Smoking, homeworking, brainstorming

By definition, homeworking tends to be a fairly individual experience. A post at the blog of design studio Spoiltchild talks about the lack of face-to-face brainstorming sessions being a major downside of not being in a 'traditional' office. "I never smoked, but I always accompanied the lads on a cigarette break outside. I could say it was because of health and safety and I was getting the minimum recommended time away from staring at a screen, I could also say I was just out there dodging work but to be honest it was where all the good stuff happened. It was where everyone relaxed their brains a bit, chatted about what ever problem they were having with code or tech. They could mention some seemingly little problem that was too trivial to organise a meeting about yet it was taking many man hours trying to solve. Almost guaranteed the problem would be solved in that 5 minute break with the collective brainstorming of the group."