I worked for home for 18 months. What made the most difference for me was having an IRC session open all the time with my 8-9 colleagues. We only talked about work issues there (more-or-less). It gave me what I missed, which was:
- the casual non-formal interaction mechanisms with my colleagues (like just popping over to their desk to ask something),
- it made me feel less alone
- gave me a reason to get up and start work in the morning (as others would see when I logged in, a bit like when others see when you get to the office in the morning)
I worked for home for 18 months. What made the most difference for me was having an IRC session open all the time with my 8-9 colleagues. We only talked about work issues there (more-or-less). It gave me what I missed, which was:
- the casual non-formal interaction mechanisms with my colleagues (like just popping over to their desk to ask something),
- it made me feel less alone
- gave me a reason to get up and start work in the morning (as others would see when I logged in, a bit like when others see when you get to the office in the morning)
- it made me feel part of the team.