ADHD Remote Work for Developers: Build for Context Decay, Not Perfect Focus

Originally published at chudi.dev I worked from home for eight months before I figured out I was failing at remote work specifically because of ADHD, not despite doing everything "right." I had a desk. A monitor. A to-do list. I woke up at the same time every day. And still, whole afternoons would vanish. I'd look up at 5pm, realize I'd been deep in a rabbit hole since 11am, and have nothing to show for it that anyone would call work. The problem wasn't focus. ADHD gets described as a focus problem, but that's wrong. My focus was fine. It was just pointed at the wrong things for hours at a time, with no external force to redirect it. That's what remote work does to ADHD brains: it removes every environmental cue that normally handles redirection for you. Here's what I replaced those cues with. Why remote work hits ADHD harder than most people realize An office is full of behavioral scaffolding you don't notice until it's gone. The commute is a transition ritual. It physically separates