By silicon.com, 16 May 2008 09:00
NEWS
In honour of National Work from Home Day, the silicon.com team stayed out of the office to find out just how easy it is to do your job remotely. Overall, everyone was glad not to have to commute in to work. But there is a price to pay and many found that the technology isn't quite there yet in some form or another. Below, the silicon.com editorial team give their point of view on how the great working from home experiment turned out for them...
Julian Goldsmith
It's been a frustrating day really. Usually I'm able to get on to the webmail service on my home laptop but not today. This means I'm reduced to IM, web browsing and my phone as business resources. The plus side is I'm close to the toaster.
I finally give up on my home computer mid morning after seeing if my work laptop will connect wirelessly to my ADSL router. It says it has, but I still can't get on IM or the web, so it probably hasn't.
Eventually, I give up and plug in the Ethernet cable and I'm up and running immediately, I think. I do have web access and IM but my email inbox won't update and I can't send mail. At least I do have contacts and past email addresses from my archive.
Towards the end of the day, a colleague gives me the URL for the webmail and I'm finally able to get to my inbox.
Working from home is very relaxing, but when things go wrong it takes a long time to fix on your own. We have had a couple of IM conferences but communication within the team is very disjointed. I'm left with a strong feeling of detachment. It's also very quiet. I don't have the TV or radio on, because I know it will disturb me.
Still, it is a real boost not to have to commute and many of my problems are start up problems, once I've discovered how to connect to the VPN, work should be a lot smoother.
Nick Heath
Working from home was certainly a mixed blessing.
After the initial joy of forgoing the usual two-hour train journey into London and sneaking an extra 10 minutes in bed, my computer nightmare began.
Despite two hassle-free experiences of home working my attempt to log into silicon.com's network today was greeted by an error message.
Several calls to the IT desk later I had limited access to my emails and by 9.30am I was communicating with my workmates via IM.
Working from home is great in theory but it depends on everything running smoothly, and where technology is concerned that is far from a given.
Everything seemed to take twice as long and by the end of the day it was almost enough to make me miss standing cheek-to-jowl with the other sour-faced commuters - almost.
Tim Ferguson
I enjoyed the extra 45 minutes in bed before making the long journey to the lounge to log on. I found the 3G card easy to set up and get online and was on the network by 9am. The 3G card became a bit slow in the afternoon so I switched to my home wi-fi network to send a large file.
In terms of filing stories and communicating with the rest of the team, we use IM and email a lot anyway so it wasn't a huge problem to rely on it more than normal. We had the news meeting over the phone between news editor and individual reporters - which was fine.
If it had been better weather I would have taken my laptop outside to the garden to do some work which is a luxury you don't have when in an office in central London.
Although I was grateful to avoid the 45 minute commute on the crowded Tube, I did find it a bit strange not to talk to colleagues face to face for the whole day. If I could teleport to the office every day, that would great but I think having a break from the commute occasionally is a nice thing to have.
Toby Wolpe
As the journalist on the silicon.com team who probably spends the most time working remotely, I've hardly covered myself in glory on the UK's National Work at Home Day.
The problems haven't been with the technology - the wireless broadband link to my desktop and laptop is working fine. All the apps, from email to content management, work just as smoothly as when I'm in the office.
The piece I was editing first thing about the dos and don'ts of job interviews went over without a hitch from my home near the Sussex coast to our sub editor.
The issues have really just arisen because I seem to have been slightly out of step with my colleagues all day.
For example, I know silicon.com's virtual news meeting must have happened because I saw the email listing the stories the others are working on.
Later I joined an IM meeting just as everyone had left. Then, I tried unsuccessfully to phone a few people in the office only to discover they were all out.
So, as seems always the case with home working, the things that go awry are usually to do with dealing with people, rather than with technology.
The morning's only successful interaction - apart from a few snatches of IM - were at home with my terrier Muzz, part dog, part paper shredder.
Bethan Jones
As sub editor at silicon.com I usually work from home for an hour or so every morning in order to update the site with stories occurring overnight, therefore I wasn't expecting to encounter too many problems with connecting remotely. So, as usual I was happily working away and rather pleased by the fact I wasn't faced with the commute into the office - especially as the weather had turned and rain was most certainly on the way.
Unfortunately, as the clock chimed 9am - just about the time I would usually be logging off and making my way into the office - the roar of machinery fired up as the builders directly outside my window started their working day.
This was not a good sign.
So the first problem I encountered was not a technological one but an environmental one. And to be honest, after just 10 minutes of the monotonous thud of a hammer being swung against a pile of bricks, I was almost missing the freezing-cold realms of the air-conditioned silicon.com offices.
Fast-forward one hour and the sound of a workman whistling the Match of the Day theme tune on repeat became too much. I had to find a new place to work.
Natasha Lomas
I'm on a press trip to BlackBerry-maker RIM's Wireless Enterprise Symposium in Orlando, Florida - which is taking place in the biggest Marriott Hotel in the world.
The hotel charges for in-room internet access but there's free wireless in the conference area and press room so it's not all bad.
Signal strength is excellent - and I'm apparently getting 11Mbps so no complaints on speed either (that said, the whole 5,000-strong wireless conference mob might have rioted if there hadn't been free and free-flowing wi-fi).
The press room is windowless and the wallpaper does nothing to help my jetlag headache but I find a spare power plug to keep my laptop juiced so dingy environs are forgiven. Desk space is limited but there's always the floor. I've worked in worse places.
Comments
There are 10 comments. Join the discussion
1. Paul Morris
The trouble with you city slickers is that you're all so-o-o-o last century - some you still haven't even discovered the benefits of fresh food and farmers’ markets yet! So it's no surprise that you have such problems with new-fangled concepts like WFH.
Here in Devon it's de rigueur for many of us, at least for some of the time. My 13 mile commute to Exeter, by car, can take 40 minutes, what with the narrow roads (if you meet someone coming the other way one of you has to reverse into a layby) and there’s always the chance of a sheep or a cow blocking the road.
The house is peaceful and quiet and the BT broadband logs on at 54Mbps (although quickly degenerates) and works perfectly every time. It’s an ideal environment in which to think and write – interrupted only by the occasional lowing of cattle, baa-ing of sheep or, once or twice, a car might go by. When it’s time for elevenses you hear the bell tolling above the thatched school roof over the way.
Wander round the corner to the shop to get a pasty for lunch and then sit in the garden, up by the pond, to eat it. If I need to think hard, it helps to be able to get up from my laptop and pace about a bit – a luxury hard to come by in the office.
Nevertheless, it’s still good to be in the office with everyone else for some of the time. It’s up to you to get the mix right.
2. Andy Lake
Whoa, you technical guys are covering yourselves in glory here, aren't you?
Really just underlines the point that if you're going to do it, you should do it properly and plan for it.
This kind of 'muddle along at home' approach is bound to throw up some problems. Lots of people do it, though, and the government's legislation even in some ways encourages it - flexible working as excpetion from the norm.
What is needed is a more strategic approach that enables year-round work from anywhere, then you can reduce your office costs too.
3. Richard
Thanks, an interesting demonstration.
However, what should we learn from hearing that even journalists who are dependent on and familiar with technology have such problems getting basic connectivity?
- Is "networking" still too complicated?
- Rather than understanding the technology, are we all just "users"?
- Do "security" policies prevent us from self-help?
- Is technology less reliable than its hype?
- Or, is it still something which is always fixed by those sad folk from "IT"?
4. Rob Nicholson
One word - "Citrix". Or as it's called this week XenApp. I am still completely flummoxed why all medium to large companies don't use it as their home working solution. Sure, it's got it's problems, mainly with multimedia but this is completely outweighed by the pure simplicity of connecting from home. Instead, they spend £££ on laptops which are used very occasionally at home.
5. Paul Wooding
Isn't a national work from home day a bit daft? What if you want to come into work that day? What if you have a dinner date or gig in town?
Surely we need to have a change of mindset that means you can say "I need to get a shed load of writing done today so I'm staying at home to avoid distractions" and not have to worry that the boss and your colleagues think you're skiving?
In this day and age, the notion that we should all travel into towns and cities causing mass pollution, gridlock and personal discomfort before we even start a day's worth of work seems bizarre.
6. Ralph
Unbelievable! (I'm having a 'foot/grave' moment)
BT has over 11,000 people working from home. We do everything we do in an office, except our offices are in our homes. It's a piece of cake.
You probably have lots of black deposits in your nasal passages everday and have to eat over-priced tripe?
Hmm, might wander down to the village now, a good 5 minute walk in the sunshine to the centre with that lovely deli........
7. Neil Briscoe
I get to work from home every day - but every so often have to do a commute into the office. I hate those.
I did notice that most of the technological issues seemed to be to do with wireless connectivity of one sort or another.
Whilst I do have wifi here, the only device which uses it is the mobile phone. All the computers are strictly wired - this has to be because lots of neighbours have Wifi too. I can live with the phone rebooting, but I can't do with not being able to respond to mails pronto.
I agree about the odd environmental issues. Its not a common ocurrance, but I have had builders working outside from time to time - its often a pain when that happens.
Oh, and finally, I do have the Radio on during the day - my mind has the ability to "tune it out" at need. I dare not work in the living room though - it would be too tempting to turn on the haunted fish bowl.
Regards
Neil
8. Drew Stephenson
I have to say that working from home just wouldn't suit me at all, there are far too many distractions available, all of which are preferable to work!
Mind you, my commute to work is either a fifteen minute stroll down the river bank or 25 minute cycle ride (not to the same office!) so it's really not too much of a hassle...
9. George
Tim - Have you ever tried using a laptop in bright sunlight? (face it, thats the only time you're going take it into the garden) not pleasant.
BTW did the IT support people also get to work from home?
10. anonymous
We have just finished working (three years) on a very low cost, software project that is ideal for most home workers, and for the folks left in the office and also the sales people on the road - but especially for all managers. We officially released it on 1 May 2009 - it is an encrypted online task and project manager with quite a difference.