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May 17, 2007
Today’s Question of the Day: Do you ever work at home and, if so, how productive are you, relative to working in an office environment?
While a number of friends now use their home as their office and have found a way to balance their "Work life while being at home life", for those of you who have to travel to an office to be at work, today’s Question of the Day (for you) is: Do you ever work at home and, if so, how productive are you, relative to working in an office environment?
(If you have a suggestion for a future question of the day, please drop me a line.)
Tags: Question of the Day, Jeff Pulver
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Posted by jeff on May 17, 2007 11:12 AM | Permalink
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Comments
I suck at working from home. I have to have a place to work at. Whether it be a coffee shop or an office.
Posted by: Clintus McGintus at May 22, 2007 07:17 PM
I couldn't imagine not working from home, the 3 minute commute from bed to the desk in the morning via the microwave for a coffee cant be beat.
I look at my wife getting ready for work in the mornings and think it's at least 90 mins before she gets to her desk in Midtown - by then I've replied to all my overnight emails and at least 3 or 4 calls into the day.
With very high speed bandwith, my own SBS2003 server, ip-pbx , scanner, video conferencing setup etc I hate when I have to travel anywhere in Manhattan - it's so inefficient.
It's almost like I'm happy to come meet you in San Francisco but ask me to come and meet you on the Lower West Side of Manhattan there better be a hell of a check their for my services/time.
Cheers,
Dean
www.collins.net.pr/blog
Posted by: Dean Collins at May 18, 2007 01:12 PM
As a translator I work only at home. Can't even imagine working elsewhere.
Posted by: Ludwik Stawowy at May 18, 2007 11:22 AM
I used to work at home 4days/5 for an e-business company. I must say that despite kids playing around me while working, taking a jump into my pool, driving kids to school or sports, having them to lunch, I never worked that much in my whole life! There were 2 days in one: 1 working time directed by my team's schedule and another when everyone at home was asleep where I could work my own way, planning future days of work. I never went in a hurry, I never lied at my clients when they heard TV playing cartoons behind the phone: it was really great.
Now, I'm working for an advertisement agency 5 days a week and when I need to take my computer back home to finish what's not it's like a real pain...
Oh, by the way, did I tell you that I was a man?
Posted by: musaraign at May 17, 2007 05:57 PM
You know, I can't take the liquor store home with me, but I do other work, like grant writing and web design, at home. My productivity at home is very good, partially because I have done it for a long time now.
Posted by: Becky McCray at May 17, 2007 12:32 PM
I work at home 80-90% of the time, and while I could be a lot more efficient in an office -- it typically takes me 12 hours a day in front of the computer to get in my 8-10 hours of actual work -- I wouldn't get nearly as much done in the long run. For instance, if inspiration hits at 11PM...or 12AM...or later, with a work-at-home setup I can simply walk over to my desk and jump right in. In that same scenario as an office hound it is far more likely that I would turn the page...turn the channel...turn over...and keep right on going with the non-work activity I am enjoying at that particular moment.
Posted by: K² at May 17, 2007 12:29 PM
I work almost exclusively from home. Most of my clients are global and i've yet to even visit some of their campuses. While i think i'm more productive telecommuting, i do sometimes miss f2f meetings that can make for a more efficient process.
Posted by: Jeff Schwartz at May 17, 2007 12:16 PM
I work from home every Thursday, almost without exception. I find it just the right compromise; it lifts my spirits on Wednesday night, it allows me to schedule appliance repairs, and I get easily twice as much done using Tim Ferriss' out-of-office autoresponder email (saying that I'm quite busy and checking email only at 10 and 4, and including my cell number).
Posted by: Stig H at May 17, 2007 12:02 PM
Pets distract while working at home. Guilt about leaving the pets locked up inside on a beautiful Spring day distracts me when I'm at work! Obviously eating my own pets is the only solution.
Posted by: Marshall Kirkpatrick at May 17, 2007 11:45 AM
Ummm I find that often at home I can get more work done than I can at my desk. That said, this paragraph applied earlier - at the moment I need to be at work as I need to get hands-on with the servers and workstations. But for just plain shutting out the world and zoning, nothing can beat my computer room and a good cup of home-made espresso...
Posted by: ted at May 17, 2007 11:29 AM
I have worked in pretty much any scenario you can think of (full time telecommuting, part time telecommuting, started a biz from home, full time in the office with a long commute and full time in the office with a short commute). I have found that having a dedicated office space makes all the difference. Preferably in a quiet area of the house with a door.
Of course I recently moved a quarter of a block down from my office so the lines are starting to blur a bit.
Posted by: Jesse Chenard at May 17, 2007 11:28 AM
While I *can* get work done at home, I have to hole up in my cave to do it, otherwise distractions will have their way with me.
It does seem easier to get stuff done at the office (except recording).
Posted by: Kevin Kennedy-Spaien at May 17, 2007 11:22 AM