Is remote work a good option ?

With growing number of organizations embracing the idea of working remotely either part time or full time. The proliferation of collaboration tools, like Slack and WebEx, and remote access tools like Citrix that have enabled effective off-shore engagement are now being enabled for the workforce in General.

not actually me

Companies like Accenture, Amazon and Github all part of  this trend. Gitlab has been particularly forward thinking in this area, with a workforce that is 100% remote and a public algorithm that calculates salary, taking into account the geographic location of the candidate. 

Along with companies looking to hire workers remotely, the number of specialized services offer postings for positions that are also 100% remote. Remote.com and Angel List are both services available for candidates looking for remote-only work. 

For my entire career, I've commuted into a physical office space each morning, and back home each night...and never thought twice about it. Sometimes I've worked from home, if there was an occasional Ortho appointment or sick kid, but that's about it. Is remote work a good option for me? I don't know. 

So I'm conducting an experiment this week. I'm working from home on Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday.  I'm going to conduct all team business remotely, including Team meetings, 1:1s and sprint planning sessions. I have my week planned with some specific tasks and action items to accomplish (including this post) and I'll reflect back to see if I was able to do all these or not. I'm also going to track my exercise patterns, coffee in-take and snack consumption...just to make sure the quality of life doesn't slip. Stay tuned for details.