Cal Newport recently wrote New Yorker piece on working from home. Cal’s a Georgetown computer science prof, and the title of the piece says it all: “What If Remote Work Didn’t Mean Working From Home?” Let me just say up front that I absolutely LOVE working from home. So – sorry Cal – there’s going to be no need for me to rush out and rent space to get on with the business of doing my “knowledge work” remotely. But the point is well taken, and it is this: Come the end of the pandemic there are going to be a lot of people either unwilling or unable to return to the office. And for some of them – those whose home offices are too fraught with the distracting trappings of personal life, say – a rented nearby tele-work place may be a good option.
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The article begins with a survey a number of examples of that particular kind of “knowledge work” known as “being an author.” For instance, Peter Benchley wrote “Jaws” from a rented office in the back of a furnace factory near his home town of Pennington, New Jersey. On a less noisy note, Maya Angelou worked out of a hotel room and usually wrote poetry sprawled on a spartan hotel bed. Historian David McCoullough liked to write in a garden shed in the back yard of his place on Martha’s Vineyard. John Steinbeck often wrote from aboard his fishing boat, notebook balanced on his knees.
All due respect to Mr. Newport and his esteemed cast of famous authors who found their own homes too distracting for the business of putting pen on paper, but… as a computer guy, I’ve got my home work space set up exactly as I like it. Furthermore, when “return to office” becomes the post-pandemic norm, I’ll be loath to do so. And that’s not only because of the small but non-negligible portion of my peers who refuse to get vaccinated. (Ahem – this one’s for you, BRG!). No, the fact of the matter is, I’m more productive from home than I ever was in the office. And I’m not just referring to all those years I spent with a super-long commute, either.
At home, if you’re gonna interrupt me, you’ll have to reach out to do so. No more stopping by the good old cubicle for a nice coffee-break chat. No more impromptu team meetings when the proverbial corporate-ca-ca is hitting the proverbial project-deadline fan. Wanna meet or talk? Good, put it on my calendar. No need to schedule a conference room either because Zoom capacity is essentially unlimited. Got it? Goooood.
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“Knowledge work” from the 392 Midstream Airbnb sits at the perfect midpoint between “Working From Home” and “Return To Office.” And if you don’t believe me, feel free to ask any number of guests who’ve used it as such.
Now, leave me alone so I can get some dang work done here!