{"id":37926,"date":"2013-03-04T11:40:34","date_gmt":"2013-03-04T17:40:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?p=37926"},"modified":"2013-02-28T06:58:52","modified_gmt":"2013-02-28T12:58:52","slug":"working-from-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/03\/04\/working-from-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Working from Home"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>By Farhad Manjoo<\/strong><\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Working at home isn\u2019t for everyone. As a writer, I work according to what Y Combinator\u2019s Paul Graham calls the \u201cmaker\u2019s schedule<\/a>.\u201d My job requires long stretches of distraction-free time, and my output, on any particular day, is sensitive to my mood and environment. Working at home gives me the freedom to adjust these variables to maximum effect: Sometimes I find that I write better if I start a column after dinner, while other times I hit a wall during the middle of the day, take an hour off to get a snack and jump in the shower, and then come back to produce a\u00a0magnificent column about pajamas<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

You might work differently. Maybe your mind is best primed by conversations with your co-workers about\u00a0Downton Abbey<\/a><\/em>. That\u2019s fine. The point\u2014and this is hardly groundbreaking\u2014is that different people work differently. Any organization whose success depends on maximizing its workers\u2019 productivity ought to allow their employees some degree of flexibility.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

That brings us to Yahoo\u2019s ridiculous new ban on working from home. Last week,\u00a0All Things D\u2019s Kara Swisher reported<\/a><\/em>\u00a0that Marissa Mayer, the beleaguered Web company\u2019s new CEO, will force Yahoo\u2019s few hundred remote workers to relocate to its offices. In a\u00a0memo Swisher obtained<\/a>, the company\u2019s human-resources chief allows workers to \u201coccasionally\u201d stay home to \u201cwait for the cable guy,\u201d but otherwise requires people\u2014I\u2019m sorry, \u201cYahoos\u201d\u2014to submit to \u201cthe interactions and experiences that are only possible in our offices.\u201d Because this was an HR memo and therefore freed from any requirement to be truthful, it went on to declare that \u201cspeed and quality are often sacrificed when we work from home.\u201d It added: \u201cWe need to be one Yahoo!, and that starts with physically being together.\u201d (I asked Yahoo to explain the policy to me, and a spokeswoman responded with this brief statement: \u201cWe don\u2019t discuss internal matters. This isn\u2019t a broad industry view on working from home\u2014this is about what is right for Yahoo!, right now.\u201d)\u2026<\/p>\n

The larger problem with the ban is its apparent cluelessness about how creative work occurs. Marissa Mayer is said to be a devoted office worker. Both her admirers and critics call her a workaholic, a woman who\u2019s gotten ahead not just through talent but also by working longer hours than most other people. Yahoo is a Web and media company, a firm teeming with engineers, designers, writers, and editors\u2014people whose work cannot only be accomplished remotely, but who may find working at home to be a better way to get things done. This decision suggests that Mayer doesn\u2019t understand one of the most basic ideas about managing workers\u2014that different people work in different ways, and that some kinds of pursuits are inhibited, rather than improved, by time in the office\u2026.<\/p>\n

\n

Modern communications technologies can also help. For instance, telepresence robots like the\u00a0Beam<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Anybot<\/a>\u00a0allow home workers to move a robotic avatar through a faraway office. People who work using these technologies have told me that they allow for offsite workers to interact with their colleagues very naturally. The more you use it, the more you feel like you\u2019re really there.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Such remote-working technologies are going to get much better in the next few years. I suspect that in time, the distinction between working in the office and working at home will fade away. We\u2019ll all be able to work from anywhere, at any time, and our work will be assessed by what we produce, not how much time we spend doing it. Except at Yahoo, where the only thing that counts is showing up.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Farhad Manjoo: Working at home isn\u2019t for everyone. As a writer, I work according to what Y Combinator\u2019s Paul Graham calls the \u201cmaker\u2019s schedule.\u201d My job requires long stretches of distraction-free time, and my output, on any particular day, is sensitive to my mood and environment. Working at home gives me the freedom to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nWorking from Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By Farhad Manjoo: Working at home isn\u2019t for everyone. As a writer, I work according to what Y Combinator\u2019s Paul Graham calls the \u201cmaker\u2019s schedule.\u201d My\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/03\/04\/working-from-home\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Working from Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Farhad Manjoo: Working at home isn\u2019t for everyone. As a writer, I work according to what Y Combinator\u2019s Paul Graham calls the \u201cmaker\u2019s schedule.\u201d My\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/03\/04\/working-from-home\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-03-04T17:40:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-02-28T12:58:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/files\/2013\/03\/Screen-Shot-2013-02-28-at-6.58.09-AM-300x211.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/03\/04\/working-from-home\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/03\/04\/working-from-home\/\",\"name\":\"Working from Home\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-03-04T17:40:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-02-28T12:58:52+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\"},\"description\":\"By Farhad Manjoo: Working at home isn\u2019t for everyone. As a writer, I work according to what Y Combinator\u2019s Paul Graham calls the \u201cmaker\u2019s schedule.\u201d My\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/03\/04\/working-from-home\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/03\/04\/working-from-home\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/03\/04\/working-from-home\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Working from Home\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\",\"name\":\"Jesus Creed\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\",\"name\":\"Scot McKnight\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author of more than fifty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/scotmcknight\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Working from Home","description":"By Farhad Manjoo: Working at home isn\u2019t for everyone. As a writer, I work according to what Y Combinator\u2019s Paul Graham calls the \u201cmaker\u2019s schedule.\u201d My","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/03\/04\/working-from-home\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Working from Home","og_description":"By Farhad Manjoo: Working at home isn\u2019t for everyone. As a writer, I work according to what Y Combinator\u2019s Paul Graham calls the \u201cmaker\u2019s schedule.\u201d My","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/03\/04\/working-from-home\/","og_site_name":"Jesus Creed","article_published_time":"2013-03-04T17:40:34+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-02-28T12:58:52+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/files\/2013\/03\/Screen-Shot-2013-02-28-at-6.58.09-AM-300x211.png"}],"author":"Scot McKnight","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Scot McKnight","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/03\/04\/working-from-home\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/03\/04\/working-from-home\/","name":"Working from Home","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-03-04T17:40:34+00:00","dateModified":"2013-02-28T12:58:52+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252"},"description":"By Farhad Manjoo: Working at home isn\u2019t for everyone. As a writer, I work according to what Y Combinator\u2019s Paul Graham calls the \u201cmaker\u2019s schedule.\u201d My","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/03\/04\/working-from-home\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/03\/04\/working-from-home\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/03\/04\/working-from-home\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Working from Home"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/","name":"Jesus Creed","description":"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252","name":"Scot McKnight","description":"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author of more than fifty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/scotmcknight\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/197"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37926"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37926\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}