OMG - I just discovered the joys of working from home!

[Porsche-O-Phile]

I've seen the light and the light is good. . .

So I had to meet with a client down in Orange County this morning - had a good productive get-together for about two hours to go over some ongoing and upcoming projects. Left there and visited a job site (also down in Orange County) and wrapped up there around 1500. Dilemma ensued. . . Do I REALLY want to drive all the way up to Glendale (about 60-90 minutes, depending on traffic) to my office, getting there at maybe 1600 or 1630? OTOH, I didn't want to just pack it in for the day, 'cause I'm busy as heck right now and have a lot of immediate issues to keep on top of.

To complicate this further, I normally work until "whenever" (just depends on workload) but our cheapass office building has been shutting off the HVAC promptly at 1800 every evening, so after about a half hour past that it's pretty unbearable to stay in there and work.

I figured "screw it" and headed home, where I've been responding to my litany of e-mails and phone calls in comfortable solitude (free of distracting co-worker conversations or phone calls) and just looked at the clock - 1800! Sweet! I just hacked through a HUGE amount of backlogged stuff without interruption and without having to deal with B.S. traffic and runaround. Way cool! I was doubly shocked that I (1) got so much done in such a short time and (2) that I just sat down, got 2-1/2 more hours worth of work in and I'm still feeling fresh and in a good mood. AND I got home before anyone else and got the best parking space. . .

I gotta' do this more often! Me likey!

This is boding well for my eventual desire to get out on my own and start my own practice, but one thing at a time I guess. . .

Best thing is the beer fridge is only a 15-second walk away when I'm all done instead of an hour's drive home at the end of a "normal" day. Oh well, about another 30 minutes and it'll be time to "go home" I guess.

[dtw]

Working from home ROCKS. Especially with gas prices up, I've been trying to either take off completely or work one day from home as much as possible this summer.

I also find I get tons more done at home. Can listen to whatever music I want, no staff or clients interrupting me every five minutes, no time (or gas, or money) wasted going out to lunch, etc. I get more done and in less time.

Another perk - 2 hour conference calls are a lot easier to take in boxer shorts.

[legion]

We had a parking issue at my building. We had 12x employees in the building and 8x parking spaces. So, from March-May they let anyone who wanted to, work from home one day a week.

I picked Wednesdays. Now, my drive to work is only 7 minutes...but I could wake up an hour later. I literally rolled out of bed and started work in my pajamas. What was normally my morning coffee break was my morning shower break.

I had Fox News on in the background. I got 2x the amount of work done. Mostly because I was in no meetings...

[oldE]

Biggest time-wasters in anyt people's days are meetings. It is important to talk with people and get updates and feedback on projects and ideas, but it seemed to me the meat of the most productive meetings was handled in about 5 minutes or less. Usually everything else was people trying to sound like they were making a contribution.
The hard questions are better asked, (and answered) out of the meeting forum, because people don't get as defensive about their shortcomings, errors or path.
Some of the best ideas, in my experience, came not out of formal meetings, but out of having a cup of coffee in the cafeteria with one or two people on break.
I know some people need the constant re-enforcement to maintain the feeling they were doing something important, but I was always happy to be working two hours from head office.
Les

[jluetjen]

I agree. I've been working from home (full time) for about 4 years now. It's hard to beat the commute or dress-code. I'm also not tempted by all the people who like to keep candy and chocolate in their offices and never eat it -- while I do. The only down-sides which need to be managed:

1) Have a healthy sense of guilt so that you don't let yourself get too distracted by non-work things.

2) Some times it's too quiet. When I used to work in an office, I never liked people who had radios on in their cubes since I found the noise distracting. I always had people in and out of my cube and never needed the background noise. Now that I work from home, I often will put music or CNN on just so that there is some noise. Otherwise the house is just too quiet.

3) Make sure to get face time with people. It's sometimes too easy to just stay at home in your shorts and talk with people over the phone. It's important that you also see people in person because a very significant part of the conversation (and even the relationship) depends on non-verbal communications.

4) It's sometimes easy to let work overflow into family time (and vice-versa). At least in my job I find the separation between work and non-work tends to blur. It's sometimes hard to "leave work at the office" because the office is right here.

Never the less, it would be really hard to switch back to dressing for an office, and wasting and hour or two a day in the car. Not to mention the fuel bill. Most days I just take my bike for any local errands (excluding meetings).

[Jims5543]

I used to work from home for 3 years when I started my own business. It was great, but, I started to miss the commute, so I would go out in the driveway and sit in my running car for 30 minutes freaking out and cursing at imaginary traffic. My neighbors thought I was nuts. Maybe I should have fake commuted wearing clothes instead of my underwear?

[ben parrish]

Jim, too funny.

[azasadny]

I have been able to telecommute on a regularr basis over the past three years and found it to be a very good way for me to focus and get alot of work done without interruption. Especially when my grandfather was living with us and he was getting near the end of his life, the ability to work from home was great! I think the toughest part of telecommuting is letting your family/friends know that you're "working" not "playing" and that your work time has to be respected. If you're not careful, others (and maybe even yourself) will start to see "work at home" days as "extra days off". It works out well for me, especially if I have alot of paperwork or documents to complete and I don't want any interruptions.

[dtw]

Good point Art. I always spend my telecommute days with my 3 year old daughter - even if I'm working, any time around her is better than none. She's remarkably respectful about it and seems to know I need a bit of space when the laptop is open, but she'll pop in from time to time for a hug.

The telecommute days are practically days off in my mind - stress levels stay at zero and I usually accomplish all my goals for the day early in the afternoon.

[legion]

Originally posted by dtw
The telecommute days are practically days off in my mind - stress levels stay at zero and I usually accomplish all my goals for the day early in the afternoon.

Ain't that the truth...

[Porsche-O-Phile]

I liked it so much I'm doing it again today. . . Only 1100 and I'm 2/3 done with my crap for today. That'd never happen in the Pit of Infernal Darkness.

[alf]

Originally posted by jluetjen
I agree. I've been working from home (full time) for about 4 years now. It's hard to beat the commute or dress-code. I'm also not tempted by all the people who like to keep candy and chocolate in their offices and never eat it -- while I do. The only down-sides which need to be managed:

1) Have a healthy sense of guilt so that you don't let yourself get too distracted by non-work things.

2) Some times it's too quiet. When I used to work in an office, I never liked people who had radios on in their cubes since I found the noise distracting. I always had people in and out of my cube and never needed the background noise. Now that I work from home, I often will put music or CNN on just so that there is some noise. Otherwise the house is just too quiet.

3) Make sure to get face time with people. It's sometimes too easy to just stay at home in your shorts and talk with people over the phone. It's important that you also see people in person because a very significant part of the conversation (and even the relationship) depends on non-verbal communications.

4) It's sometimes easy to let work overflow into family time (and vice-versa). At least in my job I find the separation between work and non-work tends to blur. It's sometimes hard to "leave work at the office" because the office is right here.

Great advise. I split my time between my Home Office, Redmond Office and Tokyo Office. I like the Home office the best Harder in Summer with the kids home though.