As we worked for 4 years without an office and brutally broke off

A Vietnam veteran stumbles upon us with stupid questions. He probably needs a mentor.

Before the summer we had a distributed team. One woke up at 3 am, put tea in the kitchen and answered business letters. Another set aside her daughter for her concert in a muzykalka, listened to her performance, and during the others - answered urgent calls. The third kodil in a lounge chair on the balcony with a beautiful view of the pits of future new buildings in Lyubertsy.

Accounting was carried out on outsourcing, lawyers - too. For specific tasks were taken freelancers. We earned.
')
4 years we saved on the office. Then they sat down, considered and understood that we were saving not on the office, but on our productivity. And the difference was very serious. So hard we have never broken off.

Work at home

Houses like. I woke up, kissed my sleeping wife, put on an alcoholic T-shirt, peed - and, oh, you're at work. Sit down write code if today there are no meetings. Cool, right? Well, until the wife wakes up, the children will not begin to pull the T-shirts over the edge, the cat will not sit on the keyboard and the neighbor will not knock on the issue of microcredit for 50 rubles as a guarantee of tara.

On the other hand, shaggy glasses from the Journal of Business Psychology and their comrades who have a tooth give that remote work affects a person’s ability to socialize. And often leads to "burnout" faster than long and tedious work in the office.

Both teams are wrong, because to argue about whether an office is needed, apart from a specific project - pure idiocy.

Our example

It so happened that in May our team began to prepare coworking and the #tceh ecosystem (you probably know). Together with the site we got our first office. In fact, a big talk with a guitar insider.

And then it started.

As efficiently as from that moment, we probably never worked: the number of completed tasks and their quality have increased significantly. And it's not just about strengthening the team. More precisely, in the team, that we have become. The team does the result. Working hand in hand with others, but not being constrained by corporate rules and styles, turned out to be easier.

It is easier to take and draw on a piece of paper with a designer than to arrange dances with tambourines on Skype. A little less time, understanding - many times more. No second approach.

It is easier to pick up or delegate a task, when there is an opportunity to talk with another person in a team face to face (who has more bruises under his eyes, he delegates). It is easier to tune in to the working mode when someone herachit near.

Has the meeting gone or canceled? Just sit and write the code, and not looking for a cafe to wait another hour.

At the same time, the main work on setting and controlling tasks remained with us in the mail and online systems like Trello. At the same time, they discovered the delights of offline - they built a kanban board of paperman and stickers - and everyone could see how things were going for others, how everyone handled subtasks distributed among employees as part of a common big task. In terms of analyzing employee backlogs, it helped a lot.

When we announced the launch and began to attract the first residents, we decided to sit in their seats. And the whole team moved from the "aquarium" to the general workspace of the Workshop.

And then the stories went.

We sat with a dude with a distributed team. Development teams did not always understand each other. I gathered them all together with us, actually sat for 30 hours (!) In a meeting with a view of Yauza (and nobody even strained!) - they came out enlightened, but without a single misunderstanding. Now they are distributing invites to the beta of the mobile “crowd-story-tilling” platform.

There was a group of comrades who drove AD & D in the evenings. They hooked a couple of other people from coworking, a magician there, a gnome warrior ... And suddenly, after two weeks, instead of playing, they began to disassemble cases. They say no less exciting. Like crosswords, only the result is visible. At meetings, residents are always welcomed with their projects - new puzzles for a party.

Another comrade from our team suddenly realized that he was a tea master - he had collected the whole set and now, a couple of times a week, he spends his evening drinking tea in the recreation area. A conversation always begins with tea and does not end soon.

To one of the coworkers looked comrade. I ran into another kitchen resident - we talked - and the next day we started a joint project. Something serious on boards with sensors and sensors is said to blow up the controller market. Asked not to post pictures.

Another frame went just to see - talked to one of our mentors about the use of technology, which he wrote - and began to combine his remote work with a new project, which he immediately began. It helped start a clear understanding of the product that makes and the fact that it is “boxed”. Recently found a partner. Very happy for him.

An acquaintance of ours hired Lithuanian developers to create a picture mobile chat for the Asian market, and then wrote: “Guys, I can’t concentrate at home — I’m starting to write an agreement on sharing shares, and it ends up sticking to videos. I am coming to you. ” I came. The agreement is still finished. Then he reached out and started walking around the coworking. I consulted with our designer about colors. Then they asked the users what color of background they chose. Got helpful advice about the service for such visual tests. Gone contentedly like an elephant.

At home, we print different stickers that we order from the brothers in mind and we carry a package to the Russian Federation. That's just the customs did not appreciate our initiative. Seeing in front of them a batch of 1000 pieces, they refused to believe that we give out stickers just like that, and are not going to trade them very profitably. Wrapped. The founders of the Fotokeeper sitting at the next table say: “We bought a typewriter for printing stickers here, let’s do the layout - we’ll do it for you, we will test it at the same time”. They have no logging, but it's still cool.

But I'm not talking about that. More precisely, not quite about it.

Who or what is coworking advisor?

In 2005, a programmer with an intriguing name Brad encountered an incredible amount of domestic laziness. He took off the office and made a feint with his ears, suggesting that he drank it between other freelancers. Moreover, along the way, they all paid for the rent together, and he not only sat and was happy, but also drank coffee from the nearest Starbucks in his area.

Since then, the essence has not changed. An office is taken, people sit in it and work. The main question is, of course, what for in general to give someone money for what you can do at home. We asked him too.

In short, the meaning is:

• House wife, children and a cat. And none of them understand that if you are at the computer, it’s as if you’ve gone to work. “Miiliy, open the can, please” - smack. And that's all, the thought is gone.
• On the other hand, dobiralovo. We must get up and go. True, again, you can come at one in the morning - and if you get there, believe me, sometimes it’s possible to do more than two weeks at home before the metro opens.
• Home YouTube, social networks, TV, sofa, porn, refrigerator and procrastination. All the same is in coworking, but somehow, you know, pale yellow. Even in social networks you will not normally sit when the body knows that he came here to work.
• In coworking it is sometimes noisy. At home (if you're lucky) almost quiet. And in co-working living people. But comfortable. But still not as at home.
• Houses can be wild. And in co-working and office there are real people nearby. It seems to not interfere, but crowded in the kitchen. And smoke together. And having lunch is fun.
• And you can ask them! There is a lawyer, an accountant, a designer, and even an expert in getting rid of balalaic constipation. For gloomy and closed IT people, this is generally happiness - after all, social relations are normally a real problem for us.
• There is room to grow. We, for example, also have an educational program. When I tell you something every day that makes you want to take and work, that's cool.
• And more infrastructure. You can deploy a working environment on a laptop once, lock it in the cabinet along with charging and other things - and know that everything rises as it should, and the tasks do not overlap with other projects. This is not very important for most of our residents, but it is important for someone.

In general, coworking is like an office, only without a corporate bullshit. Plus a chat. Plus education.

This is still the place where if you get stuck on YouTube for about an hour they will approach you and ask: “Where is the code?”. It is still part of the “concept of economy” (according to Jean-Yves Huar, Namur), when dividing the space into several teams is not just less expensive, but also effective in terms of communication and “visibility” in the market.

This is still the model for the start, which is chosen by people from 20 to 30 years old, with higher education and launching current projects - while alone or with a team of up to 5-7 people (like in the USA in 2011, we had research and have them).

And one of the best things you can see in a working day is how people coming to us say “Wow, this is really cool”.

Well, a few more teams come to us just 3-4 times a month for planning passes before new releases, plus for educational programs. Yes, and the shower in the city center has not been canceled - also cool.

Home, office or coworking?

In general, for ourselves we now know for sure that working at the office is better than at home, and in co-working in the middle of the working space - even better than at the office. And the difference is in order. This is not a universal truth, and I am not going to tell you that in your case that is exactly what will happen.

I suggest to look and check.

We give a free day in our coworking for you and your team. On any day until October 5, you can look at #tceh, choose any free table, sit at it and work. Or discuss something in negotiation. Or lie on the couch, take a shower, sharpen something brought with you in the kitchen, read books from the library or shoot aliens on the console. But it is better to work.

24 hours yours. If on this day there is a lecture, a seminar or a master class - go to it, no question. Is free.

To pick up your trial, you just need to write me in a personal and indicate your name, or send the same to ak@tceh.com. Warn at least 2 hours before the arrival, and if you are going to descend at 3 at night - during working hours, so we have time to make a pass. The security needs a document like a passport, and the rights will do. But you can go and just like that, if you walk by, just not with a team anymore - call + 7-499-647-5102 and say what your name is.

Here is a virtual tour of our #tceh. Can all that is painted on the photo.

In the meantime, please tell us about your experience in working at home, in offices and in coworkings - and what helped — hindered. Any stories are important to us, even about trifles, because we want to know everything, everything, everything about how to make work more productive.