Remote Working (part 2)
May 12, 2008 5:06 pm Development, StrategyIn my previous post I said (right down at the bottom) that the only thing I missed about home working was the social side of going to work. I’ve been thinking about this and I think it has more to do with removal of stimuli (yeah, bear with me).
Working from home is great, I get loads done and a lot of this work (despite being mostly programming work) requires communication. We mostly use chat (or email if anyone’s away from their machine) but there is a sterility in the chat conversations, most of them are one on one aimed at finding something out, and I think this along with familiarity, which may turn to cabin-fever, of spending more time than ever at home (yeah I do go out and I do have my ‘work room’ so I don’t feel like i should constantly be working) is leading to a state where there is no more stimulation.
How to overcome this…
- Meet up with work colleagues, try for once a week (it depends on how remote you are!)
- Have informal group chats on the go as well as the get to the point one to ones
- Don’t forget that the person hasn’t turned into a robot just because you talk to them by computer!
- Use Skype/ googleTalk etc to actually talk, even if it may take longer
- Get out! go see people, I do an art class, photography workshops and go down the pub, everyone needs people! It’s all things I did before I started Home Working but without them I think I’d go mad! make sure you leave the house every day even if it’s just to walk round the block.
- Keep learning, and keep sharing what you you learn.
It’s been nice having the chance to do some home working and I think there are loads of situation where it’s advantages are huge. One idea I had to encourage the social side of work yet keep the ‘home’ ease was to have local centres, you could have a community hall, or a purpose built one, but having a local hub where you can get a coffee, some technical help, access to some of the kit you may not have at home and… people. The hub could be a business centre with all the facilities like meeting rooms or it could just be a glorified network coffee shop or internet cafe. I know that there are some remote trading floors where the traders work from their towns trading floor instead of going in to the City, they still get the social, and the tips! but don’t have to commute (as far), so why not expand this for anyone who doesn’t need to be in the office.
Anyway I’m starting a new job in a few weeks, office based, but with developers working from two locations so the remote working skills and discipline will be handy.