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38% of remote workers work from bed

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Re: 38% of remote workers work from bed

#361

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Virtual desktops and 3 finger swipes for me too. I cannot understand how having multiple apps visible helps, because you have to continuously switch your eye focus and if you have distracting apps like Slack in your field it's even worse. So laptop with 1 window maximized is the best for me. And the mobility that it allows: move to the sofa, armchair, cafe, I even deployed from a taxi. I tried to buy and use external…

thinking about it, I'm probably really biased. I do robotics, so live analysis of sensors, processed data output running on a real platform as well as involved simulations is part of my process. I need to be able to glance at data and plots quickly without changing my current screen

For sure, one thing is setups are very personal and we shouldn't try to all normalize to the same one.

Re: 38% of remote workers work from bed

#362
One size doesn't fit all - and that's exactly the issue with office work. After years in IT business I know exactly what are my "peak" hours/time and when it's better not to do anything work-wise and just focus on something else. Forcing me to work specific schedule in a specific office setup is no go for me. Plus other things like being able to exercise instead of my commute, eat healthy, use my equipment and tools I prefer, being able to refocus when I need and take advantage of my biological peak/down hours/time made me super efficient and productive.

Re: 38% of remote workers work from bed

#363
post #168
post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Being in the same space physically I think speeds up a lot of things. In small teams and esp. at early stage startups your whole day is a meeting where things are discussed and resolved spontaneously. Who's going to write the fine-detail code if they whole day is a meeting? It may change from case to case, but for some small teams the biggest challenge is to produce something so good that it out-competes the produc…

> Who's going to write the fine-detail code if they whole day is a meeting? From my experience, in good teams people understand when it's time leave each other alone. I hate the word "sprint" which comes from the much hated "agile" culture, but it's what it is: there are these small sprints when everyone signals DND by taking on their headphones. Which also means only disturb me if it's very, very important or urgent…

> I hate the word "sprint" which comes from the much hated "agile" culture

Lowercase agile culture is not hated. What's hated is usually completely wrong implementation of that idea and cargo-cultism.

Even more so, the whole industry of capital-case Agile.

Re: 38% of remote workers work from bed

#364

I've been working remote for about 10 years. I've had "real" offices. I've worked in open-plan offices. I've had a home office. I've worked from bed. There are tons of good ways to do it. Lately I swap between a kitchen table and a chair on my porch. I no longer use multiple screens, I've just gotten really fast at swapping windows on my 15" laptop; I've gotten good at figuring out how wide my terminal window breaks…

> I couldn't put on my laundry and hang it up while I listen to other folks on the daily stand up.

I think stand-ups are useless.

Re: 38% of remote workers work from bed

#365

I've been working remote for about 10 years. I've had "real" offices. I've worked in open-plan offices. I've had a home office. I've worked from bed. There are tons of good ways to do it. Lately I swap between a kitchen table and a chair on my porch. I no longer use multiple screens, I've just gotten really fast at swapping windows on my 15" laptop; I've gotten good at figuring out how wide my terminal window breaks…

I never understand the ability to work on a laptop. For me it would be a significant blow to my productivity. How do people do it? I have 3 full monitors, one for running 10 or so processes that I can glance at stdout, then the other two monitors for having many different editor files open, numerous data plots, and multiple reference guides open, etc.

You're not looking at and digesting all of that information at once (unless you have an impressive dozen sets of eyes :) ). You're context switching, and you've found that the most productive way for you to context switch is to have everything fully available at a glance. For others, being able to switch at a literal glance is less productive and more taxing (those 10 process can be distracting!) so we use different tools or methods, like workspaces, tmux sessions, terminal tabs. I usually have three projects each loaded and available for attention at once with a key press, but I don't need (nor do I want) them actively visible alongside each other.

Re: 38% of remote workers work from bed

#366

Survey seems pretty flawed and potentially biased. The survey was done by a contractor/home improvement company so maybe they used customer's as their population? While SWEs might need/want a good desk setup, many office jobs just don't need it. I'm not sure people are really improvising but rather find sitting with a laptop is how they normally work anyway. And working in the bedroom can be misleading... it's often…

> Maybe the pandemic changed things but you could get decent chairs for $20 at goodwill.

Just get an Aeron and expense it.

Re: 38% of remote workers work from bed

#367

I've been working remote for about 10 years. I've had "real" offices. I've worked in open-plan offices. I've had a home office. I've worked from bed. There are tons of good ways to do it. Lately I swap between a kitchen table and a chair on my porch. I no longer use multiple screens, I've just gotten really fast at swapping windows on my 15" laptop; I've gotten good at figuring out how wide my terminal window breaks…

> Surely there are more optimal ways of doing stuff. Odds are that there is a Taylorist approach that would pull more productivity out of me. But much like my typing speed (~50WPM) isn't really the limiting factor in my programming skill, screen real estate isn't a big factor in getting stuff done for me.

Your work habits suggest the best "Taylorist" improvement might just be to let you roam. Seems to be working best.

> I could never have done that when I was in an office. I couldn't take 20 min and play banjo or accordion and come back to my problem with a fresh eye.

I've seen music/game rooms at good companies. If a company can't set aside some space for breaks, that's a red flag.

Re: 38% of remote workers work from bed

#368
post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow that's a tall claim because Aeron and the Steelcase leap are the gotos. I was always skeptical of gaming chairs long duration sitting solutions but maybe i'll head to a local store and give it a try.

I was always an Aeron fan because it is a great chair but also it was also a status symbol. Back in 2011 I was working at a startup that finally started making real money and one day a semi truck showed up in the back lot and everyone rolled their motley collection of random office shit chairs out and we unloaded the Aerons off of the truck, still wrapped in plastic. I still have that same chair in the office, 10 yea…

it doesn't seem to have an adjustable lumbar support area, as in, move it up or down? wouldn't that be a requirement since everybody needs the support at a different position?

Re: 38% of remote workers work from bed

#369
post #33

Maybe this is because a lot of tech workers are living in cities? Where space is expensive? There's no reason to live in a city if you work remote.

I'm saying that the reason cities are such expensive places to live is because a lot of people want to live there, because their work is there. If you aren't actually working in the city, you're paying a premium for something you're not using.

There are very good schools outside of cities, as well as good hospitals. There are also plenty of beautiful towns with tons of shops and whatnot within walking distance, or a short bike ride. And they are a lot cheaper to live in than a city.

Re: 38% of remote workers work from bed

#370
post #124

Bed. Meh. I love the water. Last time I worked from home (a couple of years ago), I built a custom desk/rack that suspended over our big bath to hold my laptop and mouse. I coded for hours in the bath. I had to be careful on the Skype calls though.

Isn't being in water for so many hours kind of bad for you? Also, similar question if the water is warm/hot and there's a lot of steam.

Yes. It is. I developed a form of eczema after too much and had to manage that. Cereve/Cetaphil and better duration management became my friend.
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