WAH, WAH, WAH

This week the SNEC-PMI (where I am VP Of Membership) held our monthly meeting. The topic of Working at Home came up for discussion at my table.

Work At Home (WAH is one of the common acronyms while another is W@H) refers to modern day telecommuting. As Project Managers with teams located all over the globe, many of us are as effective working from home as we are when working from the office. We have high-speed Internet connections and reliable telephones in our home offices.

The appeal to W@H is naturally the lack of commute and flexible work hours. You don't have transportation expense, traffic nor frustration when you W@H, which results in less time wasted on the road, more time for productive Project Management, and a better work/life balance.

The consensus around our table was that W@H has advantages such as higher productivity and "to-do" lists becoming "got-done" lists. My dinner mates testified that you are more productive when you W@H.

The W@H downside is a complete lack of water-cooler chat and office gossip. My informal survey showed that when given the choice, 80% of Project Managers prefer to work from the office if their team is also located at the office. Productivity may be lower, but our social needs are met in the cube farm, even with the inherent disadvantages of zero privacy and frequent interruptions.

A few years ago, I frequently heard the wailing from colleagues "If only I could work from home, I would be more productive and a happier Project Manager".

So there you have it – no more crying allowed to Work at Home. WAH, WAH, WAH no more. Because W@H also has a downside.

We agreed that a combination of W@H and work in the cube farm for some days of each week is the best of all worlds. Two days at home and three days at the office seems to keep our scales in balance.