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Working remotely is hard

moishelettvin.com

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Re: Working remotely is hard

#91

Post by dvanduzer »

richardwhiuk wrote: post #45
dvanduzer wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed. The biggest challenge to remote work is when there's a local core. The groups that are serious about it enforce rules about collocated humans preferring the remote collaboration tools anyway. It's tough to bake this into a culture that didn't start there.

I'd guess it's hard even if you start with that. Local equivalents are often much better (e.g sharing a screen with someone is much better than all screen sharing apps, meeting someone is much better than all of the video conferencing apps etc).

I mean, I'm pretty sympathetic to the somewhat political statement that started this subthread. Having meaningful work for all humans that want it, and meaningful existence for any humans left out? (A bit off topic, granted.)

Re: Working remotely is hard

#92

Post by byoung2 »

cxseven wrote: post #51
askafriend wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love the microwave though.

Microwaving cooks food without generating as much carcinogenic char as other methods, so it can actually be healthier. Relatedly, freezing is the healthiest way to preserve and transport fruits and vegetables. It also allows them to be harvested when naturally ripe, rather than artificially ripened.

Microwaving cooks food without generating as much carcinogenic char as other methods, so it can actually be healthier.

Since the microwave is often used for reheating food that was cooked with these other methods, there's often no advantage.

Re: Working remotely is hard

#93

Post by mildbow »

err4nt wrote: post #87
mildbow wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've found, after coding+managing remotely[0], that it takes a specific set of traits to be a successful remote worker. - strong work ethic: no one needs to tell you that it's time to start working for the day/after lunch etc. - strong communication: not the same as being an extrovert. might even help if you are an introvert. Just comfortable with text being the dominant means of articulation. - strong 9-5 boundaries…

Great list! I agree with all but the 9-5 premise. The thing that makes it easy for me is Git! Having all of our work stored in version control gives our team 100% accountability in a totally painless way. And if there's ever a project I'm working on outside of git, I do daily dump archives so each day is snapshotted. No need to track hours, no need to wonder what somebody did all day. If you want to know what I did l…

The 9-5 premise is about having regular hours (whatever they are) so team members can get in touch if they need to. It's also about signaling when team members can't get in touch. Both are important since they are implicit to an office but something you need to be careful to correctly define/signal when you are working remotely.

I don't really look at commit logs because, to me, they reflect how one prefers to work, rather than how productive they are being. 2 people can easily have 2 or 20 commits for the same feature set. I'm not going to be calling one a 10x engineer based on that :)

To that end I don't believe in looking at commit log, or time tracking (!) because both can be falsified pretty easily: they are just another form of counting lines of code IMO. I prefer to look at how much customer value someone is delivering and how much other team members listen to them.

Re: Working remotely is hard

#94

Post by err4nt »

carboncopy wrote: post #79
beachy wrote: post #10

I'd like to see some analysis of this from the employer's side. By which I mean, how does it affect you as a manager when you have reports that work remotely? Personally I have observed that some people who work remotely suffer from delusions as to what happens in the office when they're not there. They'll scoff at the lack of progress of the office workers, compared to their own majestic productivity - ignoring the…

This sounds like something that has happened in your experience, but I've never heard of this phenomenon before. Do you have any articles or studies that talk about this as a trend or normal occurance? Counterpoint: the remote workers I've worked with don't do any of the things you mentioned. I personally think that colocation is the preferred way to perform work. Remote development environments require a conscious a…

Colocation assumes talent is centralized. I work on a team with a southerner, a hawaiian, and a guy in australia, and the client is located in Florida!

3 citizenships, 2 continents, and still a small team. If they wanted us all in-office they probably couldn't have hired us

Re: Working remotely is hard

#95

Post by erikb »

dplgk wrote: post #2

Working remotely is excellent. 1.5 hours less commuting - that's more time to get work done or go to the gym or read the news. No one can come to my desk to socialize or ask a quick question to fuck up my flow. No one requiring me to arrive at an office at an arbitrarily early time. No dress code. No ad hoc meetings in the conference room. Listening to music I like aloud. All conf calls done on speaker. I'm home to r…

How long do you do it? I think it's different in your first year and your tenth.

Re: Working remotely is hard

#96

Post by voltagex_ »

I'm in a wheelchair, I have limited access to telework with my current organisation. I'm trying very hard to find somewhere that'll let me work from home as it'd be a huge benefit for my health and wellbeing. Travelling is hard.

Re: Working remotely is hard

#97

Post by Swizec »

gkop wrote: post #66
Swizec wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A remote software job is much closer to a commodity than a traditional software job In the current climate all software [engineering] jobs are commodities from an employee viewpoint.

True. But until we start to see the proportion of remote jobs to all jobs decline, remote is just as easily available as traditional, but lacking the physical and social stickiness that distinguishes traditional jobs and facilitates retention; remote is "closer to a commodity".

I guess that's true. But my inner cynic thinks that (ab)using people's herd instincts like that to "facilitate retention" cheapens traditional jobs. I would rather work remotely and have a meaningful social life, than work in an office and have a social life that my employer engineers to make me less likely to leave for a better job.

As an introvert, there is only so much social interaction I can take in a day. The office burns through most of it.

Re: Working remotely is hard

#98

Post by vinceguidry »

stephenr wrote: post #73
vinceguidry wrote: post #40

I wouldn't work remotely even if you gave me 25% more salary to do it. My ideal work context would be a six hour day at an office in the city that I can walk to from my condo. Sit-stand desks, balance-ball chairs, decent coffee, but no catered lunch / dinner. I want to take coworkers or dates out. Preferably with a nearby park that I can take walks in. Sit at home with a computer all day? Sounds too much like solitar…

... You realise that working remotely could mean working at a co-working space walking distance from your home, allowing you to live/work where you like...?

Sure, but I'd rather work with my coworkers.

Re: Working remotely is hard

#99

Post by workitout »

tootie wrote: post #72
usaphp wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eating home cooked food fresh instead of microwaving it

And using your own private bathroom.

Forgot about that, it's wonderful to be able to use my own bathroom instead of thinking about which co-workers sat on the toilet before me or did they have a contagious disease, etc.

Re: Working remotely is hard

#100

Post by pil4rin »

compumike wrote: post #67
cxseven wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microwaving cooks food without generating as much carcinogenic char as other methods, so it can actually be healthier. Relatedly, freezing is the healthiest way to preserve and transport fruits and vegetables. It also allows them to be harvested when naturally ripe, rather than artificially ripened.

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