We're so back 🚌

It may have taken a while to get here, but it’s starting to feel like we’re back.

I haven’t always had a steady office routine, but whenever I have had some predictably and consistency in my schedule I’ve always enjoyed it. The last few years have been predictable though. Fun(ish) fact: I was in the first onboarding class at [insert company] that was completely virtual. And I still haven’t seen HQ in San Francisco.

At the time, that actually worried me. I loved working in-office. I leaned pretty heavily on IRL tools to get things done. And a lot of times it felt like the closer our team was in proximity the better the results we shared together as a team. And so I thought a lot about how shifting to a completely virtual environment would impact us. More selfishly, I thought about how it would impact me.

Going remote

I like to think of myself (though you may disagree) as a people person. I’d venture that’s a quality that is decidedly less valuable when you effectively become an avatar of yourself. As we approached going fully remote, I started to get anxious that what I viewed as a core part of my identity would become pretty meaningless in the grand scheme of things. Even more than that, I worried that I’d have to completely refactor my personality in order to contribute in the same way through the lens of a laptop.

And honestly I think that ended up being true, even though it wasn’t necessarily bad.

Humans are pretty resilient. When we encounter a new threat, we try to develop new capabilities to counteract that threat. We learn, grow, evolve - however you choose to view it. We all had to do this over the past few years. And everyone had different capabilities to develop. The most important for me? Writing. I quickly noticed was that publishing artifacts on our internal knowledge tool (e.g. Confluence) became the easiest way to amplify my voice, personality, and thoughts with others. It actually ended up being a force multiplier. What would have otherwise required countless conversations now needed just a single click. Discomfort in one area forced growth in another.

Fast forward to today and we’re slowly getting back. Our new European HQ recently opened in Lisbon. When I heard the news I didn’t really feel one way or another about it. What once felt uncomfortable had now become comfortable. Plus the thought of commuting felt… optional. But I decided to give it a shot for the first week to be supportive, but I was surprised by the result.

Back 2 back

Just as I previously couldn’t imagine going remote - I now couldn’t imagine going back to office. The idea of all the overhead that comes along with getting through a day in an office exhausted me to just think about. I used to love my office routine. So, what had changed? In short, what previously felt different now felt a normal. And while I didn’t necessarily set out to challenge myself, I did want to experiment and try to remember what it was about office life that I previously enjoyed.

So, here’s what I did. I decided to go into the office (almost) every day for a quarter. And.. I actually really liked it.

Things have changed for sure. You don’t get the same forced collisions you used to when everyone worked from the office. You do get a lot of out of it though. The most valuable for me was routine. I work east coast(ish) hours so I’m normally trying to get into the office around 10:00 which means I have to catch the 9:52 train. Which means I have to be at the gym by 8. Which means.. Which means. Which means. All this adds up to forcing functions that get me up and running each morning. And I’ve found that stacking these little wins earlier and earlier results in a more constructive day all around.

Sure, there are other benefits like community, collaboration, and the occasional tip on a new coffee spot to drop by, but overall it’s the routine that I’ve found bringing me back.

Unintended consequences

It wasn’t all highlights though. There are definitely tradeoffs. On average, I’m losing ~45 minutes a day commuting. I’m spending 2x on lunch. Focus blocks are frequently interrupted. And I’m never going to enjoy taking calls from inside of what a friend likes to refer to as a standing coffin (e.g. phone booth).

On the other hand, having something to compare remote life against again surfaced some of the implicit pain points of working from home as well. Home just has more variables. When will my partner take a break? Does the dog need a walk? What should I do for lunch? Obvious, but your home isn’t optimized the same way an office is for the work day. There are distractions. They might be important distractions, but they are nonetheless. So, what now?

New balance

After running this little experiment I’ve decided on.. both. I love the freedom and autonomy that I have in my days from my home office and the routine and control that I have from my office.. office. When I work from home I can avoid the standing coffins. And when I work from the office I get clean focus on the things I need to get done.

With that in mind, I built parallel routines that works for me.

Wednesday is consistently the worst offender for meetings (don’t ask me why) which makes it ideal for working from home. Friday on the other hand is when I have the fewest meetings (no idea) so I leave that as dealer’s choice. If I wake up feeling froggy I go in, but otherwise I give myself that day to close out. This keeps both me and my routine fresh. I’m never too static or locked in. The intentionality here also anchors my day around the types of tasks that each environment is best suited for. Most importantly though, flexibility here gives me a better appreciation for each.

Wrap it up

This experiment wasn’t just about proving I could both work remotely and go into the office. I already knew that. It was about identifying what I could get from a world that supports both. Yes, remote work has its perks: the flexibility, comfort, and shorter commutes. But what I’ve rediscovered is that the office does to.