WFM? Work From McDonalds? On Sun, Mar 8, 2020 at 4:42 PM Seymour J Metz <sme...@gmu.edu> wrote:
> I would prefer WFM with an option to occasionally come to the office, but > that assumes that I have a permanent location in the office where I can red > things. Back in the old days when I had to read dumps over the telephone > the distraction of other conversations was an issue. It doesn't matter > whether the other telephone calls were business or personal, either way > they were a distraction and soured me on the idea of cubicle farms. But > when you're collaborating it's nice to meet in person once in a while, even > if the team has access to technologies like electronic whiteboards. > > > -- > Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz > http://mason.gmu.edu/~smetz3 > > > ________________________________________ > From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU> on behalf > of Bob Bridges <robhbrid...@gmail.com> > Sent: Sunday, March 8, 2020 3:58 PM > To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU > Subject: Re: Attitude of companies toward mainframers working from home? > > I think WFH is one place where, especially, everyone's different. For a > few years one of my employers had a bunch of us developers working in a > cubicle environment where the walls were only waist-high. I've heard since > then that many folks hate that sort of thing, but the most inconvenient > part of it, for my money, was that I had less space on which to pin up > reference pages and racks for various bits of equipment (pens, a forms > ruler, highlighters etc, fashioned from repurposed paper clips). What most > people complained about, the distraction, turned out not to bother me at > all; there was a continual background of light chatter in which I could > participate or not. I found it very pleasant. I'm not saying there's > anything wrong with you if you don't; just "folks are different". > > (Some years ago _60 Minutes_ apparently did a segment on adults who > probably had ADD when they were kids, before ADD was a thing. I missed it, > but for months after that friends and family members exclaimed to me "Did > you see that 60-Minutes episode? They had a picture of Bob Bridges on that > show!". I gather people who had ADD before it became a fashionable > diagnosis simply had to learn to focus without drugs. Whether for that or > some other reason, noise just doesn't bother me.) > > So you'd think I'd hate working from home, but no. Sometimes I play loud > music (and sometimes I set the work aside, pick up my recorder and wail > along with the music), sometimes I put leftovers in the microwave, > sometimes I take a call from one of my kids. But mostly I'm at my desk, > plugging away until all hours of the night. I have to remind myself to get > up and leave the house occasionally - which I read recently is a good idea > for WFHers anyway. > > Maybe it's like the old principle of "dressing for work". One argument I > used to hear in favor of wearing ties at work is that it's a sort of mental > discipline: If you're dressed to relax, you won't be mentally prepared to > work. The argument made sense to me, but once my employers started > allowing jeans and T-shirts at work I found that (in my case at least) it > didn't hold water. Again, I don't doubt that some sort of recognized work > attire works better for some people, but I don't seem to be a clothes > person. YMMV. > > Just fortunate, I guess. If I hated my job, I'll bet I'd be much more > opinionated about which conditions help or hinder. > > --- > Bob Bridges, robhbrid...@gmail.com, cell 336 382-7313 > > /* Democracy is where you can say what you think even if you don't think. > */ > > > -----Original Message----- > From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On > Behalf Of Farley, Peter x23353 > Sent: Sunday, March 8, 2020 14:00 > > I disagree that it takes more "concentration and effort" to work at home > than in one of those "bullpen" offices that so many companies now seem to > favor, with little or no private or semi-private space for any employees. > > I have had WFH options as an ordinary applications programmer since the > late 1980's at various employers, starting back when a 9600 baud dial-up > connection was the gold standard. I would far rather be working at home > than in a "bullpen", as I find those offices far too noisy and > concentration-killing than any distractions at home could ever be. > > I always found that I got far more work done at home than at any office. > YMMV I suppose, but that has been my experience. > > I guess I am also lucky that my current employer already had a large, > distributed, and robust VPN infrastructure well suited to dispersing far > more of the workforce to WFH than they did even before the coronavirus > event. > > -----Original Message----- > From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU> On Behalf > Of Steve Beaver > Sent: Friday, March 6, 2020 10:03 PM > > Working from home takes a lot of concentration and effort. It’s not easy > but I’ve done it for years > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN > -- zMan -- "I've got a mainframe and I'm not afraid to use it" ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
