13% improvement in performance from people working at home

I know I'm more productive working at home, most days.

The downside of working at home is that family and friends think I don't actually work. They like to call in the middle of the day and shoot the breeze, or stop over for an unannounced visit. That can be nice, but it can also be a huge PITA.

The upside is there are days when I feel dumb as a box of rocks and can't write a single line of code without struggling or mucking something up and on those days I can clean the house or mow the lawn or some other chore that I don't really need to think much about.

And on those days with I'm feeling bright I can code until the wee hours and get a ton of work done and afterwards sleep in until I'm truly rested.

But the best part is not having to drive to work. Back in the late 1980s I was spending at least 2 hours a day, 5 days a week, sitting in traffic sucking exhaust fumes on the way to and from work in Los Angeles. After about 10 years of that I finally did some math while stuck in traffic on the Ventura Fwy one hot and smoggy day.

I didn't live far from where I worked but it was as least an hour drive each way in rush hour traffic. I was honestly shocked when I realized I would be spending at least a 10,000 hours of my life sitting in traffic over the next 20 years.

As soon as I got home I started planning my escape from that misery.