Adventures in home working

As part of HP’s happiness at work initiative they have listed 25 new places to work.  I’ve repeated the list (minus a few of the less relevant ones like the Eiffel Tower!) below with my comments in blue:

1. The garden. There’s nothing like an English summer. And even if the sun shines, you can still get some work done in the garden. With the new Intel® Next-Gen Wireless-N technology in your PCs and a compatible network, you can stay connected at over twice the range and five times as fast as you can with current wireless networks. I often work in the garden, but in the UK its often too cold or too windy even when it’s sunny so a conservatory is essential.  Also good luck with trying to ready your screen unless like me you invested in a outdoor screen.  Also forget the high speed wireless and concentrate on getting high speed ADSL!
2. Shed. Garden sheds have moved upmarket. Companies like Green Retreats and The Garden Escape can turn the humble shed into a smart office with insulation, electricity and double glazing. Best of all, you can take the office with you if you move house. With a second battery charger or notebook docking station, you can plug your Notebook in and start working immediately.  Definitely,  I am just in the process of getting my wife Debbie a garden room which will be used for work and play.  We are moving my lab server and her laptop in there and it will be super insulated so they should be enough to keep it warm, and I get off-site backup as well.
3. Coffee shop. JK Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book in cafes and coffee shops. Many offer wireless networking so you can get online. I often work in Coffee shops, Cafe Nero is my favourite as I love the chocolate cake.  Find a time when it’s quiet and try forgetting the wifi, its just another distraction.
4. Beach. With HP’s 3G Mobile Broadband you can work on the beach just as easily as in the office and still get online. Just don’t get ice cream on the keyboard (although if you do, the Mylar layer we put underneath it should stop it becoming a disaster).  I live by the beach but I’ve not had much success working on it, but I often snuggle down in the sand dunes for a conference call while I’m out walking.  You need a outdoor screen on your laptop though.  One thing I will be trying is doing some dictation using Dragon Naturally Speaking out of the wind in the Dunes, miles away from anyone.  Normally though for me working on the beach is low tech, a book and a phone.
5. Airport. They make you rush to the airport hours before the plane leaves and then you have to sit around and wait. Why not use that time to get some work done? Most airports now how have wireless networks so you can get online, and companies like Priority Pass will give you access to lounges with business facilities, even if you’re not flying business class.  I don’t fly internationally that much, I fly nationally once a week, but for me short flights and laptops don’t mix but they are a great place for having a chat, reading a book or processing email on my Blackberry.  For long flights I prefer reading and DVD movies.
6. In bed. If you get a broadband connection with wireless networking built-in, you can work anywhere in the house. Including the bedroom. No thanks
7. Library. Public libraries are quiet and full of studious people. Just like an office ought to be (but usually isn’t). The British Library in particular has a very good business section. I love working in libraries, but I prefer to choose a book at random and then just find a comfy chair and read for an hour.  It’s a great escape when the girls are out shopping
8. Home office. See our article: The A-Z of the perfect home office.  I’ve written plenty about this already and I’m redesigning mine now.
9. CEO of the sofa. P.J. O’Rourke’s book of the same name shows how much work you can get done from your own living room (and it’s very funny to boot).  Definitely,  I do all my feed reading in my recliner in the living room during family TV hour in the evening and I’m definitely getting a Sofa or a recliner in my new home office.
10. Park. Personal trainers are turning Britain’s parks into fitness boot camps; why not turn your local park into an office one? You can make phone calls and have inspiring ideas while taking a stroll and then do your email from a park bench, using an HP Voice Messenger Smart Phone.  Starting to repeat myself now, we have a great park 5 minutes walk away, but a parks for fun and for reading, not much  IT here for me.  Although I might admit to doing a bit of email processing and a few voice notes on my Blackberry if I’m waiting for the kids.
11. Hiking. Take along an iPAQ or a Smart Phone and you can stay in touch and get some work done even while you are enjoying the view. Get a padded Notebook carry case to keep your system safe and secure. I do a lot of work while out walking, listening to podcasts, recorded conference calls that I’ve missed, making voice notes, thinking.  I don’t do too many phone calls because of the wind on the coast.
12. 30,000 feet. With an extended life battery, you can use an HP Notebook for nine hours or more without recharging. Plenty of time to get some work done – and watch a DVD – on a long-haul flight.  See above - Airports
13. In the bath. Churchill had a habit of giving dictation from his bath tub. It might be a good place to think and talk, but we recommend against using anything electrical in the bath!  I read for half an hour (at least) in the bath most nights, but normally fiction.
14. Walk and talk. Dictate replies to your emails while you walk using the HP iPAQ 514 Voice Messenger.  Yep,  I do this on my Blackberry a lot and am about to try converting to text with Dragon NS.
15. Restaurants. Eat. Think. Work.   I’m a home worker so often I see little point travelling to the office for a meeting, let’s meet for lunch or breakfast - much more relaxing and fun.

I’m a mobile worker and a happy one, but I can imagine that lots of mobility projects just provide more burdens on the time of already stressed out employees.  The whole always on, can’t go 5 minutes without email culture seems to be replacing face to face contact and telephone conversations. 

I’ve seem a whole load of business cases for mobile devices that rest on efficiency improvements that are only achieved by displacing real-time collaboration, thinking time and relaxation.

So I was very pleased to see HP take the initiative and set up a collaboration with The Chief Happiness Officer under the banner Business runs better on happiness.  HP have taken a few useful first steps:

Our happiness experiment had two parts. First, we surveyed 800 workers, from companies with up to 100 employees, to find out what would make them happy. They might be shy of telling their boss, but they didn’t pull any punches with us. Second, we subjected volunteers to an experiment that tested people’s responses to different working environments

and they have provided the research online:

» Read about our experiment and its results

» Find out more about our research

» Read the Happy People press release

I have read a little on the results of their research, and to be honest it doesn’t surprise me, although I also don’t think it’s that reliable as the subjects probably responded as much to the attention they were receiving and the novelty as they did to the changes.  However in my personal experience I have seen significant improvements from simillar changes, here’s a snip:

The same workers, given the freedom, tools and trust to work in a more ‘free-range’ style, experienced a dramatic improvement in their mental wellbeing. The results were startling:

• Productivity shot up by 400 percent
• Stress levels fell by more than 50 percent
• IQ scores increased by an average of 28 percent
• Blood pressure was lower
• Short term memory improved. Volunteers retained 33 percent more information

Alexander also announces the news on his blog.  In particular I liked this offer:

As part of its ongoing ‘Happy People’ marketing campaign, HP will be providing free consultancy to UK businesses on how to improve ‘happiness’ within the office through the use of HP mobility technology.

I already have energy saving bulbs in my home office (and the rest of the house) but this Christmas I thought it was time to make a bit more of an effort so now I have my centre desktop monitor plugged into one of these plugs.  I then have an 8 way extension cable plugged into the other socket into which I have plugged my:

1. Second monitor
2. Third Monitor
3. Desk lamp
4. Behind monitor lamp
5. Scanner
6. Camera charger
7. External CD writer

This way when I switch on my centre screen all of the above power on, and when I power off my centre screen they all magically power off as well.  During winter this isn’t much of a big deal as I need my computer gear to heat the office but for 3/4 of the year it should help.

I still leave my desktop PC (and my lab server) powered on 100% of the time, since it’s doing too many jobs while I’m not using it:

1. print server
2. Foldershare “server”
3. disk to disk backups
4. Image backups
5. laptop synch
6. heating

When I get my gas central heating replaced in the spring I won’t need the extra heating so I will consider powering it down, and my lab server will move into - and heat - my wife’s garden office.

I’m looking forward to moving the lab server out of my office and into Debbie’s.  Without it my Office is essentially silent, it won’t be as hot in summer and I get high speed off site backup.

Although I was aware that I was being exposed to a lot of EM radiation in my home office I didn’t really give it much thought, that is until I read this article - The Gathering Brainstorm - in the Ecologist magazine.  I then did a quick count and found that I was being bombarded by:

1. A WIFI access point less than a meter away
2. A mobile phone 30cm away
3. A laptop WIFI 30cm away
4. A DECT phone 50cm away
5. Another laptop WIFI 2M away
6. A WIFI Access point 5M away through a wall
7. Another DECT phone 3M away through a wall
8. Bluetooth
9. A wireless keyboard and mouse

I decided it was probably too much of a risk given the current poor state of research,  so I made a few changes:

1. Switched the two laptops in the office to wired connections
2. Disabled the WIFI in the office and now only use the one that is 5M away
3. Set my Blackberry to autoforward calls automatically to my landline as soon as it’s plugged into power
4. Moved the DECT phone a lot further away
5. Switched to a wired keyboard
6. Switched off Bluetooth,  I hardly ever use it anyway - prefer wired headsets

This list now looks a lot better:

1. A DECT phone 1.5M away
2. A WIFI Access point 5M away through a wall
3. Another DECT phone 3M away through a wall
4. Wireless mouse

I do a lot of work while out walking,  normally this takes the form of phone calls, dictating notes, listening to recorded teleconferences and listening to PODCASTS.  While at home I found that I could scan my RSS feeds with my laptop resting on the handlebars of my exercise bike (which is in the living room).  Finally I often watch VidCasts or TV programmes downloaded using the BBC iPlayer while on the exercise bike.

However I have never managed to do any real computer input while on the go, so I was intrigued by this new workspace design from Steelcase.  I’ve seen custom designs like this before but this is the first productised walk station I’ve seen. 

I’m currently re-designing my office and I don’t think it will include a Walk Station as it would take up too much room, but it’s very likely that it will include an exercise bike.  I’m also seriously considering Dragon Naturally speaking to decouple me from my desk a bit more and reduce the reliance on my hands (shoulders, elbows, wrists). 

I’m currently brainstorming ideas for my new home office,  I spend about 6 hours a day in it right now, so its the most important (time wise at least) space in my life.  Debbie and I currently share the room and I essentially have one quarter of the wall space, Debbie has two walls and the whole family share a wall of storage. 

Now that I have insulated, lit and boarded out the loft we have a lot more storage space and Debbie will soon be getting her own garden room, which will be part office, part craft space and part chill out space. 

Bottom line is that the room will become a real home office for me with lots of potential to create some more varied working environments, spread out a little, tidy up a lot etc. 

I’m currently looking for inspiration, good sources here:

1. Home office warrior setups
2. Scott Hanselman’s home office

but right now these are a few of the things on my mind:

1. a very comfy chair that I can relax in and read and work with my laptop on my lap
2. a small two seater sofa
3. an exercise bike
4. a coffee table where I can lay out books and magazines I am reading
5. a meditation cushion
6. some plants
7. an ioniser
8. new art
9. a larger central screen - I currently have three 19″ screens - but I work with a lot of large complex spreadsheets, presentation slides and documents and I would definitely benefit from more space probably 1600*1280 would do it
10. a 4th small 1024*768 screen for screen sharing on web conferences, many people still have 1024*768 laptops and this would provide them with the best experience.  My desktop has a spare video connection and I have a spare screen so it just space that stopping me
11. reduce the amount of wireless radiation in the room,  I currently have a wireless access point, 2 wireless laptops, a mobile phone and a DECT phone in the room and that’s a lot of radiation
12. more inspirational visibility of books
13. clearing the scanner and printer out of sight,  I hardly ever use them, but they are important for the rest of the family
14. a Polycom Skype communicator, once Polycom release Vista drivers

Looks like Microsoft is finally realising that custom workspaces is one of the keys to increasing employee productivity.  Rather than assuming that individual offices is the only - and best - way to work they are now moving to a building design that can evolve with the needs of the team. 

I like this idea, whilst I have never had the luxury of a budget that stretched to a personal office (except at home) I have always tried to:

1. give team members input into their office design
2. created environments that could be easily rearranged to suit the needs of the team at a particular point in time.  We found we rearranged our offices at least every 3 months
3. provided lots of different types of space, from quiet space, to ad-hoc meeting rooms, library areas, collaborative work areas and formal conference rooms

I’ve designed 4 Offices over my 20 years and it’s probably had more impact than anything else I ever did as a manager.

In the Microsoft Office design I particularly like the Atrium and the Coffee bar, but these are expensive and grandiose and you can do a lot even in the most basic of office buildings.

Tom Davenport is spot on, with this post:

Here’s a next big thing: companies will need to redesign their workplaces to better fit the needs of knowledge workers. The idea that we should spend our workdays in boring cubicles — either in big downtown buildings or suburban office parks — is increasingly out of kilter with the way people actually work and how they want to spend their lives. It doesn’t take into account our needs and abilities involving mobility, social networking, stimulation, and fun. I’ll bet that the best knowledge workers will be seeking out companies with workplaces that offer more to them.

Anyone who reads my blog knows how passionate I am on this topic and over the years me and my teams have done lots of experiments in workspace design that have proved just how much untapped business and personal improvement is available for companies willing to innovate and allow their teams to design their own working environments.  Tom points to a good case study that seems to address at least the first tier benefits:

Of course, companies frequently undertake initiatives involving new work environments, but none is as visionary, well-planned, and well-executed as Capital One’s “Future of Work” (FOW) program. This program was implemented on a pilot (but substantial) basis in the company’s Richmond and McLean, VA, campuses. The FOW program combines a variety of different office environments with a strong emphasis on mobility and mobile technologies. There are quiet sites, coffee bars, team rooms, and accommodations for working at home. The program has already yielded substantial increases in employee satisfaction and self-rated productivity, and Capital One has lowered its costs at the same time

I’m sitting at Boaters Landing Cafe today, Debbie and I have just had breakfast and now I’m working in the sun on my Tablet.  The view is great today with the sun shining on the wet beach and it’s even more interesting because our friendly Swans have decided to come and settle down next to me - on the other side of the window! 

A few minutes after this photo the swans curled up in the sun and kept me company for half an hour, until I had to leave for the Doctors.

Click on the image to get it in all of it’s glory. 

Scott describes his home office in great detail in this post.  I’m a little jealous because he has his own space (I have to share mine with my Wife and she’s not very tidy!) but we have a similar setup, although Scott has even more monitors than I do!.  If I had the office to myself I would get rid of Debbie’s desk and replace it with a reclining chair or a sofa for chilling out, reading and informal meetings.

I really appreciate it when people describe how they work and I think workspace design is often the most neglected area.