Due to some unforeseen issues, my experiments in remote work are continuing. These days, the situation is a bit different though – I’m working in the same time zone,and I’m showing my face at work one to two days a week. Of course, my observations and musings about working remotely continue.
The days that I’ve been at the office have been packed with human interaction – group meetings, one on one meetings, interviews, and hallway conversations.Meyers-Briggs tells me that I’m an introvert (and they’re absolutely right), but after being away from my coworkers so much lately, it was something I really craved. I also noticed that I generated a lot of work items out of these meetings. However, people didn’t give me work to do or ask me to do anything, but through the interaction, I discovered work that I needed to do. I realize that this is unique to my role on the team and that some remote workers just want to be left alone, but for me, it was energizing.
I should note that my job is a lot about discovery. I am trusted to figure out what I should be doing – or prioritize from a list of things I should or could be doing – then do those things. I reprioritize every day (sometimes multiple times during a day, and have a pretty good success rate at picking the right things to work on. It’s a great role, but it’s definitely not for everyone.
So, here I am away from the office again, but my todo list is absolutely packed. And that’s as good of a reason as any to write a short blog post today.
But not until I share this comic from The Oatmeal on the subject (because it’s funny and relevant).