Web Worker Daily

Decentralized working has its upsides, as we’ve all been writing about on WWD, but one thing definitely suffers: my shoulders. It seems like everywhere I go – cafes, hotspot-enabled parks, office space – I’m lugging my laptop around, ready to work at a glimmer of a broadband connection. After a few blocks even the lightest laptop bag strap starts tugging on my shoulder like it’s holding the 9-lbs Dell, I spent a grand on for my first reporting job.

Now that my newer laptop is pretty light, and I’m still smarting, I’m starting to think it’s the bag. Maybe I should actually invest some time and energy checking out the ergonomics and design rather than opting for the free hand-me down from coworkers or friends. (No more thrift store buys.) I guess I should also pick one that looks decent enough, given its going to get worn more than my favorite sweatshirt.

A friend sent me a link to a company called Everquest Design which sells laptop bags with authentic pieces of the landing parachute from the Soyuz International Space Station, or cloth from Mount Everest expeditions. They’re probably pretty sturdy, but then I remembered that I’m not an aging business man trying to relive my extreme-sports youth. The idea is a little too Richard Branson for me.

Does anyone have a favorite laptop bag brand that has been their stalwart through endless telecommuting?

A couple weeks ago I stopped by Plaxo, makers of the divisive online addressbook, and was told about a little experiment they had been trying since mid-August. Adopting the ethos of the web worker, the company is now running internal planning and product development as an unconference. Instead of littering meetings throughout the week, everybody reserves Tuesdays for meetings, and the management brings in breakfast and lunch.

They call it “Meataxo,” according to a company-wide cloying habit of using the -axo suffix on everything. As for “meat” versus “meet,” I haven’t gotten a straight answer on that.

Meataxo founder Joseph Smarr, a Plaxo senior software engineer, says it’s a good way to save the rest of the week for uninterrupted blocks of work, and to get a glimpse into what everyone else is doing. He thinks it helps Plaxo feel like it’s still a small startup.

But the experiment — assuming it’s still going — is more popular with engineers and product people than the management. “The jury’s still out,” said Todd Masonis, Plaxo founder and VP of products, explaining “most of my meetings are external.”

Its been three months since I have started to work from home, and it has been surprisingly productive. However, the downside is that I am eating a lot more on a daily basis. Looking for something to nosh on - chips, almonds, something … just to feed the beast so to speak. A lot of this stuff is not healthy and, can be a bit of a problem down the line.

So while visiting a neighborhood Safeway, I decided to pick up lots of greens - celery, carrots, radishes and what not. I make a huge salad every two days, but its getting boring. What are your tips for eating healthy when working from home, and what are the best ways to avoid the junk food trap?

I am just curious to know… I wonder why no one talks about this in context of us web workers?

Niall Kennedy and I got together shortly before I left for NY to record our latest podsession - which is all about little hacks that can help virtual companies, virtual workers and well pretty much anyone who is building a business. We are sharing some of those hacks in the podcast, and if you have some of your own, let me know. (Podcast is available for download here.) My favorite hack is well - get a T-Mobile blackberry if you need email on the go.

Why? Because it can take in your IMAP email and basically sync the status of messages - read, unread or deleted back to your server. Others can try Seven Mail on their Treo or Nokia E61, which does precisely that. You don’t need Exchange server.
Niall recommends:

I recommend ProCare for businesses with multiple computers as a way to skip lines and get better service from Apple for everything from logic board repairs to training new employees on productivity applications. Amazon Prime is a good way to share Internet shopping efficiency between up to 5 co-workers.

I am in New York this week, for work, and mostly to get away from Silicon Valley. Between visits to art galleries, hanging out with friends over long wine infused dinners, I have to find time to work, and write and still be productive. I am finding that its not that easy. Working out of cafes in San Francisco, or roaming Silicon Valley is by now second nature.

New York, is proving to be tougher, mostly because of geographic dislocation. Unlike SF, I am not familiar with the WiFi zones. I spent most of the evening yesterday and today looking for WiFi connection because the Verzion EVDO Express Card stopped working for some odd reason. (Any tips on a quiet WiFi enabled cafe below 23rd street in Manhattan?) More than connectivity issues, I am finding that the new geolocation is not letting me get in the flow of things. Do you have any advice or tips for me? Have you experienced similar issues, or is just an “om issue.”

Om recommended I read a blog post by Michael Buffington on getting things done. I would say that’s a bad thing, coming from my boss… except lately he’s been bugging me about working too much. Anyways, the post seems like a good topic for us web workers, though we aren’t able to control our work environment quite as well as Michael, who prefers a cold office.

His other must-haves: sound-isolating headphones, familiar music, Pepsi, competition, and deadlines. His commenters add green tea, Vitamin B, and exercise, as well as a long list of books.

Michael talks about flow as a transitory, elusive state — so his objective is to control his environment enough to foster that state. I find that’s a big challenge for larger projects, but since so much of my work now consists of quick and time-sensitive spurts of research and writing, I don’t have to be quite so deliberate about my surroundings and caffeine intake. Or maybe that’s just because this is a new job for me and I haven’t stalled out yet!

It’s interesting to compare a worker to an athlete…reminds me of a college friend’s obsession with Phil Jackson and his modified-Zen coaching philosophies.

So what’s your productivity secret?

Folks, I know a lot of people wanted to get forums to disucss, post and share resources, and I am pleased to announce that we have started working on that. Hopefully by end of the month we would have everything set-up, and the final product would be seamless and enmesh nicely into the current design. So until then, keep on trucking… If you want to contribute to the blog, let me know and we can exchange emails and talk more!

By Tony Conrad, CEO/Co-Founder Sphere

One of the amazing changes taking place in the tech space is companies being formed around a virtual work environment. Sphere has operated this way since inception. The four founders are based in San Francisco, Seattle & Denver. We have team members living in Vancouver, Portland, Phoenix, Denver, San Francisco, New York, and Boston. Our Advisors are based in San Francisco, Connecticut, New York, Boston and Atlanta. At first, I thought it was crazy to start a company with no geographical base. As we started Sphere, I had two main concerns about a virtual environment:

1) how do we effectively work together to create a great product/ service?

2) how do we create a culture that serves as a foundation for success?

We’ve adopted a number of tools that keep us ticking, enabling us to maintain a fluid, nimble approach to creating a great blog discovery engine. Here are some tools we couldn’t live without:

• we use teleconferencing like crazy – Premiere Global Services
• we use an internal blog/ wiki – WordPress
• we use Basecamp for our ongoing UI design process
• we use Fogbugz for bug tracking, feature priorization
• we use IM (too much) to avoid too much phone talk
• we use email (oddpost/ oops, I mean Yahoo! Mail Plus) for formal dialog
• we use office space from one of our investors (True Ventures)
• we spend as much time as possible meeting with people at their offices

The culture piece is a little less straightforward. In fact, I’ve never met three of our key team members. Here are a few obvious things to do to develop a feel for each other:

• we make sure we talk everyday, EVERYDAY
• we do a group call every Tuesday (Tech team) and Friday (Business Team)
• we engage people on a series of projects before signing them on as team members
• the founders meet physically at least once a quarter.

We’re also trying a few new things. For example, this Friday we’re holding a pizza party - each team member will receive a pizza at their homes for a group call and mini celebration of our accomplishments to date – not sure how this will work but it’s worth a try. Check back next week and I’ll share some thoughts on how it goes.