I shouldn’t have been surprised — I’d told her earlier in the week that we might become more productive if we work near each other. At that time it was merely a suggestion. I didn’t think that one day I would just wake up and find it a reality.

“Oh well, there’s nothing wrong with that,” I thought to myself. It’s not like we didn’t discuss it. What’s the worst that could happen? In fact, I believed we were going to be more motivated and productive.

A few days later, I realized that every benefit of coworking with my partner came paired with a disadvantage.

Inspiration vs. Distraction

As Darrell suggested in a previous post, you should pick a coworking partner that you respect and admire. I knew I could learn from my partner’s work ethic and her ability to make connections. I find her inspiring, but having her around is distracting too. Every time she moved or made a sound, I would shoot involuntary glances to her side of the room. To be fair, she told me that although she’s motivated by my passion for work she got annoyed at how loud I type.

This meant that we needed some physical barriers so that we could block out distracting movements and sounds. At the same time, we didn’t want to completely separate our workspaces. Our solution was to keep our desks six feet apart, rather than side-by-side, and place a small shelf of books in between. From where I’m sitting I can see her monitor, keyboard and hands without being distracted with the other movements she makes. Also, she can barely hear me type.

Common Ground vs. Conflicts

Having similar goals and habits can work for you, but there will always be  conflict no matter how compatible you think you are. For example, we agree on the color of the walls (orange), the position of the furniture and having a small garden behind the sliding door. Things we disagree on: everything else.

The workaround to this issue is to know your priorities as a team and as individuals. Do you need a completely silent work environment or can you adjust to soft ambient music? Is your need for a large shelf as important as her need for more leg room? There will always be compromises. Knowing your priorities can identify the compromises that will least affect you.

If you must argue, pick your battles well. An argument over who makes the coffee is not as important as a constructive discussion on how the other person’s habits interfere with your work.

Collaboration vs. Independence

It’s hard to create privacy when you’re working in one room. This can be a good thing, since you can help each other out of time sinks as well as share ideas. Too much collaboration, on the other hand, can be suffocating.

Facilitating collaboration was easy. The whiteboard in the office allowed us to write our to-do lists for the day and the rest of the week. If I need help with something, I just write it on the box labeled “Requests.” She then responds in a way that was most convenient for both of us whether it’s through email, a conversation, or Twitter.

Even then, we’d often think of a question that needed a quick reply. Asking out loud worked at first, but during peak productive moments we’d rather work uninterrupted. How would she know if it was okay to disturb me (and vice versa)?

Here’s the solution we came up with: a simple “DND” under my name in the whiteboard shows that I can’t be bothered until the “DND” has come off. The same goes for her. Now, it’s almost a reflex to look at the whiteboard and check for the “DND” before I speak.

Coworking with my partner was much harder than I expected. The good news is that with continued effort, we’re slowly getting to the point where the arrangement is making us stronger — both as a couple and as teleworkers.

Have you ever tried sharing a home office with your spouse or partner? What challenges did you face and how did you overcome them?

Image by nyuszika from sxc.hu

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Not all teleworkers are lucky enough to have a large house. This means that designated office space will be limited. In fact, many teleworkers I know work from a partitioned corner of their kitchen or living room. If you’re in a similar situation, planning your home office can be a challenge. What can you do to have an efficient workspace in a small area?

Spend time planning your space. It’s best to make a visual plan so that each square foot is accounted for. Doing this saves more time and effort over moving furniture around on the spot.

Avoid large furniture. The smaller the space you have to work with, the leaner your furniture should be. I made the mistake of buying a large drafting table with a lightbox. It takes up half the room, but I only use a third of its surface. A more practical choice would’ve been a smaller desk and a separate lightbox that I can tuck away when I’m not using it. At least the table is foldable, so I can rest it against the wall when I need more floor space.

Which brings me to the next point — have folding or stacking furniture, if you can. This is especially important for pieces you don’t use often, such as extra chairs or tables. I’m not saying that you have to go out and buy new furniture. Just be selective about which existing pieces go into your office.

Go multifunctional. As much as possible, use multifunctional furniture. For example, a cabinet of the right height can also be used as a standing workstation. You can also have a small bench, ottoman, or side table with storage compartments. If you’re using a laptop, a cabinet with a foldout desk can be a good choice as your work desk if the height and size is comfortable enough for you.

One of the things I did was to modify an old computer chair so that it can serve as a stool when a visitor needs to look at the computer with me, and also function as an ottoman when I recline my own chair to relax.

Take advantage of vertical space. For extra storage space, install overhead shelves in your office. This allows you to increase the functional surface area that you can work with. You can make these shelves easier to reach by having a small stepladder nearby.

Purge ruthlessly. I used to keep the boxes that came with new software and equipment. By storing these boxes, I was essentially storing air. When I eventually recycled the boxes, I found myself with almost a full cabinet of free space. In case you’ll need some boxes in the future, don’t store them as they are. Instead, fold them up so that you can pile several boxes neatly in a cabinet or under a bed.

Here’s another thing that eats up office space: old or broken computer peripherals and parts. If some of them are still working, donate or sell them. If not, throw them away or recycle them.

Look for inspiration. Browse the web for examples of small rooms and see what makes them work. Here are some sites that can help:

• Small Space Style
• HGTV has a small space section
• Inspiring workplaces Flickr Pool
• Shedworking — Technically, this blog is about using sheds as living or working space. Many of the sheds are small, so they might give you some ideas.

Having a small home office shouldn’t be a big disadvantage if you know how to work around it. with some careful planning and creativity, the worth of your small office won’t be measured in square feet.

Do you have a small home office? How do you work around space constraints?

Image by jadey919 from sxc.hu

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