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Working from home

Fist Fun

13:05 / 02.08.05

So I have this new job where I am either working in some random place or "working" from home.

August being the holiday month I suspect I will get a whole month back here. I don't have any set work to do. I just have to prepare stuff for my job and keep up on the technology. Which means I could do nothing as long as I am available on the phone or to answer mails (although I have a blackberry so not tied to puter).

So I need to keep a focus and do some work so that I don't become a bum.

Who else here works from home? Any tips for actually getting stuff done? Do you like working from home?

Ariadne

13:52 / 02.08.05

I do like working from home, but I've never done it for an extended amount of time.
The positives are obvious - zero commute, noone looking over your shoulder, and you can hang the washing out/ pop out to the shops when you fancy.
The downsides - well, it's awfully easy to do nothing. And to snack all day. And to feel vaguely guilty all the time, even when you're doing as much as you would in the office.
I think you have to be quite tough with your self - decide what you're going to do, stick to deadlines and make sure you get at least some work done each day. And do try to get some human contact every day or you'll go a bit mad.

Fist Fun

15:35 / 02.08.05

Yeah, I think the social contact thing is important.

Scrambled Password Bogus Email

15:41 / 02.08.05

Totally...it's amazing how important that 20 minute bus ride / train journey or whatever can be. I'm self employed, and I used to be based at home, but eventually had to get a premises to avoid going utterly mental.

Also, speaking personally, there is a certain beauty to turning your back to whatever shit you have to do domestically because you have to go to work...

A pile of washing up and a dirty bath were guaranteed to stop me doing my job. Piles of laundry, that kind of thing. These are distractions which can be postponed when you have to go out and shut the door, but lurk large if stuck in their immediate vicinity.

bjacques

16:41 / 02.08.05

Get rid of the "sent personally from my Blackberry" in your emails. That .sig has the same negative cachet as mobile phones did in the US about 15 years ago. The concept tested negatively with my hastily-convened (just now) focus group here at work.

Seriously, all I can think of are the basic things like setting fixed times to start and stop, and make sure there's a door between you and the rest of the house.

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