My Work Setup - 2024 Edition
The ups and downs of being comfortable in a proper remote work space
Nearly three years ago I wrote an article about my outdoor office setup. It gained some traction and was featured on Medium for a bit. It fueled some fun conversations about what a home workspace "should" look like.
Some people thought I was crazy to be doing all of my work in a fairly traditional knowledge worker role while standing up all day in my backyard surrounded by star jasmine vines. Some people were jealous and wished they could pull this off in a climate that wasn't as accommodating as Northern California. But mostly people were curious and wanted to know how I was able to stay focused, avoid the glare of the sun, stay cool, stay warm, etc.
A lot has changed in three years and I think it's time for me to revisit my current setup and talk about my workplace arrangements for 2024.
Outside or Inside?
Probably the biggest question is if I'm still working outside or not. The short answer is that I'm usually not outside all-day everyday as I used to be. I do have a room in our house that usually serves as my primary workspace. We did move to a different corner of the Bay Area into a home with a bit more space. Since both my wife and I will be working remotely indefinitely, our housing requirements changed somewhat. Having two dedicated work-from-home spaces made the old outdoor office less of a necessity.
Plus our current location has a bit more variance in weather. It's still pretty mild on most days but we get plenty of foggy, chilly (by California standards) mornings that don't particularly lend themselves to outdoor digital productivity.
While we're on the topic of weather, California also decided that it was time to end this silly drought nonsense. Last year was the wettest winter in quite some time and this year hasn't been quite as bad yet but we're seeing more showers than we did when I was in my heyday as a backyard office worker during drought times.
Standing or Sitting?
When it comes to standing or sitting, I'm still upright at least 80% of the day. I've (perhaps foolishly) taken pride in the fact that I haven't had a desk chair in over a decade, but there are days or locations where the all-day stand just doesn't make sense. A hydraulic stool that allows a comfortable perch is really perfect for most standing desk users. And if I feel the need to sit, I much prefer to just go to an alternative location rather than lowering my desk or pulling up a chair. I think it's more of a mental distinction than physical preference for me.
I'm still a big believer in high-quality standing mats with texture. The Stoic standing mat from Wild Gym still gets use everyday. I'm not big on using all of the little fidget exercises throughout the day, but the variable surfaces and balance beam do counteract any fatigue from being one spot all day.
Of course, if I'm feeling under the weather or just completed a tough run or long bike ride, I'll hop onto a chair or set up shop at a coffee shop or library where a standing configuration isn't always possible. I've never felt that everyone should necessarily stand all day, but for many years it just felt so much better for me personally. As I slide gracefully into old(er) age, I'm sure my sit/stand ratio will change.
Two Screens or One?
I've been pretty passionate about my love of monotasking on just one screen. I typically want to have just one task occupying the one screen that I'm looking at. And I've never understood the folks who had multiple giant screens where they were constantly looking left to right and dragging objects between screens. I guess it's just not the type of work that I'm typically doing. When I have used multiple screens in the past, I naturally gravitated to one of them and I just had a glowing, empty desktop distracting me on the other.
But the thing that has changed a little bit for me is a desire for a larger single screen. I always preferred the smallest size laptop screen for optimal lightweight productivity. However, we figured out how to make large-screened laptops nearly the same weight as their tiny counterparts. It's not the exact trade-off that it used to be.
And like most people, my eyesight is getting worse, not better. I don't often wear the glasses that I probably should wear daily. So I did finally cave-in and by a 32-inch Samsung Smart monitor. It still feels absurdly big to me. And now isn't the time for a full-blown review but it's a beautifully designed device that isn't without its flaws. I still think it arguably looks more sleek than the 27-inch iMac that it replaced, but I digress. Most of the time, I'm just staring at a large blank page of writing or a full-screen YouTube video, or a jumbo list of e-mails. I'm not doing the laptop screen next to the external monitor thing, it's just laptop screen or monitor above a closed laptop.
What's next?
So that's where I'm at right now. I'm still rocking an M1 powered Macbook Pro that handles most of my needs. In the next few months I'll likely pick up a Mac Mini that can be tethered to that giant monitor so my laptop can roam free as the portable device it was designed to be.
And I'll likely have more updates about this in coming months, but one new year project that I'm embarking on is converting a little-used backyard shed into a proper home office space. It needs a little bit of love to be fully-comfortable but already has electricity, insulation, and a sturdy roof. Its aesthetics match the house exactly which is fun. It's basically just a tiny version of my house parked beside it.
The previous owners just used it for potting soil and gardening projects. So once the mildew and dirt smells come out, it should be more than suitable as a remote work haven. And I'll likely be adding a small wooden landing in front of the entrance to allow for a proper outdoor standing desk setup when the weather permits. And if the weather doesn't permit, I can retreat back into the friendly confines of the shed.
If all goes well, it should be the ultimate indoor/outdoor, standing/sitting, as many monitors as needed remote work setup...
Thanks for reading, I’ll see you next week!
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Great update! Took away some life goals from it.