Microsoft finds their engineers are not slacking when Working from Home #WFH

Two weeks ago Microsoft told all their Seattle engineers to work from home if possible, only requiring essential personnel to come into the office.

Of course, software developers are in some ways the ideal job to do from home, being very often done remotely even before the COVID-19 crisis.

It is sometimes however difficult to juggle the distractions of the home environment, but Microsoft’s analysis of the productivity of their developers, based on their commits, showed that there has actually been no reduction in the amount of code they are contributing.

Not that there have not been any changes. The data showed engineers actually started earlier and finished later, and were more often working through lunch, without the usual lunchtime dip.

The activity peak seen in the afternoon was actually lower, but overall when compared to the period before the #WFH order shows that there is no actual reduction in work being done.

Microsoft says enabling a team to work remotely is an ongoing challenge, but that they found that maintaining a collaborative and productive culture, empowering devs with remote-friendly tools, and watching the numbers to ensure they stay productive are all effective ways to help engineering team move to remote work.

Read all their tips and tricks here.