January 21st, 2010
A few weeks ago, I tweeted
Thinking about a post for http://wahlog.com : what do I need out of a home office? Any thoughts on what *you* need in a home office? #wah
I received a few responses
@twistedanchor: more whiteboard space, less horizontal space to collect clutter and a way to keep my dog from sleeping in my foot space…
@dhughneil: in MY home office I need toys. I have a football here, for example, that I toss around etc while on conference calls.
@mpaclark: Coffee. Quiet. Internet. 
We’re in the process of selling our home, and I’m reevaluating what I’m going to need in my next home office space. I’ll continue to update this post as I determine more requirements in hopes of leaning more about what my true optimal work environment will become.
Necessities:
- Wired network. Cable preferred
- Window
- Air conditioning and heat
- At least three duplex electrical outlets
- Space for storage
- Door that closes
Niceties:
- Television
- Ceiling fan
- Overhead lighting
- Carpet
- Detached from house
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January 4th, 2010
This morning, when I came up to the office, I figured it would be chilly. I was surprised:
47 degrees!
It took the furnace a good 30 minutes to get the room up to 68. Outside temp was 23. Too cold for South Carolina!
I should probably leave the thermostat at ~60 or so overnight. The hardware only generates so much heat.
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November 17th, 2009
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November 2nd, 2009
Looking over my shoulder and seeing a little visitor painting on my iPod touch. Dog sleeping. Quiet.
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October 6th, 2009
StudiesOfColocation – Agile Bibliography
I’m going to be tracking this more closely – there are definitely some interesting topics related to colocation of software project teams versus distributed teams.
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October 2nd, 2009
One of my daughter’s first-grade friends is over for a play date. I hear:
“What’s up there?”
“My dad’s office.”
“It’s scary.”
A mess, yes. A total mess, definitely. Scary though?
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September 1st, 2009
There was a great mid-morning thunderstorm here yesterday, leading to the power going out at around 9:10 and staying out for 90 minutes.
Despite my whole office and network making that whirring “power-down” sound, the MacBookPro stayed on via battery. I unplugged the monitor and had all the app windows switch over to the laptop’s display, and I carried on with what I was doing.
I was thinking about all this after the power came back on and came to the realization that my productivity barely suffered during that entire time. The only blip for me was that I couldn’t connect to our svn server and couldn’t use the VOIP phone, but if someone from work really needed to reach me they could have called the cell or house phone. But I had work to do and got it done despite the loss of connectivity.
If I were in an office and the power went out, the gross loss of productivity would have been huge. I’ve seen it – during my time in an office the power went out a few times and there was a massive disruption to the time and energy of many people. They barely recovered even after the lights came back on – powering up systems, getting back to where they were, reconvening meetings, following up on emails, focussing on work again – essentially wasting much of the day.
Yesterday, that didn’t happen. I called a coworker to ask that he send an email saying my power was out; we chatted about some work items we had going on while I kept working on my current project. When the power came back on, I reconnected all my stuff and continued on. My productivity didn’t suffer, nor did the productivity of my coworkers.
Score: 1 for power outages at remote worker locations!
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August 19th, 2009
A map of where to score some free Wi-Fi in Charleston | TheDigitel.com
Excellent. Knowing where these things are is very helpful for those days I need to get OOTO.
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August 17th, 2009
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August 13th, 2009
The Lowcountry Innovation Center
The Lowcountry Innovation Center is our answer to the demand for a new type of work environment – one that meets the needs of the “Knowledge-Based Worker.” We have successfully created a work community that places highly skilled individuals from different fields in an environment that fosters interaction and collaboration.
The Lowcountry Innovation Center is a place for people to meet and exchange ideas, enjoy a cup of coffee, and interact with people outside of their company. It’s also a place to learn from those around you.
At the heart of this concept is the belief that individuals will perform at a higher level if they’re provided with a quality work environment. Engineers, architects, life scientists, information technologists and digital communication experts are at the forefront of job creation in the United States, yet today’s office environments focus on the segregation of companies instead of their interaction. Offices are usually built to maximize every usable square foot, and very little thought is given to how individuals will interact within a building.
I’m very happy that the Charleston area has at least two facilities like this (see my post about the Charleston Digital Corridor’s Flagship facility.
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