to realize at some point that if you should decide to work from home for the long-term, your going to watch your life go by sitting in the very same place on the face of the earth, day after day, sitting in a chair, staring into a light-box, with only occasional human contact, and hitting buttons. Not only does the notion itself sound depressing, but its also bad for your health because you're not getting much regular daily movement. My advice: find reasons to _leave_the_house_, and _exercise_. Sometimes I like to eat lunch while working, and that way I can go to the gym during the hour I take off during lunch. Or else maybe I'll take the dogs out for a walk around the block. Whatever it is you should decide to do, I encourage some form of exercise.
Unless I got a lock on the door or a divorce, I don't know how I'd change that.
Grow a pair of balls, and put your foot down maybe?
(My apologies if your lower half was blown off in the war.)
I started working from home recently. Once I got over the newness of it.. and the party over mentality kicked it. I found that I get tunnel vision. I will forget to do EVERYTHING that humans do. Remember to eat. This may sound silly but I have sat at my desk and around 4pm wonder why my stomach if growling. I would get up and walk directly to my desk. REMEMBER TO GET UP AND TAKE BREAKS. Your legs will love you for it. When you don't have the office distraction and gossip to pull you away from your desk.. Also, please remember your work hours.. Working a 16 hour day because .. well.. the office is right there and you have so much to do is not healthy.
Good Luck!
1: You're not there to baby-sit so if you got kids make sure you don't end up watching them instead of working. 2: Same goes for the TV it not a good idea to have one in your home office at least when you start. 3: Having a beer at the office might sound cool but at eight in the morning you might develop a problem! 4: Make a schedule and stick to it because when working at home it even easier to say. "Am just going to finish that later tonight!" You won't trust me! 5: Make a schedule and stick to it because when working at home it even easier to burn yourself to death by saying. "Hey I finish that now even if I have to work all night I can always take Friday off!" You won't because some other shit will come up it always does! 6: Set the ground rule with your boss or clients. The fact that you're working at home does not mean that you are on call 24/7 make that clear or you can expect calls at 3AM regularly!
It could be beneficial....but, if one personality finds itself helplessly dragged along by the other, a soap salesman who lives in an abandoned house and raises a skinhead army to overthrow world institutions.....then you'll know you've probably taken it too far.
Are you the same AC I replied to above? Because you don't sound like it.
It's not the "working from home" that's making you distracted......it's the distractions! You just need to step up and do what it takes to get rid of them.
If you can get rid of them, then fine. What if you can't? The AC above says we should be able to concentrate no matter how many distractions there are or how distracting they are, that we should just be able to "tune them out", and that's bullshit.
Tell you what, working from home is wonderful. Working for yourself from home is even better yet.
I agree completely. But in a corporate workplace, you frequently don't have the ability to control your work environment, and have to put up with what they provide for you. At my last office workplace, they provided me with tons of distractions and noise, and said that this was good for productivity and "collaboration". Total bullshit, and I quit. At home, at least I have some control over distractions.
If you are an IT geek, then there is a fair chance you have some IT gear in your home office (i.e. maybe a router or two, couple switches and perhaps a couple servers). If that's the case, then don't underestimate the effect of coexisting in the same room with the noise and the heat from that gear. Coming from an office environment, I took for granted that all of that stuff would be in a server room, but at home it may be in your office. Recommendation here is to get a good set of noise cancelling headphones, a good headset for your phone, and an A/C unit if necessary.
Come to think of it, a good phone, good headset and a good webcam are pretty universal requirements for teleworkers that are part of a larger team.
I've been a self-employed software architect for 4 years now, and all I can say is DON'T DO IT. After the first year of "working" from home I took a punt on a small, cheap office in my nearest city and never looked back. No family, fewer distractions, and yes - less wanking.
Shared offices BTW are even worse than being at home. The office environment for anyone doing anything even mildly technical (most of the people here) is a disaster as you cannot get more than 20mins concentration time before someone calls / leans over & speaks to you / you go grab a coffee with someone. 2 clear hrs gets more coding/design etc done than a whole day in an Office. Office-folk try this - hole up in isolation for a couple hrs - it's revolutionary.
Failing that, just go to a forgiving coffee house, buy an americano and code for as long as you feel your welcome is not overstayed.
Disagree because I am in Canada and work for employers in the USA and Romania. Cheques in US funds are mailed direct from either a corporate accounts receivable department or my escrow broker. They arrive directly at my credit union, where the nice girl behind the counter deposits them and clears them upon arrival, placing the funds in a US dollar denominated electronic account connected to the rest of my accounts via web interface. I pay no fees at all for this or the connected checking and savings accounts as long as I maintain a $1000 balance, which is easy to do with up to five cheques arriving daily. Wire transfers are costly (in Canada, anyway) and there was that whole dick move thing where the trade federation deleted the codes for the Iranian banks from the system.
First first post on Slashdot is definitely a working-from-home type of achievement. I suggest you spend your first month or two trying to get a first post on a Slashdot story, logged in, with a rational comment.
I've been working from home for the last 13 years and I currently work for a company where everyone works from home. I'm not so sure that you need a door to keep your family out as to help separate your work life from your home life. The hardest thing I deal with is leaving work at the end of the work day. It's far too easy to slip back into the office to take care of that one little thing. This leads to burn out and should be avoided at all cost.
Set a schedule and a routine then keep to them. This should include a dedicated work space that you use for nothing other than work. That seems silly but it really helps maintain discipline. For example, I take my laptop to the couch at the end of the day for personal work and net surfing. I also found that I had to turn my desk away from the beautiful view outside my office to get any work done. I have a fixed schedule and though I need have to, I get approval from both my supervisor and my wife to work outside that schedule.
There is no reason to be in-accessible to your family but at the same time, they need to understand that you're at work. I've been in many meetings where a small voice is heard asking permission to go to a friends house. While this is never a problem, hearing a boisterous family clamoring in the background during a conference call is extremely disruptive. Likewise, slipping up stairs to change the laundry is probably not a problem though slipping out to mow the lawn is. Ask yourself before doing something personal, "Would this pass muster if you were in an office with other co-workers?"
Finally, the most important part of working from home is communication. Get yourself a high quality wireless headset and no-cost/low-cost calling plan. If you're not on the phone for as much as half you day then your out of touch with what's happening in the rest of the company. That voice line can be either POTS or VOIP but it should be dedicated to your work. Trust me on this, you don't want your teen daughter throwing a tantrum on the extension because she can't call her friend while you're in a conference call with a client. I find that a Plantronics Calisto Pro over a Vonage line gives me good quality so long as I'm not presenting. If I am presenting then I'll use my cell phone so VOIP does not compete with the presentation for bandwidth. Speaking of bandwidth, don't skimp here. My only choice is Time Warner which has an unpublished habit of dropping my bandwidth to 128K just when I need it most. When I complain they refer me to their Terms of Service regarding peer to peer file sharing. It's frustrating because none of my network traffic is peer to peer file sharing. I suspect the limit is triggered by upstream bandwidth use exceeding some parameter but can't prove it. Their best idea is to refer me to their "Business Class" service which gets me over priced hosting I don't need.
Instant messaging apps are also a must for the quick questions and should get you immediate access to anyone in your company. Think if it as the equivalent to shouting over the cubicle wall or walking down the hall to poke your head into someone's office. We found that no one IM service worked reliably, not even our own dedicated LINQ or XMPP server proved to be reliable enough. We currently distribute a list of employees and their IM accounts on several well known services. I am accessible on MSN, Skype, and Google Chat while at work. The redundancy means I can still contact someone if one service starts acting up. Unfortunately, it also means I'll have two or three messages waiting when I come back from changing the laundry.
It's more of a single-person couch than a chair :) Similar to this pic minus the metal stand. I added an extra cushion under the seat, to match the height of a conventional desk chair. It's pretty big, but I'm a big and tall guy so this actually fits me very comfortably. I can sit straight with my knees at an 80-degree bend, while still enjoying good back support. I had to try a few of these before I found the right fit, but it was well worth the effort and expense.
My keyboard "tray" is just an Ikea table with adjustable legs, so I can slide it over the armrests. It's not ideal, as the keyboard sits a few inches too high for me to use the armrests, so I'm hoping to find or build some affordable ergonomic swivel/telescoping arm thing to replace the table, or perhaps just a cantilevered stand that slides under the chair, like some people use for steering wheel controllers.
Obviously, this big chair can't swivel nor roll around, but compared to the aches and cramps I used to get with desk chairs, this thing is like sitting on a cloud.
Another viable option would be a small armless futon chair. Really just a wooden frame with a good cushion. This is what I originally wanted to do, but I couldn't find anything suitable in my area and I'm not exactly the woodworking type.
-Billco, Fnarg.com
Nearly all good advice so far, both those who offer encouragement to take it seriously and those who insist you must enjoy the "alternate" routine.
However:
The one bit of advice I can think of that nobody else has hit upon was to warn you about that big metal box full of food just steps away from your new workspace. Sure, "at work" there's probably a vending machine or cafeteria nearby, or at least a coffee shop or fast-food joint right around the corner, but there you have to buy a pack of crackers or an ice cream sandwich or whatever. "At home" you have all your favorite foods, conveniently located right beside you, and you already own each and every delicious morsel! It's already yours, you bought it and brought it home for the express purpose of eating it, and if you aren't careful you can easily add a brand new "freshman 15" every few weeks or so.
Trust me, I speak from experience.
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When I first started telecommuting I set up rituals to tell me that I was at work. I would get up, get dressed, head around the corner to a deli to eat breakfast, and return home to my office and that was my "commute" by which I got into the working mindset.
These days, none of that matters. Telecommuting is normal for me and I'm just as effective getting up, grabbing a coffee and heading to the office in my PJs as I was with the whole ritual. What works best for you will depend on your own personality.
However, one thing that I have found extremely important is to not just communicate, but OVERcommunicate. When you meet an important deadline, don't just tell your boss, mention it on the the department-wide mailing list. Chime in on on things like office arrangement discussions where you don't actually care who gets a window or not. The thing is, BE NOTICED. The first time I was telecommuting I learned that half the office thought I had quit, because they never saw or heard from me any more. My collaborators on any given project knew what I was doing, and knew how I was contributing, but no one else did. They weren't blowing my horn, so when raises and benefits came around, they were rewarded but I wasn't.
These days I keep up a steady correspondence with numerous folks at the office and make sure to let everyone know when I think I've done good. In return, there has been much greater recognition of what I've done for the company, and now on the occasions when I actually visit the office, no one says "Who's He?"