End of the Office Road
My career goals have always indicated that I would need to be in an office, except for the time in life that I wanted to be an airline pilot. Each career option increased my image of the office I would have. For my legal career, I dreamed of an office in a high rise office building in downtown Boston. For my venture capital career, I dreamed of an office in a downtown Boston office as well. For my entrepreneurial career, I dreamed of an office either in downtown Boston or in the suburbs with a multi-office campus. (I had dreams of becoming a BIG employer!) Now that my career has turned into a project manager I have learned that I no longer need to be in an office.
Starting off as a career in project management in 2015, I had dreams of larger career goals as well. I felt that you needed to be in an office to achieve those larger dreams. I maintained the attitude that “Nobody ever got to the CxO level” by working from home. I was determined to always have an office.
Learning the skills of Project Management, I felt that I needed to be in the office to collaborate effectively. My approach toward projects included brokering in-person conversations as quickly as possible to solve problems. Email and text messaging were too slow for me. I needed people in a conference room. To accomplish that goal, I would roam around the office to find the people and coordinate a time with them for the meeting. During this time I would often curse that the workplace has created inefficiencies with some people working at home and some in the office. Those people in the office were harder to find.
Now, it is 2020 and I am happy as a project manager and more effective working from home. I have had a chance to practice the skill of working from home for several weeks. Since I have resigned myself to the fact that I won’t achieve the Venture Capital career or achieve a CxO level position, and I have figured out how to collaborate without the conference room, I no longer see the need to be in an office full time.
Giving up the real estate of my full-time office means my efficiency improves. In the office, I spend one hour a day on the trips to the restroom. It takes 10 minutes to the restroom and 10 minutes back, 3 times a day. Spending 60 minutes walking to the restroom is inefficient. The other inefficiencies in the office include the drive-by interruptions and social interactions. Working at home, my trip to refill my teacup or get lunch is reduced to less than 10 minutes. Working in an office that could be an hour adventure. Working at home puts 2+ hours of efficiencies back into my day.
Several years ago, I would not have been able to do this, but due to the power of video calls, (thank you George Jetson, now where is my flying car?!?) and various collaboration tools, it is now possible to effectively working from home in my role. I am prepared to work with a split environment where some people are at home and some are in the office, but due to the collaboration tools, I feel it is possible to work at home full time.
Working full time at home means I can move. Right now my rent expense is excessive due to my need to be near the train and avoid driving to the office. If I can move, that means I can “inject” money into the Economy with my moving and decorating expenses. I can buy a larger place and feel more organized.
The benefits of working at home full time are not for everyone. I can understand if you have kids at home, that you want a separation between home and work. Given that I am single with no kids, this model works for me. Perhaps in the future, if I resurrect my dream of a CxO title or greater then I will return to the office, but for now working at home means I work efficiently and effectively. Given the fact that I have reduced my hours to 10 hours a day of straight work time, I can now turn my commute time into something more productive, like pursuing the first career goal, airline pilot!