The tribulations of a home-bound colleague prompts our anonymous blogger to wonder whatever happened to the dream of remote working?
There is a dream we’ve been consistently sold since the 1950s and which we are still being sold today. One however that seemingly remains just tantalisingly out of reach, like that screwdriver you dropped with an apparent 1 in 1000 (although from empirical evidence actually 1 in 1) chance of disappearing down the gap between the workbench and wall.
By now weren’t we supposed to be able to roll out of bed, smile whimsically at our car, fire up the A0 size touchscreen in our study and start work whilst stood in pyjamas drinking a cup of coffee? To design parts which fit into a machine being built half way across the globe as 2.4 children plus indeterminate dog frolic on our beautifully manicured lawn? Personal recent experience makes what we have at present feel, in comparison, like an Etch-a-sketch attached to a wax cylinder.
The whole sorry tale started when a friend and colleague recently suffered a mishap that left him incapacitated. This in turn led to a protracted convalescence and those who decide such things have come to the conclusion that, due to the restrictions his injury places on his mobility, he would be in danger of burning to the ground if a fire broke out and he was in the office.
Possibly due to the somewhat soggy summer we have thus far endured he does not see this as the boon one might expect and so jumped, metaphorically at least, at the chance of working from home. Him being a design engineer, and this being the 21st Century, I thought it would just be a case of trotting over with a CAD enabled laptop. How wrong could I have been
The first attempt at delivering the device led to an eager grasping of it as I stepped through the door… and finding that despite IT’s assurances it didn’t have the required licenses. Much shaking of heads, wry smiles and audible tutting then off I went with it so I could get it back into work the next day. A brief explanation to the Morlocks of the IT department on the following day led to arcane chanting over the recalcitrant machine – or whatever they do – and once more I dropped it off on the way home.
Said machine once more resolutely refused to play ball. This happened 4 times in total before my colleague was finally set up to work from home and by that time our response to the computer’s repeated obstinacy had changed to much swearing and threats of “booting it up” that had nothing to do with switching it off and switching it back on again (and everything to do with reducing the fiendish device to its basic components through the scientific application of extreme violence). Even then he is left with working on standalone parts which will have to be incorporated into our CAD database upon his return. Surely, at the very least it should be easier than this by now?
If I had to wade through that article, I would not even get my toenails wet. Wow, you had some problems with a computer and the IT department didn’t understand Engineering’s needs. That is pretty much par for the course.
Very funny article – well written. From my personal experience it’s your IT warlocks that need the booting up. We are the UK satellite office of Eltronic DK. We are only three UK engineers and talk constantly to our 150 Danish conterparts (not all at the same time obviously) – near minute by minute. Our very capable CAD monkey is a very capable female design engineer who regularly works from home as she says in her jim jams doing integrated drawings while spilling porridge down her front and into the key board. We practically never manage a full week with all three in the office and if one is away and the work load supports it i call a home working day. So far it works well. In fact our cad monkey works more efficiently at home as her flat has fibre optic conection compared to our offices gas powered lead pipe conduit copper cable affair. Because we are heavy on internet we regularly outstretch our managed offices capabilities – UK internet infrastructure does have to come up to scratch. Our Danish counterparts are amazed at how slow our internet speed is – that is i have to say a local issue and maybe not the same for all offices.
In short home working does work for us. The biggest issue is that face to face contact and discussion does promote more creativity than three people talking via e mail – you need to be face to face with the occasional home alone for quiet contemplation. A good mix for us anyway is far the key.
For me, working from home is fantastic, and I only wish I’d given up going to the office a lot sooner.
I thought that I’d miss the social connection, chats at the coffee machine etc. and daily interaction with colleagues, but that hasn’t happened at all. As well as the phone, I use Skype every day, both to chat as well as to do serious work with my design team, none of whom are in my city. We make extensive use of the “Share Screen” function and dual screens while reviewing drawings, spreadsheets or photos, which is no different to sitting at a conference table with paper drawings, or looking over a shoulder at a CAD model.
That interaction can take an hour or more a day, but it’s a small fraction of the time I used to spend in meetings.
I do write a lot more emails, but the time saved in commuting and elimination of unproductive time in the office mean I can get a lot more done in a lot less time, so for the same output, I have been able to cut my working week from 50 hours to 35. And I can do it in my dressing gown if I want.
While I work from my home in the bush outside Canberra, Australia, my controls engineer is in Newcastle (NSW), my CAD and tooling engineers are in Bengbu, China where my partner and I have our manufacturing business, my principal client is in Perth (WA) and the time difference is just 2 hours. While there is a lot of shipping of samples and prototype components back and forth (by courier), and I do travel a lot, on balance this is a far more effective way to work.
I wouldn’t have it any other way!
PS: As far as technical support is concerned, I have an IT guy who services me remotely from Melbourne (VIC) using Teamviewer. Who needs an IT department?
Not just “…the IT department didn’t understand Engineering’s needs…” but (in my experience) software writers who don’t understand humanity. Lacking experience I suppose.
Well I wake up walk acros the lawn fed the chickens have breakfast turn on the computer.Do a bit go to the gym. Coffee with collegues Back to do bit more . Lunch. Retail therepy do a bit more Tea and chat and so the working day goes on. Im retired which means the only bit missing is the wage.
I work from home, but like most engineers you provide your own software and hardware. You connect via VPN when you need to exchange data.
Job done.
Been doing it for 6 years now without a hitch. I work an extra 2 hours per day to balance the commuting time, but I can charge by the hour. So it has been the best way for me, my salary and my preferred lifestyle. It also benefits the company with not having to provide a desk/IT/welfare and society in that I am not commuting. Win Win.
Home working, while nice in principal, isn’t always practical.
Unfortunately this is where it all falls down, some workers would be able to operate from home, doing certain tasks, but not all and then still there would be a need to be some ‘on-site’ work required. So it is not entirely off site.
This can also create an atmosphere of animosity towards those with the ‘privilege’, with those without the opportunity, due to their specific role and feeling left out.
Homeworking is good for those who the role is suited to it, but the entire needs of the business need to be addressed before jumping head long into it.
And as the article states, the logistics of such a proposition need to be carefully planned.