As we approach the Christmas hiatus, I find myself assessing how working from home for the best part of a year has gone for me. Has being away from others in my own little world helped my creative process and allowed good ideas to flourish? Has it aided my navigation of client needs and expectations? Has it ensured high quality output? Have I been happy with this way of working? And finally, where the answer to any of these questions is ‘no’, what have I done or could do to make it a ‘yes’?
So here are 7 observations that have slowly been crystallising in my mind over the final few months of 2020.
What can be said better remotely than in person? My experience of collaborating solely through Zoom calls, Slack messages and email conversations is that they’re often fertile ground for plodding miscommunication, and consequently lead to inferior results. Ultimately, there is nothing like the face-to-face, the casual chat, the sitting-round-the-same-screen to advance an idea or get over a bump. Plus it’s more enjoyable than the alternative (as long as you like the people you work with)!
Some interesting concepts to make online communication feel more real have started to emerge, but these are just concepts at this stage. So until we can all be together in the same room again, I’ll just focus on the positives: getting everyone in a meeting when you’re collaborating internationally is a damn sight easier with Zoom.
What about brainstorming? Can that be done remotely, or do the challenges mentioned above apply to more formalised sessions too? Miro, Mural and a handful of other online brainstorming tools have taken hold of this crucial part of the creative process. They’ve been a revelation to me. But I’ve still found challenges: for example, a small screen not being an adequate substitute for a big wall. Or the hesitancy in getting stuck in when countless other cursors are zipping across the screen. Or the big one: the lack of an immersive experience. There’s just something about having a real-life, 360 view of the session; of being able to turn away from the focus of attention, feed off others and take it all in. That’s the beauty of brainstorming with a bunch of other people in a room.
Nevertheless, I’m excited about Miro, Mural and the rest, and I look on with interest to see how they tackle the perennial limitations of two-dimensional, virtual meet-ups.
On the occasions I’d work from home pre-Covid, my routine would almost always involve cursing my internet connection. And every time I upgraded my Wi-Fi or data plan, the volume of data being forced down the pipe would increase too, leaving my new and improved connection to struggle just as it had before. But at some point this year, ISPs finally got it. Barring a few niggles such as the inability to properly review and fine-tune designs due to lo-res screensharing, the signs are hopeful.
Until you’ve worked for weeks on end at a small kitchen table with just the bare bones of the equipment you usually work with, you won’t realise how well the office setup is optimised for, well, work. Without that office get-up available to me, backache, shoulder-ache, neck-ache and any other ache you care to think of were the order of the day. So over several months I acquired a proper office chair, large HD screen, laptop stand and ergonomic mouse, all while methodically iterating my way to a better seating position and desk arrangement. And even though it’s not perfect – afterall, there’s only so much a domestic setup can adapt to the needs of the workplace – it’s made a big difference.
At times, I’ve found that the necessary barriers for a healthy work/life balance that used to exist in the office or studio have been forgotten. Some examples: respecting the lunch hour/half-hour/quick 10 mins [delete as appropriate]. Or the courtesy of someone expressing regret when they put a 6am meeting in your diary. Or the expectation that you’ll switch the computer off at the end of the day, even if you haven’t got a train to catch or friends to meet. Fundamental lines in the sand that make the working day tolerable. The best answer I’ve found so far is simply to define stronger lines.
Then there’s the commute, the bane of so many people’s lives. It’s a buffer between sleep and wake, family and work, and gives me the time and space for the neurons to fire up. Of course, the moment I’m pressed up against someone’s armpit on the Tube and have had to wake earlier for the privilege, I’ll be having second thoughts. For the time being, I’m treating the daily nursery drop-off as my new commute; a shorter, more pleasant one at that.
Ultimately, though, what has become apparent is the need for separate environments to relax, sleep, eat, work, think. I’m very aware that working from home suits many people, and it suits me too sometimes; being in for that parcel delivery is pretty useful. But the monotony of the same space, the same air has not inspired me. I want different walls to stare at. Perhaps when all this is over, I’ll be able to do that a few days a week back at the office. And for the days I’m not there, I’ll create my own at the bottom of the garden.
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As you can see, my experiences of the new normal aren’t exclusively positive. I guess pandemics haven’t completely worked for me yet.
But I’m continuing to chip away at it.
As I write this, we’re still well and truly mired in the muck, and the way out is months away, despite a vaccine starting to be rolled out across the country. The effects of the pandemic will take much longer to fully play out on the way we work, and even longer still to rebound or find an equilibrium.
So despite the fact that this isn’t my ideal way of working, I’ll embrace this new reality for the foreseeable, continue to get stuck in, and make the most of the opportunities it offers.
Here’s to a better and brighter 2021.