Minimum Startup Overhead: Coffee Shop Programmer

I'm a coffee shop programmer as well. Not always, but whenever I want to avoid the potential distractions in my apartment (tv, xbox, bed) I take my laptop and work from a coffee shop for the day. It's also a nice change of scenery. <p>The freedom to be able to work from anywhere is one of the greatest things about this arrangement. Sometimes I travel to visit friends and family, and that doesn't stop me from doing my work because all I need is my laptop.

I have three words for you, my friend: "electric space heaters". :)<p>I won't dwell on the fact that laptops are ergonomically evil and will eventually send you to the doctor with one form of RSI or another. If you don't already understand this, it will be very hard to convince you.<p>Instead I'll point out that your productivity is proportional to how much monitor you've got. Researchers have measured this [1][2], hackers [3] and techies [4] have testified to this, and Apple has sold a lot of incredibly expensive 30-inch displays because of this. Why are you killing your own productivity in order to save the cost of running an electric space heater? Is it the coffee? Don't get hooked on the coffee!<p>[1] <a href="http://www.useit.com/alertbox/screen_resolution.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.useit.com/alertbox/screen_resolution.html</a><p>[2] <a href="http://research.microsoft.com/displayArticle.aspx?id=433" rel="nofollow">http://research.microsoft.com/displayArticle.aspx?id=433</a><p>[3] <a href="http://jeremy.zawodny.com/blog/archives/005541.html" rel="nofollow">http://jeremy.zawodny.com/blog/archives/005541.html</a><p>[4] <a href="http://chris.pirillo.com/2007/05/31/dual-monitor-display-increases-productivity/" rel="nofollow">http://chris.pirillo.com/2007/05/31/dual-monitor-display-inc...</a>

I've done development at various local libraries and I would definitely recommend this over coffee shops. There are more wireless restrictions at libraries but the quiet, privacy, and space to work more than makes up for it.

I've told people about the coffee shop office idea, and no one's really come up with good objections. Just mix it with this and you're all set:<p><a href="http://www.theonion.com/content/node/32374" rel="nofollow">http://www.theonion.com/content/node/32374</a>

great read, I think the biggest problem is toilet breaks, at home you don't need to take your laptop with you :p And if you do I don't want to know about it...