31–40 of 56 posts
They're good. They only come to me when they're having a problem and it's only a few times a day so I can get a lot of work done. If I must, I close my door and put a sign "Coding but welcome" and I'm sure some just wait until it opens but I'll never know.
Can’t concentrate at home because Slack (virtual open office plan).
Always open office.
At my old company, under extreme cases, I put up a physical whiteboard on top of my desk with "Focus mode: on" and "Focus mode: off" depending on my mood. Worked great, and nobody seemed offended. I may think that even the directors love it when they saw it.
I prefer working with my team. Years ago, when telecommuting was the bright future, I thought working from home would be great. I don't anymore. I'm more productive when I'm with the people I work with. We can discuss stuff, help each other, etc. More team cohesion, more cooperation, more knowledge sharing, more working in the same direction.
Solo is great. But collaboration is the key to success.
Yes, I'd rather just be alone. Some weeks I manage to get as many as four days in a row working from home, but most I end up just taking Friday as a WFH day so I can focus on getting things done. As I type this in my open plan office at 1:39 PM, there's a vacuum cleaner 20 feet away, three different conversations going on around me, the stairwell door at my back opening every minute, people walking in front, behind,…
I was worried I would end up not getting enough work done or worst yet appearing as if I was not getting enough work done. But being able to work remotely from a quiet place actually meant I got more work done in a shorter time period, and it also afforded me proper breaks from my work. Like heading out for 1-2 hours and doing Pilates, or going for a long walk in the park.
For me breaking my workday up into like 2/3 3-4 hour sessions, with exercise and other activities as breaks actually improved my work, and I was way happier than sitting in an office for 9 hours straight.