[Misc] Working from home

[ozzygull]

Animal-tastic!

Animal is my second favourite drummer after Phil Collins see how many you can spot on my desk

 

[Machiavelli]

Tidier than mine, you can see the floor.

That's another thing about WFH (and I'm another who is -- now -- lucky enough to have my own office): you can do what you want to in there. Certain colleagues (tend to do admin work) need a perfectly organised desk and surrounding area; I'm not remotely interested in that, piles of paper that don't get sorted for months (although piles of paper are less of a feature these days), things chucked here or there and onto the floor, CDs piled here, books piled there -- it's my space to wallow in my own many imperfections

 

[dazzer6666]

That's another thing about WFH (and I'm another who is -- now -- lucky enough to have my own office): you can do what you want to in there. Certain colleagues (tend to do admin work) need a perfectly organised desk and surrounding area; I'm not remotely interested in that, piles of paper that don't get sorted for months (although piles of paper are less of a feature these days), things chucked here or there and onto the floor, CDs piled here, books piled there -- it's my space to wallow in my own many imperfections

This. My home office is a TIP

 

[Machiavelli]

Animal is my second favourite drummer after Phil Collins see how many you can spot on my desk

View attachment 179670

Four. It was going so well until you mentioned your favourite drummer. I'll give you two references:
1, American Psycho -- still can't work out whether BEE is being serious
2, "I'm talking Nonce Sense"

 

[Weststander]

That's another thing about WFH (and I'm another who is -- now -- lucky enough to have my own office): you can do what you want to in there. Certain colleagues (tend to do admin work) need a perfectly organised desk and surrounding area; I'm not remotely interested in that, piles of paper that don't get sorted for months (although piles of paper are less of a feature these days), things chucked here or there and onto the floor, CDs piled here, books piled there -- it's my space to wallow in my own many imperfections

Where I used to work, two senior ‘characters’ had chaotic desks, heaps of papers muddled together. When bollocked they claimed they knew where everything was. One was bloody awful at his job, his brain even in his 30’s was mush, clients were furious about the delays from him. One of my clients has a desk just like that, heaps of bedlam, but he’s able to in his mind to prioritise and he’s really good at his thing. He clears out by grabbing a few inches of papers and bunging them in ‘to be destroyed’ sacks.

Whereas I’m fairly organised, I have to be in helping clients.

The wide and varied human conditions

 

[Weststander]

This. My home office is a TIP

I thought you’d be organised.

 

[Weststander]

Animal is my second favourite drummer after Phil Collins see how many you can spot on my desk

View attachment 179670

Was that your beloved Technics in the earlier photo?

 

[ozzygull]

Was that your beloved Technics in the earlier photo?

No I ordered a headshell for a spare cartridge and the sent this keyring with it.

This is my real one

 

[Sid and the Sharknados]

That's another thing about WFH (and I'm another who is -- now -- lucky enough to have my own office): you can do what you want to in there. Certain colleagues (tend to do admin work) need a perfectly organised desk and surrounding area; I'm not remotely interested in that, piles of paper that don't get sorted for months (although piles of paper are less of a feature these days), things chucked here or there and onto the floor, CDs piled here, books piled there -- it's my space to wallow in my own many imperfections

My profile photo is of my desk during covid (yes my profile name and photo are just whatever happened to be in front of me at the time).
A pile of CDs, a cuddly toy, a deodorant can in the background and a speaker plugged into a CD/DVD player that gets louder as the volume number decreases all combine to sum up my home office.

 

[sussex_guy2k2]

Wow. Sounds like an Edwardian workhouse. Your point re trusting people to do their job is absolutely key - without that they’re doomed (or should be).

In many ways it’s an excellent place to work.

But yes, there are some old school processes still in place. We’ll see whether those change with the times over the coming weeks…

 

[Colonel Mustard]

I have yet to hear or read anyone say they are less productive at home. So either the concept of the workplace was fundamentally flawed (which is possible) or not all people are honest (which is possible).

I was usually less productive at home (now retired). The exception was when I had a strict deadline to meet for written work. Then I’d be up early to get going and work through to mid, sometimes late, evening. But if I was in a 'ticking over' phase I’d kid myself, and my colleagues, I was working when really I wasn’t doing very much.

That said, I did find a couple of things worked for me to help keep me motivated. One was not to flop around in a dressing gown as if it was a lazy hungover Sunday. I’d get up at the normal time, go for a 20 minute walk or so, get showered, and dress in office clothes. Proper shirt, non-jeans. It made me feel more businesslike and changed my mood away from normal home mode to something akin to office mode. Second, I’d use timers like Pomodoro to force myself to do something as intensively as possible for 25-30 mins, then have another timer to take a 5 or 10 minute break for a coffee or quick bit of fresh air before the next 30 mins of work. Might seem like overkill but I have an ADHD-style mindset and need external prompts like this.

The key is to find what works for you. It’s trial and error.

 

[OzMike]

I struggle to get out of bed when having to go out to work.
Little gets done on my 'admin' days !

 

[Guinness Boy]

Starting to work from home soon first time in my career. Only 3 months but very big change for me as Im a game developer and we had a 6 week crunch in February and March when I only slept at home twice and spending the rest of the time travelling between offices hotels or often sleeping in the office. The last two weeks Ive been off work but already bored as nasty word. But not really looking forward to just sit at home coding and counting feels like it could be lonely and boring. Anyone with experience from suddenly going from office living workaholic to couch potato pretending to work ?

Interesting post and follow ups.

I’ve worked in IT for nearly 30 years including as a tester, analyst and scrum master though admittedly not gaming. These sorts of swarms are incredibly rare and fill me with dread. Code that’s been written in the middle of the night by a tired person is always riddled with errors and often, without access to the product owner, the dev has just decided on their own interpretation of the requirements. It always ends up being rewritten.

It’s also very hard to VC. What was your devops process?

Moving a whole company to Sweden would also have been quite the challenge. I know a company that had a big dev operation in Ukraine when the war kicked off. Relocating their people cost millions and needed a funding round, and the speed needed meant they were just relocated to work from home.

The company I was with during lockdown, however, downsized the office, rewrote their travel policy to “essential only” and literally saved millions, savings that are still in place today.

In both cases teams inevitably worked from home and every developer I know has preferred it. They tend to be anti social anyway and just sat in the corner of the office in noise cancelling headphones, regarding scrums or any kind of process as interference from idiots, before lockdown.

I reckon you’ll probably get used to it.

 

[London Irish]

I did far more work at home and for longer hours than I ever did in the office. Most office time seemed to be spent chatting, sitting in pointless meetings or going for coffee (and I worked for most of the 3 hours I would have been commuting too)

Same here, for experienced people, working from home is a godsend for all concerned, productivity for management and binning a useless commute for worker. Younger less experienced folk will need and want more time in the office for their various requirements

 

[RandyWanger]

Where are you, Ubisoft?

I love working from home, I can get so much done in those 2 hours I'd normally waste on a train, either hit the gym, get on the bike/zwif do the nursery run and still be logged on before 9. Easy to stay connected with Slack, often huddle my work mates for a chat or a colab.
Lunches can be spent on Zwift or having a snooze, tend to eat healthier at home too and the best bit is I'm home as soon as I log off and get be straight with the family.

I went from 5 days a week in London to fully remote, to having a hybrid office but not mandatory, to 2 days a week and now 3. The company had a consultation last week as I don't think 3 days is working so hopefully back down to 2.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

I don’t have a TV in my office, but I do have a turntable, I sometimes use it when I am doing firmware updates, as there can be a lot of waiting for things to finish.

View attachment 179648

Nice. A restaurant I’ve been to a couple of times has a very calm open kitchen and they have a turn table. They were playing Kraftwerk and then Neneh Cherry last time I went.

Nobelhart & Schmutzig | Michelin-Sternerestaurant in Berlin | English Version

Nobelhart & Schmutzig has been “vocally local” from the start. Since first opening our doors in February 2015, we have grown fearlessly into our current role as Germany’s most political restaurant.

www.nobelhartundschmutzig.com

 

[ozzygull]

Nice. A restaurant I’ve been to a couple of times has a very calm open kitchen and they have a turn table. They were playing Kraftwerk and then Neneh Cherry last time I went.

Nobelhart & Schmutzig | Michelin-Sternerestaurant in Berlin | English Version

Nobelhart & Schmutzig has been “vocally local” from the start. Since first opening our doors in February 2015, we have grown fearlessly into our current role as Germany’s most political restaurant.

www.nobelhartundschmutzig.com

Buffalo Stance or Man Child? love Neneh Cherry

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Buffalo Stance or Man Child? love Neneh Cherry

It was the Raw Like Sushi album so both. Have you listened to any of her more recent work? Blank Project was an album of the year for me…just noticed it came out 10 years ago which is scary.

 

[South Stand Bonfire]

I currently work in an office and did throughout COVID at a very well run, but rather old school company (we sign in and out, we have set breaks, we get bollocked if we’re late etc). I’m currently trying to convince them to let me WFH for a few reasons:

1) there are so many distractions in the office that it’s actually more difficult to concentrate than it would be at home,

2) they struggle with communication at the best of times, even when I’m right next to the people that need to communicate with me, so WFH shouldn’t affect this,

3) I’ve worked out that I’m using a full 40 hours a month of unpaid time to ensure I’m there on time, plus the commute each way, so essentially I’m working an extra week a month,

4) things like going to the dentist require time to be made up. This wouldn’t be a problem if it was close by, but a 20 minute dentist appointment often becomes nearly 2 hours owed because of the additional commute to get there and back, and they round time up, which illustrates a ludicrous lack of trust in their employees.

And this last point is the key. We’re at a stage where employees should be trusted to get their work done (especially those that aren’t new employees, or those that require training), no matter their location, as long as the job doesn’t require them to be there ie in manufacturing. I appreciate employers want to fill the buildings they pay for, but not at the expense of my time that they’re not willing to pay for.

I had an issue with a colleague WFH recently. I won’t going into specifics but why is it unreasonable of your Employer to expect you to be at work on time and getting to your workplace (on time) is not part of your paid work time?

 

[ozzygull]

It was the Raw Like Sushi album so both. Have you listened to any of her more recent work? Blank Project was an album of the year for me…just noticed it came out 10 years ago which is scary.

No to be honest I didn’t know she was still performing/ producing music. I had Raw Like Sushi on cassette tape when it was released.

Her daughter Mabel has had some success recently.