CivicActions

As part of a series of posts about 'The Way We Work' here at CivicActions, I'm first up with my work style:

Have you worked remotely before working for CivicActions?

For just over 1 year I lived worked and played in a tiny single-bedroom 35-square-metre studio apartment in Palermo, Buenos Aires (Argentina).

I shared the apartment with Celeste, then my girlfriend, now my fiancee. With only 4 walls and 1 internal door leading to the bathroom, it was cosy, to say the least.

I was just getting into professional web design and development and spent most of my time discovering and learning from my own mistakes, finding and refining my abilities and disabilities. Fortunately it didn't matter much that I couldn't estimate work, manage the invoices or deal with clients. With a supportive salary-earning partner and a favoring foreign exchange rate I got by comfortably.

Incidentally it was during that time that I discovered the joys of open source, drupal, php and many other fantastic open source projects, which led the way to where I am today.

Where do you work from?

I work mostly from my office at home, although I do spend about half a day in a week working from cafes, the cinema lobby, or at the Hop (a local pub/microbrewery). Working from public places is fun, but isn't easy in New Zealand. The idea of providing internet for free as an enticement for customers is only just catching on here.

Do you work with other people? or alone?

I work alone and keep the door shut. Distractions break my flow and frustrate me. I might sound grumpy or introverted to the unenlightened.

Although I work alone I have a lot of virtual company via email, IM, groups.drupal.org and drupal.org. All of which provide too much distraction and excuse for procrastination!

I trialed working from the offices of the Effusion group, a collection of local open-source companies with a co-working-like environment. However I found it didn't really work for me. I was more productive and found it easier to focus at home.

What kind of computer do you work on primarily? What's your favorite Hardware?

I own a MacBook Pro 17" laptop computer which stores half of my virtual life (the other half is online) and a Dell 30" LCD monitor. These two devices make up the most valued and valuable part of my set up.

I got one of the slim apple keyboards recently, which I love. I still use the same oversized asymmetrical RF wireless optical Genius mouse that I've had for almost three years now. It holds two heavy AA batteries that make it feel and move like a solid device -- which I love. Any other mouse feels like cheap plastic crap to me.

For audio I have a crackly home-assembled DSE amplifier that is probably older than I, and a pair of Sony speakers that were great in their day, which has well-passed. I'm thinking of replacing them with JBL Creatures some day. Although I'm concerned about the range. Many reviews report low mids, so I'm looking for other affordable options.

I also have a really handy pair of wireless bluetooth headphones that play stereo music. It is really handy when traveling or on phone calls being un-attached to anything. Plus they are really comfy. I tried the Motorolla S9's before these generic Dells but was absolutely horrified at the discomfort and difficulty of using them.

I have a cheap external HDD case with a changeable HDD for backups. It currently has a 200 Gb drive which isn't big enough for Time Machine's backups of my data.

What's your favorite software?

These apps are a real pleasure to use and make me smile when I can use them:

• TextMate -- the best text editor, ever. IMHO
• Things.app from Cultured Code. It's in Alpha but it really helps me Get Things Done.
• Adium. Total instant messaging solution. And the duck is sooo cute!

I also always have open:

• Netscape Navigator has been End-of-lifed, but until Firefox 3 has the extensions I need...
• Apple's Activity Monitor to track how much RAM is available
• Apple's iTunes is a pig on windows but elegant on OS X
• NetNewsWire keeps me up to date with about 50 RSS feeds
• Apple's Stickies -- just real damn handy
• iTerm -- tabbed shell on OS X

And a bunch of utilities in the top bar.

Any special furniture you could not work without?

My chair. It keeps my back and neck straight which keeps the chiropractor at bay!

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