Comments on: Working from Home: Month 3 Update

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 18:09:50 +0000

Are there any other online auction sites like Ebay that are good to list auctions? I mean I am interested in selling items on ebay and other auction sites at the same time to bring in more income.

By: Kelly

Kelly — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 16:30:45 +0000

David – excellent post. I've worked @ home for 6+ years and you pretty much nailed it.

In my mind – it's like you said re: not wanting to do the same job you had before working at home….it's not the location necessarily…it's the sense of freedom & independence.

I started a coworking facility where I live because I started feeling trapped & isolated working at home. Don't get me wrong – i love working at home — i just didn't want to HAVE to work at home.

i'll admit – I'm selfish – i want to work how i want, when i want, and WHERE i want.

Sometimes i'm social, sometimes I'm not. Sometimes i like having the kids & dogs and family around – sometimes I really just want a place where I can hunker down and focus on the work at hand.

In the end i think the lure of working independently is not 'working at home' it's about flexibility.

Coworking spots are great for this – because you come & go as you please — yet still have the infrastructure of an office and the support & camaraderie of a community of peers.

By: Dennis Gorelik

Dennis Gorelik — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 19:16:43 +0000

It's not that hard to find out if person can work remote or not.
When you have a candidate — you simply email him instead of calling.
And then interview this person asynchronously over email.
Ask to do something (over email again).
Ask this person to chat with you on IM. (Ask using email, of course, not the phone).

And only then if you were able to do email and IM — talk on the phone.

That would give you pretty clear impression if this person belongs to ~10% of people who can work remotely or not.

By: davidray

davidray — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 18:18:04 +0000

Totally. We are a high-performance agile team, and it's all remote. I think the multitude of communication tools have helped, but mostly it's because our boss has been incredibly careful as he hired people. He really took his time and picked people who could do it. I'm not convinced just anybody can.

By: Troy Tuttle

Troy Tuttle — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 17:16:18 +0000

David, You mentioned the communication tools you have. But I'm just curious, do you work on an Agile team now? And if so, how does it work from remote, even with good tools? The Agilistas talk about face-to-face communication as always being the best, but I always thought that was born from a lack of really good communication tools. So, basically, do you think Agile can be done well with remote teammates?

By: davidray

davidray — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 02:23:59 +0000

I work on weekends a lot. There's no 9 to 5 anymore at all. It's 9:23 pm and I'm working now (but I'm stopping to post a comment on my blog).

I've worked from the library, but not from a coffee shop or coworking space. So far, I haven't felt much on an urge to do so. I suspect that when summer arrives and the kids are here a lot I'll be trying stuff like that out.

By: Mark Mzyk

Mark Mzyk — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 02:10:30 +0000

David,

Do you now find that you work more on weekends? I'm curious if working from home blurs the typical 9 to 5 day. You take more breaks but work longer?

Also, have you tried the coffee shop routine at yet? What about at a coworking space? I know those aren't that ubiquitous yet, but one recently opened up near me and I've only heard good things about it. Note that I'm a full time office employee through, so I don't have any person experience to relate on this matter.

Thanks.

By: davidray

davidray — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 21:29:10 +0000

Hi Dennis,
1) I use Skype for most of my outbound calls because the quality of my iMac as a skype speaker phone is flipping awesome, whereas my landline, iPhone, and Blackberry Storm are all just okay. My iPhone is second best if use earphones while I talk. I use google chat and iChat for IM, voice chat, and video chat, depending on who I'm chatting with. I also use skype video chat similarly. I don't really use skype for IM that much.

IRC is our main method of communication within the team. We have a bot that records and archives the handful of chat rooms we use, so we can search the archives and find a discussion we missed or can't remember.

I interact with about a dozen people, give or take.

3) No idea what caused the smell, but you're probably right. The aforementioned stinker probably did not bathe.

Incidentally, I once had an allergic reaction to deodorant, which made me smell terribly. That was embarrassing.

By: Dennis Gorelik

Dennis Gorelik — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 19:24:49 +0000

1) Skype _is_ an Instant Messenger. Do you use several different IMs?
What IRC is useful for?
What do you use for Video Chat? Skype?

How many people do you interact with?

3) Are you sure that bad smell came because of lack of deodorant?
The most likely causes are health problems and lack of shower.
I doubt that deodorant would help in such cases.

By: davidray

davidray — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 18:40:03 +0000

Will,
I have Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker, Spud Trooper, Darth Dater, R2D2, Obi-wan Kenobi, and Indiana Jones (who sings when you hit his hat). They were Christmas presents from the wife and kids.