Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Study Shows a Productivity Boost of Working From Home

inc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

241–250 of 301 posts

Re: Study Shows a Productivity Boost of Working From Home

#241

Post by loco5niner »

sdedovic wrote: post #165
adriand wrote: post #114

I think it depends on what you want to optimize for. If you want to optimize for individual productivity (and there are no trust issues) then sure, working from home is effective. However, you may decide that the individual productivity loss of having people work in an office is outweighed by the group productivity and morale gain from having people working together. Here are some reasons from a holistic company pers…

I agree but I found a mixed strategy worked best. Monday, Friday in the office. Wednesday, Thursday out. That way I can get a feel for the week on Monday and a retrospective on Friday. Plus Fridays is usually the "Culture Building" day (taking it easy, maybe having a beer in the afternoon, playing some board games). And Monday's are great to catch up with the team after the weekend, bring donuts or some snacks in the…

> Monday, Friday in the office. Wednesday, Thursday out.

That sounds great. No more Tuesdays!

Re: Study Shows a Productivity Boost of Working From Home

#242

Post by mr_tristan »

Nowyouknow wrote: post #225
mr_tristan wrote: post #211

I've worked remotely for my last two jobs, and in general, love it. I live in a city I love, and the companies I've worked for are in places I really don't want to be in, physically. What I don't see, however, is a "third option" that I'd really, really want: the option, say, one day a week, to work in a shared space, with people related to my domain. My company actually has an office that's in a suburb of where I li…

Have you tried a coworking space? Look into it! I'm actually trying to come up with a way to regularly do this and expense it, just got to pitch it the right way :)

Yeah, in the end, I guess I'm just trying to find ways to justify a budget for a coworking space. Seems like option that's not frequently discussed when researching remote work.

Re: Study Shows a Productivity Boost of Working From Home

#243

Post by fsloth »

tluyben2 wrote: post #223
fsloth wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The rest of your points are absolute bull shit that can all be done remotely" I disagree mentoring can be as effective when done remotely. The channel width of face-to-face communication is higher than that of any other method. Furthermore, there are a lot of things that are communicated from senior to junior accidentally, for example, some simple efficient pattern of using the IDE, that would not get communicated i…

> The channel width of face-to-face communication is higher than that of any other method. Research to that effect? I know some people have that, I know I do not. So this absolute statement is already 1 datapoint (me) off. And I know others (who I mentor) who absorb mentoring far better via remote methods. When someone mentors me, I like to chew the information over, research it etc. This goes for most communication…

"I simply do not see many programmers (and I managed 100s over my professional life) being productive in the setting you suggest. "

To be precise, I did not suggest anything else beyond people being in the same location. I agree the type of bullshit you describe is plausible in a typical corporate scenario.

Given the reproducibility crisis in modern psychology, I would be hard-pressed to claim most thing dealing with humans as better than "anecdotal". I pass along those anecdotes that I find useful. In this context literary references are not "academic proof" but rather probabilistic proof that someone else shares my view and that it might be applicable to third parties as well.

The face-to-face plus whiteboard offering the widest communication channel -anecdote was taken from Alistair Cockburn's "Agile software development" that can be referred from example here (just look at the graph):

http://www.agilemodeling.com/essays/communication.htm

I have no idea how true that is in the general sense, but personally I've found this to be true. I've had and continue having tremendously valuable whiteboard impromptu chats that have clarified a complex topic to all stakeholders, helped me to understand some issue and thus saving worktime, or just helped to create a shared symbolic context for a complex technical discussion that otherwise would have been imprecise and hand-wavy. The fact that you can draw boxes, point at them, and perhaps draw arrows between them in a shared physical space with people just somehow seems to make everything easier.

Re: Study Shows a Productivity Boost of Working From Home

#244

Post by dvt »

kuriho wrote: post #103
dvt wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Personally I'd prefer living at a shared-workspace or company campus as long as work and living facilities are clearly separate. May I ask why? I'd prefer living close to my family and friends, many of which may not work for the same company as I work for. I'm trying to see what your motivating factors are because I, for one, could not disagree more.

A shared-workspace campus for you and your friends would work out then? You can picture it as a shared-workspace town if that is more appealing to you. Living quarters, parks, etc. on one side of the highway. A shared-workspace campus hosting multiple companies/teams on the other. Living and working stays strictly separate, everyone has a short commute and you still have all project members available on-site at the s…

> Frankly, I find this very unrealistic, but maybe that's because my friends and family are spread out across the globe.

I make very conscious decisions to work and live close to my family (Southern California). It's not unrealistic at all. In fact, having a solid social support system is by far more important (for mental as well as physical health) than making (slightly more) money in the Bay.

Re: Study Shows a Productivity Boost of Working From Home

#245

Post by emperorcezar »

Infernal wrote: post #143
emperorcezar wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This comment is the epitamy of the tech industry... Responding to actual data with antidote and personal opinion. Followed by the crowds upvoting.

Not to be picky, just an opportunity to inform - the word you're searching for is anecdote, rather than antidote. Also just while I'm here, normally I wouldn't point out spelling but, epitome.

Thanks. I would like to think I can blame auto-correct. v0v

Re: Study Shows a Productivity Boost of Working From Home

#246

Post by emperorcezar »

sparrish wrote: post #212
emperorcezar wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This comment is the epitamy of the tech industry... Responding to actual data with antidote and personal opinion. Followed by the crowds upvoting.

I would argue that since this subject is about remote workers, the crowds upvoting is data. Think about it.

I feel that one is data collected about productivity, and the other is a community survey. That's another form of data, but I personally wouldn't hold it nearly as high of an indicator as other data.

Re: Study Shows a Productivity Boost of Working From Home

#247

Post by CryoLogic »

ILikeConemowk wrote: post #32
kccqzy wrote: post #15

On the other hand, it is also imaginable that working at home away from everyone else makes communication harder, and more opaque. Or it can make you lonelier. Not every company has policies and culture that makes it conducive to work from home.

> lonelier How can being at home ever make you lonely when it gives you more time to focus on relationships that actually matter. Am I alone in thinking that those who expect any kind of meaningful bonding at work are misguided? Yeah, one can enjoy smalltalk and the like but I'd much rather change that for a chat with a friend or my dad early in the morning.

I am a single, mid-20's male and I did work from home for a year for a software company. It was pretty isolating. I tried to work from cafes or co-working spaces daily, but it was not the same.

Now I WFH 2-3 days per week and the rest in the office which is more ideal. My commute is pretty brutal (~1.5hr) so WFH can help me get more done on those days.

Re: Study Shows a Productivity Boost of Working From Home

#248

Post by aogaili »

acrive wrote: post #76

I had work from home. Never again in my life. Going to the office helped me to split the time in my day and mark when work and when I can rest. Also, when stressed a coworker can help much more easier than from home. My home is my home, my office is my office. Never mix these places.

Worked from office..never again.

Stuck in traffic, too many distractions, co-workers complains and politics. If I don't want to work from home I can go to a cafe or travel while work. Never mix socializing with work.

Re: Study Shows a Productivity Boost of Working From Home

#249

Post by ksk »

emperorcezar wrote: post #139
adriand wrote: post #114

I think it depends on what you want to optimize for. If you want to optimize for individual productivity (and there are no trust issues) then sure, working from home is effective. However, you may decide that the individual productivity loss of having people work in an office is outweighed by the group productivity and morale gain from having people working together. Here are some reasons from a holistic company pers…

This comment is the epitamy of the tech industry... Responding to actual data with antidote and personal opinion. Followed by the crowds upvoting.

What does "actual data" mean? All data is actual. A study is not the termination of a logical argument. Its a model that someone thinks best explains the gathered data. Most studies don't go anywhere. People keep doing them so we get better and better and eventually stumble upon something useful.

Re: Study Shows a Productivity Boost of Working From Home

#250

Post by ksk »

swat535 wrote: post #182
adriand wrote: post #114

I think it depends on what you want to optimize for. If you want to optimize for individual productivity (and there are no trust issues) then sure, working from home is effective. However, you may decide that the individual productivity loss of having people work in an office is outweighed by the group productivity and morale gain from having people working together. Here are some reasons from a holistic company pers…

Ah yes.. we should sacrifice productivity for the sake of "vibrant company culture", whatever that means. I have been working remotely in a large company and allow me to refute your points. > - To more effectively add to the culture of the company. If your culture is already remote, or shifting towards it, then it's a non issue. > - To take part in ad hoc training opportunities, either to teach someone who needs help…

Remote working only works well for a certain type of person. If you're that person, good for you. There are few people who are self-motivated enough to work remotely. Most people need and want daily human interactions with co-workers. All the problems you dismiss as non-problems, are only non-problems for you.

Ultimately, in either case, you can't tell someone they're doing it wrong if what they're doing is working for them and they're successful.

Post reply on HN