The things no one tells you about working remote
hackernoon.com
hackernoon.com
Lose motivation and find it yourself? That's a truism since motivation is internal. Maybe they meant you lose external micromanagement.
Plan 4 days in advance? Sure if you decide to move to a totally different timezone. But it's not inherent to remote work per se.
Better communicator? This the article gets right. There's no time to screw around and sit on an issue.
Work life balance? You mean not having to spend an hour to/fro getting ready to look pretty for your boss and colleagues?
Answering the odd e-mail at different times is nothing compared to spending hundreds of hours a year getting dressed and driving to work
I agree with communication - it's the only day-to-day contact you have with co-workers and if you aren't a good communicator, it's not going to work.
If your entire team works remotely then it takes more planning, and it may require some sacrifices regarding your schedule. However, if part of your team works in an office then remote workers likely need to be available during similar hours.
I agree with learning to ignore "work" when you're off-hours and ignoring "home" when you're working, and how this is done depends on the individual. Traveling to a local coffee shop or wifi hotspot defeats the purpose for me. I don't want to trade one noisy place with people for another, at least regularly.
One big issue he doesn't mention is how other people you live with handle your work. They need to understand that whenever you're working, you need to be working. Not helping with laundry or chores, not babysitting, etc. It's a difficult thing to teach, but it's critical. For those married with kids it's a big problem, but for those single it's not.
I disagree that it effects motivation. There are always temptations at home but if you enjoy doing the work it shouldn't be a battle of will power.
When she used to work in an office and I worked from home, it was easy to get distracted when she wasn't around.
But now that she's here, it feels like she keeps me motivated, and vice versa.
It's similar to working in an office with someone who's working hard; you won't slack off as much because they're keeping you honest.