[drewg123]

I worked full time remote for 12 years doing driver / kernel / firmware work for an IHV.

What I missed most about working in an office (and what I liked most about going to work at an office again 2 years ago) is the sense of separation and decompression that a commute gives you. If you're not careful, you can easily wind up always working all the time since your "office" is right in your living space.

[Someone1234]

I've read about people who intentionally exercise before and after work to get the same effect. Essentially running on a treadmill for twenty minutes instead of sitting in a car.

Maybe something to consider? You could also physically drive to a gym if that would help. Or just have one office/computer for work that you don't touch when not "working."

[FigBug]

I've been working at home for the last 5. Doing iOS, android, desktop apps and firmware. I find the firmware the most frustrating, probably because I'm the least experienced at it. Trying to debug things by sharing screenshot of a USB scope is a pain. Having to drive in every time I need a mod done. Even worse is driving in and whatever piece of equipment I wanted is at somebody else's house (or forgotten at mine).

I've had a better experience when doing firmware upgrades for mature products, but has anybody had a good experience developing hardware products with a work from home team?

[drewg123]

The IHV that I worked for had most of the hardware team local in California, and most of the software team remote. We had a great lab team that could install bits, move cables, etc. All machines had serial consoles & power controllers (or IPMI). One source of frustration was that most of the locals did not arrive until 10am Pacific, and I was on the Eastern time zone. So if I needed a cable moved, I had to wait until after lunch. Though I sometimes asked one of the secretaries to do it (she arrived at 6am Pacific).

By the time I had hardware access, we always had jtag or more advanced access methods working.

A big frustration was using tools like PCIe logic analyzers remotely. Luckily, these were mostly controlled by PCs, and we could access them via an IP KVM solution (but again, we had to wait for on-site labstaff to hook up physical connections).

[icebraining]

I wonder if there are any techniques that might work, like using a dedicated computer that you put away, taking a walk or a shower, etc.

[Raphmedia]

Humans are creatures of habits and compartmentalization.

- Get a different computer (use a mac if you are a windows guy for extra separation). - Work in a different room (DO NOT work from the room you sleep or play in!). - Wear different clothes (business casual is great, and if you have to do a quick errant outside, you feel like a professional instead of a lazy guy working from home in his underpants). - Do not visit NSFW websites (you are working, and we both know that porn and/or reddit can eat up your time).

[drewg123]

Indeed, I had a separate room for my office, and tried to work a strict 8am->5pm schedule Mon-Fri.

However, that all fell apart during a major crunch time where we were trying to ship a chronically late product, and for that period of time, my work life balance was essentially destroyed.

[Raphmedia]

While crunch time are necessary sometime, you should do your best to balance things out. Worked extra hard all week? Take half the next week off and go camping.

[drewg123]

It was more like a 14 month death march of 100+ hour weeks, so there really was no "next week", as there was no end in sight for most of it. That's what it is like with hardware, especially late hardware that the entire company is riding on.

After the thing finally shipped, most of the team effectively took off the next 4 months, working ~4 hours or fewer hours a day, etc. But those 14 months were hell.

[icebraining]

14 months working 100+ hours a week... Why would people in this field subject themselves to that? I frankly don't understand. What kept them on?