CoffeeTime Science: The Sanctuary of Working from Home

The one place most scientists can’t write at is at work

My phone beeps at me. Message from Narges. “Coffee? Katja and I are on the 7^th floor.” I text back, “I’ll join you for coffee, but not on the 7^th floor. I’m working from home today, writing my paper.”

I send them a picture of my coffee next to my laptop. “You all done with the laundry, then?” Narges teases me. It is true that there are a lot of distractions when working from home, and I am probably not the only one who takes breaks at odd times to do the laundry, take a nap, and drink copious amounts of tea (if I had that many coffees I’d have heart palpitations) when they are working from home to write a manuscript or grant application. However, the truth is that I always get a lot more done in terms of writing when I am at home compared to in the lab. The reasons for that are probably twofold: I write in my own rhythm and I don’t get interrupted or distracted in the middle of a train of thought.

In the lab, my day is punctuated by meetings, emails, students and technicians coming into the office with questions, people asking me to show them how a particular machine works, etc. Not to mention Katja and Narges – we joke with each other that we are extremely productive (albeit lonely) when one or two of us are away. At home, I settle into writing while listening to the radio, focus on what I want to write, and once I am on a roll, I can follow my rhythm and don’t stop until I have completed a section. Then I take a break to check emails/eat something/do laundry/drink tea/take a nap, and get back to the next bit of continuous, undisturbed writing. I have tried doing this at work with earphones on and my email closed, but the end result is always the same: I get more writing done at home.

Working from home is not for everyone and I would not want to do so all the time – the stimulation of my colleagues and laboratory work are essential to me. However, I don’t know many scientists who can actually write at their designated space at work once the point of ‘writing up the paper’ has been reached. Most either write at home, or, if they feel they need a less distracting environment still, the library. Laboratories are generally noisy and busy places, with people coming and going, talking, and operating machines that also make noise. So it’s no wonder most people escape to the relative serenity of home to write.

The other day I was having a conversation with Oscar the Grouch^*. He was having trouble writing his paper in the lab, but his PI won’t allow anyone to work from home. How short sighted of them, I remember thinking. But I have heard about similar situations before. In my opinion – maybe more importantly from the PI’s perspective – this results in the manuscript taking longer to get written, therefore delaying progress on that project. I worked from home today and wrote the abstract, introduction, methods, results and figure legends. I could have done so between 9am and 5pm, or I could have started at 10.30am, taken a nap at 2pm, done my laundry at 5.45pm, had dinner at 8pm and finished the bulk of the writing between 11pm and 2am. Either way, I made more progress on the manuscript than I would have done had I gone to work today. Oh, and my pile of laundry has shrunk considerably…

^* No comment.

My name is Christine, and I am an immunologist. After my undergraduate studies in Oxford, I moved to London for my PhD and first postdoc. After 7 years in this magnificent city, I was ready for an adventure and decided to go to Boston for a second postdoc. Six years later, I’ve made Boston my permanent home, but I am currently on an 8-month sabbatical back in London, where I am learning new things at The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine before returning to Boston. In addition to doing research, I write a series of blogs about conversations and discussions I have had with other scientists, with topics ranging from the inane to career goals and options, our research, new techniques and technologies and the like. I would like to share some of those topics with you in this blog. Want to join in? Grab yourself a cup of your favorite caffeinated beverage, read along, and leave comments.