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Comment by reitanqild | Hacker News Reader

Personally I really appreciate that work from home has been normalized, but I also have started to go to the office as often as possible.

I'm currently on a half empty commuter train and have just finished the worst task I can think of for the week (time sheets) and now I'll continue working on something else.

But if I was at home I'd probably have accomplished nothing yet, and even if I tried to do something, I'd expect to be repeatedly interrupted for the next 1.5h, by people that I love and can't turn away.

My brain is funny that way. Just the expectation that I might get interrupted prevents it from even starting on anything.

Edit: this is for me. I personally encouraged someone else to use the opportunity to work from somewhere else so they could be with their child last week.

I love that remote work is now both technologically possible and socially acceptable.

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> Just the expectation that I might get interrupted prevents it from even starting on anything.

I feel this so much. I realized this about myself a few years ago, and even with that knowledge it's been really hard to fight.

Feel free (you or others) to let me know if you find anything that works :-)

Pomodoro used to work somewhat when I was alone, but when you risk getting interrupted multiple times during 25 minutes it doesn't feel worth it even if most of the times (i.e. over 50%, not 99%) I can do a full 25min.

Somehow it feels so "painful" to be pulled out of focus I rather just wait until they leave and stop working when they get home 4-6 h later.

Agreed. When working from home I have to keep half a brain dedicated to what is happening around me at home. I typically get at most 90-120 seconds between interruptions of some kind from my family. You can't easily shut that out.

I guess having really small kids (babies and toddlers really) is the "issue" here, but I can't imagine it being much better until they are physically at school... but at that point you may as well just go to the office

I’ve been remote since pre-Covid and a detached office space has become a must for me. At my last house, I had a finished shed in the yard. Now I have a space above the garage. Having the option of physical separation is key.

For me that only helped some degree: they'd still pop their heads out to have me resolve their quarrels :-)

Make it clear you are at work and not to be bothered when the door is closed.

Growing up my mom ran a small business out of the home and told us that while she was in the garage with a client we were not allowed to enter or bother her for any reason. It was like she was at a different location.

>> really small kids (babies and toddlers really) is the "issue" here

I take them to daycare.

During the pandemic it was closed. Also the biggest problem was usually one the oldest ones, not the younger ones.

I love that remote work has given me the ability to access more jobs in better paying areas but I really do miss the human interaction of being in the office. Not enough to take a local lower paying job.

This is another unplanned benefit of WFH: Job pool is larger since you can literally create software regardless of your location. It's like we were blind to this fact and COVID got us to see the "light".

There's a push from the media (paid by companies, of course) to demonize WFH. It's like they like their workers to be miserable.

> I'd expect to be repeatedly interrupted for the next 1.5h, by people that I love and can't turn away.

That's what I experience going to office! WFH is only place I can focus.

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