This is absolutely nuts. I’m here writing this blog post a little after 11:30am because it’s something I can do without thinking too much. I’m in the middle of two very complex bits of work that require my full focus and consintration. But I can’t do what I need to because of the noise outside my window and inside the office. Currently, there are two people standing having a chat outside and there’s a very noisy saw running for the past ten minutes. Just before the saw there was someone talking very loudly in the office and there were two other coleagues trying to investigate a 2FA issue. These are all tasks that these people need to cary out and I absolutely don’t have any problem with what all these people are doing. It’s just that I simply can’t focus properly on these tasks. Just when I think the noise is going to stop, it comes back again. Like a knife through my ears.

I read a computer interface using a screen reader that provides feedback using synthesized speech through head phones that I wear constantly. So imagine this from my perspective. It would be like if you were trying to read complicated text off a page but I kept moving the page constantly and continually strobed the lights in the room. It would be very distracting and stressfull. Now imagine I stop for less than a minute and without warning began doing the same thing again. You will be on edge just waiting for the next distraction.

But this is only one part of the reason that this return to the office has me driven round the bend. This morning I left the house at just before 7:50am. The bus didn’t actually arrive until 8:20am and then we got stuck on the M1, the main road between Drogheda and Dublin for ages as a result of a crash. So I didn’t get to the office until 9:40am. If I was working from home, I would start at around 9am but I would have had a good long walk with the dog so my head will be in the right space to have a productive day. I get straight in and with my custom built office environment at home, I can be assured of absolute solitude and quiet.

It’s not all about work as well. At about 3:30pm, I’ll go in to the house and for about 10 minutes, I’ll catch up with my two children to ask them how school was. But I go back to my office again and I’ll easily work until 6pm without any problems. Because I know that when I finish, I have a 1 minute walk back into the house. Where as in Dublin, I’ll finish at 5pm on the dot and I know I have just over an hour before I get home. So there’s no insentive for me to continue working to get the job done.

It just seems sensless to me. My job is not about constantly engaging with people. I value my coleagues and I enjoy collaborating with them. But I find that I can do this equally well remotely. I can work more effectively when I’m not not in the office.

Rant over.

That damn saw is still running. I don’t know how I’m going to get anything done today.