Webworking Hours
For many of us, one of the greatest things about web work is the flexibility that it allows us in our daily lives. We can, if we like, rearrange our schedule to take a midweekend. We can work in bursts, schedule ourselves to start early or work late, or even (like Travis of Young Go Getter) switch to a completely nocturnal lifestyle. Web work makes conventional notions of flex time look like just a pale imitation of the real thing.
Of course, there is occasionally trouble in paradise. Being able to work any hour you want somehow becomes “working every hour there is” for some people. And if your schedule is too radically time-shifted from that of your clients or your family, you may lose in interpersonal friction what you gain in flexibility. But with some effort, you should be able to find a schedule that works for you. Here are some tips that have helped me over the years:
1. Listen to your biological clock. Most of us are either owls or larks, and it’s tough to force a morning person on to a night schedule (or vice versa). If you require five cups of coffee to make it to a 10AM meeting, it’s more sensible to just avoid scheduling meetings before noon. On the other hand, if you wake up ready to rock at 5AM, you might as well hit your desk while your brain is primed and knock off in time to catch some afternoon TV.
2. Schedule some standard “core time.” No matter how outlandish your own working preferences, the chances are pretty good that you have to work with other people on a regular basis. You need to have a block of at least two or three hours every day when you’re available in standard business hours for your timezone, and you need to let your colleagues know when that block is. Your instant messenger status can be one handy way to publicize this core time. (If you work with a global team, this gets trickier).
3. Don’t overcommit. The biggest trap of flexible work hours (at least for me) is to let yourself get pushed beyond flexibility to overload. If you’ve determined that 5AM to 2PM, 5 days a week, is the perfect schedule for you (and it lets you get your work done), you’re going to be faced with people who want to schedule you for a 4:30PM meeting “just this once.” Be accommodating too often, and you’ll find yourself working 12 hour days on a regular basis. One possible response: agree to a 4:30 meeting this time if the team will meet at 5:30AM next week.
4. A schedule doesn’t have to be static. Particularly if you’re your own boss, there’s no reason to get stuck in a rut (unless you’re one of those people who takes comfort from knowing that every day will be exactly the same). When there are special events in your life – or it’s just a great sunny day and the park is too attractive to ignore – grab that web-working flexibility and take advantage of it. Just be sure you make up the work hours and keep your customers happy.
Got your own approach for finding the right working hours? Let us know in the comments!
I love the ability to work hours that suit me.
Ever since you wrote about midweekends, Mike, I’ve been taking Thursdays as a light workday or day off. I often go to my mom’s and paint or I go shopping or whatever. Then I work full days on Sundays. I really like it, because Sundays are quiet enough in blogging that I can really think while by Thursday of most weeks, I want a break from it all.
I also really cherish my ability to roll out of bed, throw my bathrobe on, and immediately hit the web each day at 6 am. I read my email, read some RSS, maybe get a blog post out, and then shower and get dressed and have breakfast later. My husband laughs at me for actually working in my pajamas, but it just works for me.
Avoiding the rut is important to me. I seldom start my day at the same time anymore.
That said, I’m pushing hard to get a lot out of my days now, my hours are pretty set at max. Up around 7:30-8:00, head to my new office at 9:00 or 10:00. Work 6 or 7 hours straight to be home by 5:00 to help with the baby. He goes to bed around 8:00, the wife at 9:00 or 10:00, and then I’m back working til midnight or 1:00am.
By the time Saturday rolls around, I owe them some time, though I might catch up on stuff in the morning or late at night again. If I have to finish something for Monday, Sunday afternoons are quiet and tend to be an option.
“One possible response: agree to a 4:30 meeting this time if the team will meet at 5:30AM next week.”
A meeting at 5:30 in the morning? Yuck, who would agree to that? Maybe that is the point though! ;)
I also tend to get pushed to overcommit. What was originally a 8 hour day turns into a 12 hour day and evening.
Setting my IM to invisible works if I am deep into some programming or just need some uninterrupted time to myself. The “Away” setting just prompts people to message me ‘Are you there? Can we talk?’.
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