Which of you Obnerites have the pleasure of working from home? I was just asked to do so, as there's not alot of room in our new office. I definitely love having NO commute, saving $$ on dry cleaning, noontime visits from Mrs. Gordo, etc. But I think I'm dying of boredom staring at these walls, and my productivity is going down (like right now). How do you do it successfully?

i typically work in the office, but i have the option of working from home which i use from time to time.

i find i'm more productive at home for some reason, although i think if i did it regularly, i'd have a harder time staying focused as time went on...1 hr lunches become 2, etc.

i use google tasks a lot, write out my list of to-do-ness and just burn through it. if i'm done in 4 hours, i'm done. if it takes 8, it takes 8

If I could do this, working from home would definitely be my preference.

I worked from home for a year and a half and didn't mind the actual working from home part but the hours from my job were insane so it was awful. Also, we had just had a baby and have a tiny house (1000 sq ft) so the baby crying didn't mix well with me trying to focus.

Ultimately, I found a new job so I could get back into an office and work fewer than 60 hours a week.

When I'm not traveling, I work from home (50% of the time, at least). I usually do one or two conference calls a week with the home office (haven't been there in over 2 years)- if the telecons are before 10 AM, I make it a point to be drinking coffee wearing only underwear. I sporadically get document submittals to comment on. Other than that, as often as I can, I let Management know that I'm fucking buried in work and cash pretty damn good paychecks.

In reality, I'm wasting time posting nonsense on 2 or 3 different forums and facebook until around 4 PM, when I go to the tavern and drink Belgian beer till I get the blind staggers.

I love my job.

I have been working from home full time the last three weeks, since taking the new job.

Tons of pro's and cons...

Hard to stay motivated when my munchkins are running around upstairs playing, and I'd rather be with them then in the basement. But, i do get to play my music, and surf the net at will, as long as my work gets done...

I could easily do this, but rent an office anyway - gotta get out of the house.

Of course, my commute is 7 minutes on a horrible day.

If I lived in ATL or someplace requiring a commute, I'd be bout it-bout it.

yep, i can work for home pretty much whenever i want but i prefer to be in the office just so i can physically meet with people if need be. my last job was the same. as long as my shit gets done and there's a little "40" in my weekly timesheets, they dont really care.

however, one job i had was me working from home 100% and at first it was great but it ended up being a terrible, awful decision

THIS is what I need to do. I'm sure I can find cheap office space somewhere close. Just need my company to pay for it.

Gordy, could you work out of nearby coffeeshops?

I guess I could for a day or two now and again...but I think I'm on the phone too much.

i have the option, and sometimes do, but love my office and the folks i work with, so we usually end up coming in.

I worked from home exclusively for a couple of years and it got pretty old--plus now that we have the kid it makes it harder to get shit done; I still do it one day a week to give my wife more time to work with her clients but that's about my limit--I like having somewhere to go even if I do spend most of my life on the road.

do it once or twice a week. however, its not nearly as much fun since my wife and daughter have been there during my wife's maternity leave. i used to like to watch stupid movies and jack it all day. luckily she goes back to work next week.

I did it for a few years but didn't like it. If you have the discipline to actually really focus and get your work done and then go do whatever you feel like, it might be great. If you don't, you can spend a lot of time quasi working. Also, there's much less separation between work life and home. I don't even really like the idea of a short commute. An hour is bad but so is 7 minutes. Give me 25-30 minutes please. Then I have time to mentally decompress in the car with a few tunes and force myself to get to another part of the city everyday.

I totally agree with the separation between work life and home thing.

I do most of my work from home these days, but I have an office available to me and am required to be their briefly on certain days to communicate with the people paying my bills.
Like some people already mentioned, I will stop by a coffee house or do some work at the University, so that I'm out of the house and around other people for a while.
The only reason I tend to avoid the office is due to the fact that like Toots, some of my work only takes a short time to complete and I don't want to be stuck in a stuffy office doing nothing.
And I see nothing wrong with two hour lunches, naps or watching bad movies, as long as the work is done well and done in a timely manner.