Practical MLOps

Appendix C. Remote Work

By Noah Gift

In the post COVID-19 world, having a stable home office where you can get work done is critical. Another factor is that remote-first optimizes outcomes. A significant issue with in-person environments is the “appearance” of progress versus actual progress. Getting dragged into meetings for hours that have no result is a good example. Having the “sales” team disrupt the developers writing code in an open office plan is another. When the focus is strictly on outcomes, then remote-first starts to make a lot of sense.

For the last several years, I have been continuously “hacking” my home office to accommodate teaching worldwide and at major top universities, as well as doing remote software engineering and consulting. You can see my setup in Figure C-1. I want to walk you through how to set up your own work space so that you can be productive.

Figure C-1. Working from home

Equipment for Working Remotely

Network

Here is a brief, nonexhaustive list of things to consider if you work remotely. A reliable home network is probably the most critical item on any remote work checklist. Ideally, you can get a low-cost fiber connection for under 100 dollars. Fiber is ideal because you get the same speed both down and up. Note that not only is 1GB fiber standard across many parts of America, 2GB fiber is also becoming widely available.

There are few necessary ...