Given that example, have you considered that telecommuting was not the only way you could have reached a comfortable level of productivity?
Absolutely, but when your superiors had an "open door" policy, wearing headphones simply meant, please interrupt me often.
But to add, I could literally sometimes get sidetracked for days on particular projects because of the constant interruptions and meetings. When I moved myself to telecommute, people's desire to interrupt became drastically less simply because it wasn't as "easy" as dropping by my office on the way to the break room or bathroom. I called it "weeding out the riff raff" because the people who needed to get ahold of me, knew how to get ahold of me.
I was able to pound out coding work in a couple of days that would have taken me a couple of weeks in the office.
I also function as development manager and I have told the other managers that I have a closed door, open communication policy. If my door is closed, I'm busy don't interrupt unless I acknowledge you and wave you in. I do get concerned about the negative view others may be forming about me. Everyone is still allowed to discuss anything [that affects work], we just might have to schedule a time if I'm not immediately "free" because my door is closed. Taking something from the Pomodoro Technique... 25 minute sprints of work I have a saying I drop every now and then. "If someone isn't crying or dying, it can wait 25 minutes."
> I was able to pound out coding work in a couple of days that would have taken me a couple of weeks in the office.
Alright, this makes sense. Your workplace overall was not conducive to work.
To stay on topic, do you think Yahoo is like this? Do you think people at Yahoo are working from home because Yahoo is an impossible workplace?
If it is, do you think that Marissa Meyer should be focusing on helping people leave the office because the office is so chaotic? Or should she be making the office a place where everyone can get their job done?
I disagree with your assertion that the workplace was not conducive to work. It was not conducive to work in my particular circumstance with the particular work I was being asked to accomplish.
Do I believe that Yahoo is like this? Absolutely. I believe that people desire to work from home for as many reasons as there are items in your grocery store.
Do I think people work from home because Yahoo is, at times, an impossible workplace? Absolutely.
I can't answer the last question because it's a straw man argument.
Marissa should be focusing on how to attract top talent. When was the last time you heard anyone say, "I can't wait to go to work at Yahoo!"? Good talent exists in many forms but for the sake of argument, say the only two forms are those that can come into the office and those that have to work from home. Why would you wholesale dismiss 1/2 of them? This is an internet company...you know that ubiquitous utility that most of us have in our homes? Therefore it's reasonable to assume that an internet company can benefit, in many ways, from having a distributed workforce...that...you know..is on the internet. :)
Look, I cannot understand why this decision was made across the board for all of Yahoo! All I can assert is how this wouldn't work for me and for a lot of other developers that I know. Great developers at that. This decision seems short-sided and really odd considering all of the other battles Yahoo is going to face. BUT, I'm not privy to the intimate details of this decision either.
Absolutely, but when your superiors had an "open door" policy, wearing headphones simply meant, please interrupt me often.
But to add, I could literally sometimes get sidetracked for days on particular projects because of the constant interruptions and meetings. When I moved myself to telecommute, people's desire to interrupt became drastically less simply because it wasn't as "easy" as dropping by my office on the way to the break room or bathroom. I called it "weeding out the riff raff" because the people who needed to get ahold of me, knew how to get ahold of me.
I was able to pound out coding work in a couple of days that would have taken me a couple of weeks in the office.