this thought was inspired by Masher
One of the peculiar things about Working From Home full-time for almost a year, is my productivity. It’s sky-high. Starting a day at 7am is routine, finishing at 6.30pm is normal (except for the at least once-weekly network changes, which don’t usually conclude much before 11pm).
We all do a little extra over and above our normal working week for our employers, but that’s 50-60 hours/week, far in excess of my contracted 37 hours/week.
Masher was musing about what he missed from his commute (I’d guessed that podcasts would be on the list). But it set me thinking about what I missed from my commute.
Very little.
My commute is 16 minutes on the Ninja, or 28 minutes in the car.
But hold on, that’s not quite right.
On the Ninja, I’d miss filtering. The A52 is a big pile of problems at the best of times, but the added challenge of filtering through 2-3 lanes of traffic (most of which is trying to kill the Ninja or me and sometimes both of us) at speed (because, frankly, that’s the only way to filter) is a large shot of supercharged adrenaline that nothing else on this earth comes close to matching.
But the thing I do miss about WFH isn’t the underwear-discolouring adrenaline high of filtering through multiple lanes of traffic, some of which is routinely driven by National Village Idiot Formation Driving Team. No, the thing I miss about WFH is the softer side of working. Remote technology and collaboration tools are really excellent devices, but sometimes we need a softer side to working with people.
Laying in a Teams call, no matter what the topic, brings with it an air of formality that pitching up at a colleague’s desk with a mug of hot chocolate doesn’t.
Sitting next to a close colleague, having a social chat about a mutual interest and, after a couple of minutes, asking a question, clarifying a point or getting a better understanding of a thing or a person or getting a better picture of their conflicting pressures are softer conversations that are easier, these chats have more value, these discussions have a level of… quality. Quality that Teams calls or IM chats just don’t have.
In a recent conversation I was asked which I preferred, WFH or WFO. It was an easy question to hand-off. I’m 60/40.
My preference is sixty percent WFH, 40 percent WFO.
How about you?
WFH has more appeal when Iām WFO and vice versa. On balance I prefer WFO for the same soft reasons.
Aye
If it wasn’t for my horrible commute, I would say WFO, definitely.
As you say, those desktop conversation over a cup of tea are far more enjoyable. Teams is brilliant, but I wouldn’t have made the friendships I have with some people at work, over a video call, I’m sure.
As for filtering: never enjoyed it. Too many idiots out there and it only takes one of them..
You want adrenaline, try jumping out of an airplane. Worked for me š
Why would I want to jump out of a perfectly good aeroplane?