David Radcliffe <david@davidradcliffe.org> wrote:
I do have to say to anyone planning to work from home, make sure you have a proper work space.
For whatever it's worth: I have been working from home for the last 3.5 years. I live in Manhattan in a one-bedroom with a 4 year and now a 2 months old daughter, meaning I work on my laptop in the middle of the livingroom with all my life around me. I context-switch a lot; I put down the laptop to read my daughters a story or play for a few minutes, I go shopping, cook etc. But: when I go to visit the office (about once a quarter or so), I wonder how on earth my colleagues get any work done. They are constantly interrupted, asked to have coffee, lunch, breakfast, a snack, go for a walk and just chew the fat. Yes, I work a lot at night and on the weekends. That is the one thing that people who do not work from home are not aware of: you have no more distinction between "home" and "office", which usually means that when I'm home, I'm working. I could see how having a "home office" with a closed door could create this impression of "going to the office" and "coming home", but I don't find it either desirable nor (in Manhattan) practical. -Jan