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Working remotely is hard

moishelettvin.com

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Re: Working remotely is hard

#141

Post by repomies691 »

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…

You only explain the benefits from the workers point of view. What about the customer? Why should someone opt to buy work from remote employees instead of having them on-site?

Re: Working remotely is hard

#142

Post by mildbow »

enraged_camel wrote: post #120
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…

Why the 9-5 boundary? Personally, I get my best work done during non-traditional hours, e.g. past midnight.

From your team's perspective:

It's 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. Note that it doesn't have to be 9-5 office time, just needs to be hours people expect to be able(and not able) to get in touch: 12-8 your local time? Go for it! Whatever works so you can maximize you and your team's work/life balance :)

From a personal sanity perspective it's as firebones says in reply.

FWIW, I -- and most engineers -- fall victim to the the personal sanity perspective rather more frequently.

Re: Working remotely is hard

#143

Post by iamsohungry »

I just don't understand why the responses to this post are all defending working remotely. Working remotely can be hard and still be the right thing for you. Getting defensive and downplaying all the problems with working remotely just means that we can't have a real discussion about how to solve those problems.

And what's more, it's creating a false dichotomy: there's no universal right answer to whether remote or in-person is better. Remote work is the best way for some teams. But it's certainly not the best way for any team I've been on, mostly because I'm far too extroverted to work on such a team.

Re: Working remotely is hard

#144

Post by byoung2 »

cxseven wrote: post #130
byoung2 wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Sure, and it's often used to heat up things like Hot Pockets. For this reason and scary radiation , the microwave is heaped with undeserved disrepute. This is unfortunate for another big reason: it's one of the most convenient ways for a single person to cook a small amount of healthy food. Many people are under the impression that healthy cooking requires warming up the stove/oven and dirtying pans, so they give up…

My point was that if I fry or BBQ something and then later reheat it in the microwave, the damage was already done, so the fact that the microwave is safe does me no good. I agree that the microwave is a cleaner way to cook vegetables, for example.

Re: Working remotely is hard

#145

Post by runejuhl »

How timely. Right now I'm sitting in a house on the beach in Tolú, Colombia. I work remote 32 hours/week for my employer in Denmark doing development, sysadmin and consulting.

I'm here with my wife and my two kids (4 and So far it's been great. It took a few days to get started with remote work; tooling, getting the computer set up for low bandwidth work etc. I don't have fixed working hours, although I try to work a few hours in the morning and then 3-4 hours at night after the kids are sleeping. That might change soon, though, as I think we'll have to incorporate a proper siesta after lunch for my wife and the kids' sake; I'll probably use that to work. It's just too hot in the middle of the day here to do anything if you're not used to the heat (and even then -- the locals have siesta as well).

We're staying in this place for three more weeks (been here one week), and then we're off to another place. Currently it looks like we'll buy a used car to avoid some of the hassle of traveling with kids and to be able to see places off the beaten path. We're talking about heading North to Santa Marta, but nothing is planned yet.

I've been working from home in Denmark for some months before we left, so my family is somewhat used to me shutting them out when I'm working (or trying to). Re: work ethics: I guess it helps loving what you do -- although the beach is really inviting when it's pushing 35 degrees outside... Realizing that the reason why we're even here in the first place is due to the trust of my employer helps as well!

Re: Working remotely is hard

#146

Post by byoung2 »

gkop wrote: post #116
libraryatnight wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I jog during the time I normally would be commuting, on nice days I work with the windows open, at the office I have a certain level of anxiety - just thanks to the traffic around me. I'm with you on this, working from home is awesome. It suits my personality.

Just a thought: you might someday find a home and work orientation where you can jog to work and shower there. This arrangement is certainly possible in cities like SF. Also many offices have windows that can be opened (if I were your colleague I would definitely want the window open if it meant something to you). (It sounds like you are happy! I just wanted to point out to you and others that these two particular pe…

I interviewed at Whisper when they were in a mansion in Santa Monica. It was an interesting setup that had all the amenities of home like a full kitchen, shower, pool, laundry. Those are all perks few offices have so you could differentiate your company if you had them.

Re: Working remotely is hard

#147

Post by vinceguidry »

mikekchar wrote: post #139
vinceguidry wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Although I posted about the difficulties of working remotely, it is not impossible to work with your coworkers remotely. I actually pair program with my coworkers in the UK (I am in Japan) daily. It's hard on the sleep schedule, but that's about it. In fact, the physical set up for doing remote pair programming is so much nicer than being side by side, that I tend to do it even when I'm in the same room. Basically, w…

Oh I know that it's possible. Technology makes most anything possible. Just not being in a room physically with other people. Once it can do that I'll consider working remotely.

Re: Working remotely is hard

#148

Post by enraged_camel »

mildbow wrote: post #142
enraged_camel wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why the 9-5 boundary? Personally, I get my best work done during non-traditional hours, e.g. past midnight.

From your team's perspective: It's 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. Note that it doesn't have to be 9-5 office time, just needs to be hours people expect to be able(and not able) to get in…

I'm available to the team most of the time, even on weekends. The more junior they are, the greater the effort I make to be available to them.

But in my mind there is a difference between being available for questions/advice vs. actually working, e.g. designing a system or writing code. If someone messages me on a Saturday asking, "hey, which server do I log into to do X?" then taking the two minutes to reply means I'm available, but I don't think of it as "work".

Re: Working remotely is hard

#149

Post by 91pavan »

I agree with the consensus in the article. I work for a team which is spread out all over the world and i'm one of the two people working from India. I feel isolated and lonely. My other team-mate from India works from home most of the time is planning on quitting soon so it makes it even worse.

The work is great but just feel like having someone to talk about your problems and getting quick help is no where near pinging them on IM tools and asking if they are free or whatever. I envy most of my co-workers here who always have someone to walk the hallway, have lunch together etc.

Re: Working remotely is hard

#150

Post by Sami_Lehtinen »

We have plenty of engineers at the office, only word which you might hear from them over several weeks could be 'good morning' when they arrive. After that they're completely isolated, disconnected, alone and answer emails lazily with delay of days. Won't answer phone or IM.

I wonder if working remotely vs at office does any difference at all, except you can just drop out the commute time which might be a huge win depending from situation.

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