Why You Should Work From A Coffee Shop, Even When You Have An Office
fastcompany.com
fastcompany.com
Also, please don't sit in cafes during peak times as that is when they make most of their money and need to turn over tables.
When it's quiet sit near a window to make the cafe look busier.
Ask BEFORE plugging in your laptop charger.
I know these are obvious to most people but I've seen people seemingly oblivious to it and most cafe owners are too nice to throw someone out.
Though I completely agree that if a place is plumb full and you've been sitting their for four hours, it's only polite to offer your table to someone else.
I'm not sure that's a 100% logical conclusion. Would one interpret that to mean that the ~50 people who spend all day sitting in the chairs generates more revenue than the many hundreds of take out customers that pass through each day? Sure, perhaps they make more revenue per individual person, but if you look at revenue per customer type per unit of time, the sit down in store customers are by far the worst revenue source.
I don't deny there's a reason they choose to have attractive interiors, but I doubt it is to encourage individuals to spend an entire day there, so Starbucks can reap the windfall of selling the same customer breakfast AND lunch.
Also, the sitting customers can be segmented as well: most of them will sit down for 15-30 minutes and leave, but there are some who will stay longer. It would be difficult for someway staying 4 hours to spend as much as 8 people staying 30 minutes each, so that's why djt talks about the need to turn over tables.
I found the couches in some cafés work pretty well with a laptop, but they're always taken around London. Although there are quiet times outside of breakfast and lunch though.
I ultimately wish I could just work in a pub, but too many have been taken over by sports TV in my area.
Where do you find a library? If you are in the US, public libraries are a great downtown option. As a student at Stanford, I think great libraries are one of the biggest privileges. However, I think you don't need to be a Stanford student to get in! Like other universities, Stanford has a Federal Depository Service (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Depository_Library_Prog...), which means the public has a right to enter and read federal publications at no cost (Strangely, I couldn't find a open-to-public library at Harvard though)
Hope this helps...
I then rediscovered my local library and was amazed. Fast Wifi, Keurig machine, and private study rooms that I could take for the entire day. I was even more amazed at how many people use it as a 'co-working space', one guy would even come in everyday and even set up his VOIP office phone.
4-5 years ago in Moscow club OGI had "izba-chital'nia" (this means exactly library, but for sovkhoz-kolkhoz: a house with books for peasants).
Drinks and food were terrible, but books were OK: in several languages, classics and modern writers. I loved this place, although I never tried to work there.
I'm not shameless enough to claim it on expenses, but I'm sure freelancers could offset most of it against taxes.
I suppose if you always sat in the same café in exactly the same position and got used to it, you might eventully develop problems.
It's also especially good when the place has no WiFi (a rarity these days) and I'm too lazy to tether my phone.
I download local copies of documentation and APIs for reference and then set up at a coffee shop near me with no Wifi or power outlets. I find it's most useful at the start of a project when I have trouble just getting something down, sort of like staring at a blank page when you have a paper to write in college.
In any case, I highly recommend NOT to work on your laptop's keyboard. It's a sure recipe to screw up your hands.
I learnt that the hard way and the only thing that helped afterwards was an ergonomic keyboard. For those who don't know, the wrist injury (RSI) is excruciatingly painful and will most likely offset any productivity gains you might have made earlier. Back to the article, I don't quite understand that how "fewer distractions" can immediately be followed by "socializing and meeting new people".
Edit : typo
First, I threw away the mouse and switched to a thumb-operated trackball (Logitech or Microsoft).
Second, I designed and fabricated my own desk. The easiest way to describe it is that this desk has a cavity into which the keyboard and trackball fit. With this design my wrists were fully supported and my hands drooped into the cavity to naturally make contact with the keyboard and trackball.
This worked wonders. I took a two week break from coding while designing and fabricating this desk (MIG welding and woodwork). By the time I was done the inflammation on my wrists was gone. I went back to coding long hours. The pain never came back and neither did the inflammation.
I think you had bigger problems than with your wrists! We've all got to live life first. Work second. Everything in moderation my friend!
The cavity desk sounds like a more extreme version of the genal posture I find most comfortable.
Yes! Absolutely. They are HORRIBLE for your wrists. I don't get them either.
I haven't heard of this happening to anyone else, but in my experience trackballs can do just as much damage as a normal mouse, just to different joints. Now I use a trackball at home (occasional usage) and the nub when I'm working (heavier usage). The real key I've found to avoid repetitive stress injuries is to avoid repetitive movements of any kind. Seems kinda obvious now.
A good quality trackball with super-low friction is fundamental. I've had trackballs that developed pain on my thumb, just like you stated, very quickly. These were usually mechanical. The optical trackballs can be wonderful. Both Logitech and MS make good ones.
You have to keep them clean. Again, it's about super-low friction. You should have almost no resistance to moving the ball.
Don't just move with your thumb. I developed into moving the trackball with elbow, wrist and thumb-centered motions. In general terms, I think I only use the thumb knuckle-originated motion for when accurate positioning is required, for example, while using a CAD program.
Keyboard shortcuts rule. I don't have a metric for how much I use the mouse, but if I am doing anything repetitive I figure out the keyboard shortcuts or write keyboard macros. One example is in repeating operations in Photoshop.
I learned that you need the correct posture and kinematics in order to relax. This is where my "cavity desk" worked wonders. It made me aware of when I was tensing-up almost any part of my arm, all the way up to my shoulders. If you work extended hours there's no escaping the need to learn to be very relaxed. A standard desk absolutely sucks for computer use, no matter who makes it. They are designed for writing with pen and paper and that's it. Your wrists end-up angled upwards on both your keyboard and mouse or trackball. With a cavity and an adjustable chair your forearms are horizontal, your wrist is horizontal and your fingers very naturally droop onto the keyboard or trackball. That, as a combination, is what I think make a huge difference for me and could for others.
And that's why the fascination with voice controls always confused me: the self-conscious aspect. That said, the population at large might care less about others overhearing them, if sites like http://notalwaysright.com offer any indication.
That said, the downside is when you need to work as a group and actually need privacy. Or sometimes when you're doing something that requires deep concentration and extreme focus, then the noise and bustle can be distracting. But, by and large, I do like the "working from a coffee shop / cafe" thing.
For example, in the UK a doctor was recently struck off for transcribing patient details on a train - not the most sensible thing to do, but highlights that there are some jobs that require privacy.
The other time it doesn't work, for me, is when you need use "stuff" to work. For example, sometimes if I'm meeting with my co-founder, I want an easel and a flip-chart pad and some markers to draw / diagram stuff. But I wouldn't want to bust up in the Barnes & Noble cafe and break that stuff out.
If you can work from a coffeeshop securely and productively, you have abstracted enough of the deployment processes to work well anywhere.
As long as there isn't someone talking loudly about their personal problems. Or talking loudly about politics.
(My personal favourite for these is on a crowded tube ride after a long day - they allow me to zone out and stay relaxed!).
Who wouldn't love that?
souless, beige-grey cubicle
or
hip trendy cafe ?
>> how hard is it?