Depending on who you ask, I am either unfortunate or lucky enough to spend a significant portion of my working life at home, coding by myself. For one to two days out of each week I break away from the team environs and 'go it alone.'

Now I've never really had a problem with the idea, I grew up in a family that was supported by a family business of one. However recent posts by Jeff Atwood et al, have put a slight negative spin on things.

"Working alone is a temptation for many desperate software developers who feel trapped, surrounded by incompetence and mismanagement in the desert of the real. Working alone means complete control over a software project, wielding ultimate power over every decision. But working on a software project all by yourself, instead of being empowering, is paradoxically debilitating. It's a shifting mirage that offers the tantalizing promise of relief, while somehow leaving you thirstier and weaker than you started. "

I must admit to keeping in touch with reality by way of blogs and IM with colleagues, but when I'm at home, I'm the guy. I know the spirit of the comment is intended to strike at the heart of the one man shop, however I can't help but apply these statements to my own situation.

Personally, I think there is a balance to be found in all things. I don't think that the notion of working alone is this black and white. The distinction that needs to be made here is that there is a significant difference to being a one man shop and working by oneself. I find that, given the correct level of discipline, one can achieve more on certain types of work when you are by yourself. Provided you have a good team to return to when you are done.

Trudge work is the best kind of work to do by yourself, those menial tasks that nobody else is really interested in. Office banter and the like can really distract one from the jobs we hate to do, so doing them alone is often more productive. On the other hand, design decisions are best solved as a team.

So where is the balance? I honestly think that having the opportunity to 'knuckle down' on a new feature or a bug list for a few days, and come back to the team for a bit of review, has real merit. I think most open source development is done in this manner.

Thoughts?