Offices might be great after all
Let’s all go to the office, put on noise-cancelling headphones, and talk on Slack, so we can work remotely together.
That about sums up what offices have become. A collective of people focused on their own work, deep in thought, shooting bursts of communication on Slack or Email, desperately holding on to their own flow and focus, dreading an interruption that could come at any moment.
And sometimes you talk face to face.
And we have made it comically unnecessary for everyone to. There’s the internet, email, Skype, slack, IRC, a zillion other ways to communicate across vast distances without lag. Hell, we can talk to spacecraft orbiting Jupiter, even probes exiting our solar system can send us messages in real-time, limited only by the speed of light.
But we can’t build a website without everyone coming to the same room every day. Wat?
In 2016, why do so many people still wake up every morning, put on their shoes, and go to the office? Hell, why do I?
Well, I do it because somebody jingled golden handcuffs in front of my face and said I had to. Then I kept doing it for a year and now I kind of like it. Like a trained house puppy.
Here are some of the pros I’ve found:
No screaming toddlers
If you’ve ever been to an office, you’ve noticed that there are no screaming toddlers. There’s also no loud music, nobody listening to Snapchat on full blast out of annoying little speakers, and people avoid talking on the phone. That, or my noise-cancelling headphones really are worth the $300 I paid for them.
My screaming toddler is this little fucker:
When he screams, he pierces right through your very soul. Your whole brain reverberates with the sound. When he screams, you can hear him from a block away. I’ve tried.
I’ve never been entrusted with a real toddler, but I imagine having them around is not conducive to concentrated hard work. Having anyone around who even passively demands attention is productivity killer.
Cheaper
You need a work space. A room or area that’s just for work. This helps keep the screaming toddlers at bay, keeps out the spouse and roommates, and helps you get in the zone.
It helps you get in the flow too. Sit down at your desk, put your hands on the keyboard, and your brain can’t help but think about work. If the right clothes can put you in work mode 1, how much do you think gearing your entire environment for work can do?
But home offices aren’t cheap. Especially not ones with doors that lock. You need doors that lock, if your screaming toddler has opposable thumbs.
My screaming toddler doesn’t, but my home office doesn’t have a door either. It’s just an enclosed balcony. Not very spacious, but it’s mine and it helps me write. My very first only-for-work space.
This little nook raises our rent by about $700 per month in San Francisco. A full-size room would add at least $1,500. Wouldn’t it be great if somebody else paid for that?
And for my office office they do!
Office space for 20 people costs a company some $15,000/month according to 42Floors. If your employer paid everyone enough salary to get a decent home office, that’s $30,000. For those $15,000 they save, they can get you free food, cool office equipment, and have enough money left to pay for happy hour now and then.
Everyone saves!
Easier to be lazy
It’s easier to be lazy in an office. Not because you can browse Facebook all day, you can do that at home, but because it’s easier to lean on your team.
Can’t write clearly enough to be understood? Just walk over and talk to them!
Too eager to wait for somebody’s reply? Just walk over and talk to them!
Can’t research and figure something out? Just ask someone, maybe they know.
Don’t know how to form the rest of your idea? Unsure of what to do? Ask someone, they’ll help.
That’s the killer feature of offices, really. It’s easier to help someone when you can interact with them directly, point at things on their screen, grab their keyboard and show them when they’re being dense.
If you’re a manager and your job is herding cats -> cats are easier to herd when they’re all in the same room.
Ego boosting
If you’re a manager, you can look upon your team and see everyone hard at work. It’s good for the ego.
Tired? Just bug someone.
When you work from home and you get tired, there are many things you could do: You could take a nap, watch some Netflix, read a book, play video games, go for a walk, or cook some food.
You can’t do most those in an office. You can go for a walk, and you can cook, if you’re lucky. Some offices let you nap.
But you can always faux work.
Too tired to write code, design specs, or debug things? You can review pull requests more meticulously than usual. You can remind the team about tech debt that still exists. You can push and prod to build mindshare for that cool new tool/language/library/technology you found.
Ran out of those? You can go talk to other parts of the company and give marketing ideas, suggest product improvements, stick your nose in design, or even business development. You’ll even be seen as a go-getter and a good team player. It’s great!
Show up every day and do the work
Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work. All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself.
~ Chuck Close
An office culture forces you to show up every day and do the work. Rain or shine, hell or high water, you will be there and you will spend 8+ hours doing the work.
It’s the only way to excel.
PS: I write about being an engineer and creative [almost] every weekend. You should subscribe by email.
