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Ask HN: What still sucks about remote work?

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Re: Ask HN: What still sucks about remote work?

#41

Post by gotrythis »

From a remote management perspective, when your presence is felt in an office, it reminds people to do the small things that keep the ship sailing smoothly - things that are outside of the scope of the current project, so they're on another to-do list, but still need to get done.

When you're a remote manager competing for staff time to get these things done with on-site managers it gets even trickier, as people want to please the people they have to face every day, even if they see them just in passing. You need to take extra steps (more reminders) to keep secondary projects moving.

Re: Ask HN: What still sucks about remote work?

#42

Post by krel »

gotrythis wrote: post #41

From a remote management perspective, when your presence is felt in an office, it reminds people to do the small things that keep the ship sailing smoothly - things that are outside of the scope of the current project, so they're on another to-do list, but still need to get done. When you're a remote manager competing for staff time to get these things done with on-site managers it gets even trickier, as people want…

For the sake of argument; are you sure getting those secondary projects done is really a net benefit for the company? Compared to, let's say, doing more uninterrupted work on the primary project?

Im uncertain myself so further reflections on this would be interesting to hear.

Re: Ask HN: What still sucks about remote work?

#43

Post by anonymouswacker »

krel wrote: post #33
anonymouswacker wrote: post #14

Working at home, the existential dread and feeling of meaninglessness in my tasks increased with remote work for a time, given my separation from the distractions of workplace politics, drama, etc. that pervaded office life. It is hard to make connections with coworkers, and it is so important to build a social life outside of work if you do not have one. I find I work less hours in front of the computer, accomplish…

Very interesting. Would you rather solve this by having a larger network of local friends, or by having better ways of doing office banter and informal interactions with your co-workers?

I think it got solved on its own for me. Filling that void of social interaction can be taken as part of the time to adjust.

I cannot imagine how the informal interactions with co-workers would happen remotely, but I work in an unimaginative bureaucracy where my co-workers are about twice my age.

One idea that has been floated is meeting together for training with my teammates, but I have yet to meet anyone in six years -- even my boss.

Re: Ask HN: What still sucks about remote work?

#44

Post by beatgammit »

krel wrote: post #39
pavel_lishin wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What would she do if you worked in an office?

I do work from an office most of the time so I can compare; it works way better since the "Im working/not working"-line is less fuzzy (I think).

I think this is the issue my wife has. She sees me at home and seems to think, well, maybe I can interrupt him just this once, and it happens a few times a day. I feel like I get more done in less time, but I also get less time, what with taking care of random errands.

When I worked on the office, she kept complaining that I came home too late (8 hours + ~1 hour commute). Now she complains when I work too late, but I work late because of the interruptions.

I've considered renting an office in my city, which would mean a ~5 minute commute by bicycle. This should help solve most of the issues we have, since I can be physically away, but not that far away. When I talk to her, things get better for a little while, but it's not really a permanent solution. I could probably make it work with 2-3 days in the office and work at home the other days.

Re: Ask HN: What still sucks about remote work?

#45

Post by buboard »

ragebol wrote: post #22

Conferencing, still. You'd think that we had gotten that covered now, but nope. Not just image and audio quality, but Google Hangouts on my phone (so I can carry it around the house and get tea etc during a meeting) slurps up oodles of battery and the phone (OnePlus 5T) gets really really hot too. No such problem with eg. Netflix and Youtube, guess those video codecs have some HW acceleration while Google Hangouts do…

Audio quality is obv important, but is hd video quality needed, beyond screen sharing? I think a lot of tools use too much cpu time (and thus hang) for hd video, where a simple 320x240 from the 90s would do

Re: Ask HN: What still sucks about remote work?

#46

Post by krel »

buboard wrote: post #45
ragebol wrote: post #22

Conferencing, still. You'd think that we had gotten that covered now, but nope. Not just image and audio quality, but Google Hangouts on my phone (so I can carry it around the house and get tea etc during a meeting) slurps up oodles of battery and the phone (OnePlus 5T) gets really really hot too. No such problem with eg. Netflix and Youtube, guess those video codecs have some HW acceleration while Google Hangouts do…

Audio quality is obv important, but is hd video quality needed, beyond screen sharing? I think a lot of tools use too much cpu time (and thus hang) for hd video, where a simple 320x240 from the 90s would do

I don't know, I think resolution is very important to get as many facial expressions as possible over via video. Those things that make in-person conversations smooth, but makes video feel stilted.

Re: Ask HN: What still sucks about remote work?

#47

Post by gshdg »

For some reason, interacting with someone you see through a video camera just doesn’t feel the same as interacting with someone you’re in the same room as.

This is magnified x100 in group settings, especially group settings where more than half the participants are physically present and only a minority remote.

Re: Ask HN: What still sucks about remote work?

#48

Post by gotrythis »

krel wrote: post #42
gotrythis wrote: post #41

From a remote management perspective, when your presence is felt in an office, it reminds people to do the small things that keep the ship sailing smoothly - things that are outside of the scope of the current project, so they're on another to-do list, but still need to get done. When you're a remote manager competing for staff time to get these things done with on-site managers it gets even trickier, as people want…

For the sake of argument; are you sure getting those secondary projects done is really a net benefit for the company? Compared to, let's say, doing more uninterrupted work on the primary project? Im uncertain myself so further reflections on this would be interesting to hear.

Yes, of course. The primary work is client work. The secondary projects are things needed to assist the marketing team to increase conversions, increase hourly billing rates, etc.

Re: Ask HN: What still sucks about remote work?

#49

Post by askafriend »

Human connection.

A major predictor of workplace happiness is if people feel like they have at least 1 other friend or confidant at work.

It's incredibly hard to build meaningful relationships over a conferencing system and makes the job feel more robotic.

Also I think I'd get incredibly lonely and depressed if I did remote work.

Re: Ask HN: What still sucks about remote work?

#50

Post by felipebrnd »

beatgammit wrote: post #44
krel wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do work from an office most of the time so I can compare; it works way better since the "Im working/not working"-line is less fuzzy (I think).

I think this is the issue my wife has. She sees me at home and seems to think, well, maybe I can interrupt him just this once, and it happens a few times a day. I feel like I get more done in less time, but I also get less time, what with taking care of random errands. When I worked on the office, she kept complaining that I came home too late (8 hours + ~1 hour commute). Now she complains when I work too late, but I…

Exactly (including the office situation) here.

Some days I would just do obligations like meetings and urgent stuff at the normal hours and leave the deep work to do when she and the baby were asleep.

This was definitely the hardest thing to balance...

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