Ballad in Plain E

I read with interest Brenda’ latest post at Library Technician Dialog: “Working at Home“. It prompted me to try to verbalise my thoughts on this topic. Since I moved to Winnipeg I’ve been working two jobs: in the morning, I work at a law firm, and in the afternoon, I telecommute from home to my job with Stem. It has been a huge adjustment and I don’t think I’m entirely used to it yet.

I like both jobs a lot – I get to work on great projects and feel valued and appreciated. But as for the arrangements themselves, there are pros and cons to each. I think what I miss the most in general about my old job is the social aspect of it. Even though I’ve never been a huge workplace socializer, I think it’s impossible to ignore the subtle effects of having other human beings to physically share a workspace with.

At my “office-office”, my library is on a different floor from the lawyers’ offices, the mail room, the staff room, reception, etc. So unless I’m up on that floor running around or getting research assignments, it’s quiet and there’s not a ton of traffic other than, well, the people using the library (or the candy jar). This is a double-edged sword: it’s both peaceful and lonely. While it’s nice to have a calm work environment, working with others can be energizing. And now as a solo library tech, I miss my previous arrangement working as a librarian-library tech duo. I miss having a partner in crime; someone to bounce ideas off of; someone to panic/gripe with when you get a particularly tricky research question.

Here are some of the more superficial things that I like about working away from home in an actual office:

• Ready-made coffee all day
• Fun office antics & gossip
• Random moments where people stop what they’re doing and come together (e.g., watching the Obama inauguration on the big screen in the lawyer lounge)
• Commiserating about Mondays

And here’s what I’m not wild about:

• A huge network of technology means you’re much more dependent on the (generally overworked and understaffed) IT department than you would be in a home office
• The car doesn’t scrape itself; waiting for the bus in -40 degree weather is even less fun
• Fixed working hours
• Commiserating about Mondays

Working from home, however, has its ups and downs, too. I love the flexibility to take three hours to run errands at lunch, knowing I can just start my “shift” later. In my arrangement, it doesn’t so much matter when I get my work done as long as I do get it done. In a similar vein, though we always have priorities, I don’t generally get slammed with rush jobs when I’m working from home. I generally choose my tasks for the day and approach them in a way that works for me.

(Also, working from home is a lot more comfortable than working in an office. Let’s be honest, would you rather wear nylons or sweatpants? I choose sweatpants.)

But it does get tiresome being in front of the computer all afternoon. When I sign off from work at the end of the day, I really don’t want to get back in front of the screen for as long as possible.

As Brenda says, “Personally I would miss the staff interaction and I needed to remember to still take a coffee break. Some things are hard to explain by e-mail and you might want to walk over and tell Sam something.” That’s been my experience, too. Sometimes in person really is best.

Lucky for me, I have a new co-worker at Stem who happens to be a good friend of mine – and who’s moving to Winnipeg next week! Though we won’t be sharing an office, we’ll be able to schedule time to meet and work together, which I think will benefit us both, and the company as a whole.

I guess in the end, my biggest challenges is that I find it difficult to treat my home-office as if it were a real office – and this is both in terms of self-discipline AND in simulating less sedentary work habits. The other day, Steve said to me, “Grab a cup of coffee and sit and brainstorm a bit” and my first thought was: “Wow, what a treat!” It had never occurred to me that not all my work has to take place in front of the screen. But of course, when I worked in a team at my old job, when we had a big project to work on, we’d always grab a coffee, find an empty boardroom, and brainstorm with minimal distraction. We were much more efficient when we were spared the distraction of email alerts and phone calls every few minutes!

Every article that you read on telecommuting or working from home emphasizes the importance of getting up and stretching your legs, giving your eyes a rest, and taking regular breaks. But as rewarding as breaks are, I find them hard to take. Sure, I pause from work and check my personal email, read some cooking blogs, etc., but if you don’t get up from the computer, I don’t think it counts as a break. I’m considering using an egg timer or something to encourage this habit.

Do you work at home? Any tips for making working from home easier? Or for making a job you do from home seem more like an office job, with all the benefits and none of the drawbacks?

I love Gmail. Really, really love it. I can’t believe there are still people using Hotmail or Yahoo when Gmail is available!

So I was excited to see this CNET article about a nifty new tool from Gmail Labs: “Send & Archive Combo Button Economizes Gmail” (hat tip: Steven Cohen). I realised I’d never looked at what’s actually available from Gmail Labs and took a tour. Here are some of the options I’ve turned on:

• Mark as Read Button: Tired of spending all that effort to click on the More Actions menu every time you want to mark messages as read without reading them? Now just enable this label and that is just a button click away!

I used to have this simulated using a Greasemonkey extension. SO handy!

• Forgotten Attachment Detector: Prevents you from accidentally sending messages without the relevant attachments. Prompts you if you mention attaching a file, but forgot to do so.

Wish I could have this on Outlook at work. I forget to actually attach at least once a week, it seems. Embarrassing!

• Google Calendar gadget: Adds a box in the left column which shows your Google Calendar. See upcoming events, locations and details.

Handy!

Lastly – I didn’t turn this one on, but it’s hilarious:

• Mail Goggles: Google strives to make the world’s information useful. Mail you send over the weekend late at night may be useful but you may regret it the next morning. Solve some simple math problems and you’re good to go. Otherwise, get a good night’s sleep and try again in the morning. After enabling this feature, you can adjust the schedule in the “General” settings page.

You can get to all the Labs offerings by choosing Settings>Labs