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Working remotely is hard

moishelettvin.com

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Re: Working remotely is hard

#151

Post by spdionis »

workitout wrote: post #105
spdionis wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Weird places you worked in. Where I worked I could talk about anything I wanted and that's normal for every other office.

Actually that isn't normal at all. Have you worked in any companies larger than 10 people? There are legal liabilities employers have to (or are supposed to) uphold and more so for public companies. Starting with this: http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/fs-sex.html

Helps to be in a third world country. Sometimes I realize we have so much more freedom.

And yes, doesn't matter the company size. Ofc there are different situations but I always feel like people have a too broad definition of harassment.

Going a bit off topic, I know that's not the popular view in the western world, but I think you should fend for yourself in society and we are over reliant on rules and regulations, and then people complain about lacking freedom.

Re: Working remotely is hard

#152

Post by ddebernardy »

staticint wrote: post #118
elliotec wrote: post #9

I believe remote work is one of the greatest advances of modern labor.

Wouldn't it be more accurate to say that on-site work was just a temporary regression? Back in the time where almost everyone worked on a farm, the farm was also your home, and mirrors a lot of what remote workers experience again now.

Not really. Peasants who owned their farm during the pre-industrial era were rare. The bulk of "work from home" then were household chores - which meant e.g. house-wifes spinning wool into yarn or sewing clothes.

Re: Working remotely is hard

#153

Post by jld89 »

How did you guys start working remotely? Or did you work remotely from the beginning?

I would like to try but I see it difficult for a company to hire someone remotely who has never worked remotely. Catch-22 anyone?

Re: Working remotely is hard

#154

Post by dalore »

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.

Call me when a microwave can create the tasty maillard reaction that's needed for so many foods.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maillard_reaction

Re: Working remotely is hard

#155

Post by cxseven »

dalore wrote: post #154
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.

Call me when a microwave can create the tasty maillard reaction that's needed for so many foods. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maillard_reaction

There's this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convection_microwave , but I'd rather stick to flavoring my food in some way other than generating a bunch of carcinogens like acrylamide.

Re: Working remotely is hard

#156

Post by imaginenore »

err4nt wrote: post #90
imaginenore wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm the opposite, I turned down $300K in LA to keep my remote job at a lot less. I move around the world freely, I don't need to commute, i can work in my underwear or while sitting on a beach, and I generally don't even have to be available during the office hours as long as I do my job and respond to emails reasonably quickly.

Living the dream! I have also telecommuted from the tropics, though on a fraction of your less-than-300k I bet. What has your favorite work location been so far?

I really like Hawaiʻi. It's expensive though. Like more than Manhattan expensive. But you can't beat clean air, clean water, mild temperatures, all kinds of water sports, beautiful nature, lack of trash everywhere (unlike many Asian tropical destinations). And if you want to stay away from the tourists, there's a bunch of islands to choose from.

Re: Working remotely is hard

#157

Post by vinceguidry »

quanticle wrote: post #70
Thaxll wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And you lose all social interactions. I enjoy people stopping by my desk and having random chat with them.

While you're in the middle of diagnosing an important issue in production? While you're working out a tricky graph algorithm? Having some social interaction is nice. The problem is that there are too many people who'll stop by and initiate social interaction while you're in the middle of something more important. What's worse, in an open plan office like mine, your flow isn't just disrupted by people stopping by at y…

Get a big pair of comfy headphones, one that you can wear for hours, and put them on whenever you don't want to be bothered. You don't even have to listen to music, they're just there to signal that you're not to be bothered. If someone does bother you, pull one side off, say you're busy, send an email or come back after X-o'clock. Wait for an acknowledgement then pull the ear cup back and go back to work.

Only break protocol for your boss's boss, even then only accept one sentence from him, give one sentence back, and unless the office is on fire say you're deep into Y and you'll stop by later to discuss. When you do stop by, make sure to mention that interrupting you like he did is not pleasant and request he use Slack or whatever instant messager your company uses.

Your boss can just learn to use email. It may take a few discussions before he'll respect it but it'll be worth it. Send anyone who complains a link to Paul Graham's Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule.

Re: Working remotely is hard

#158

Post by err4nt »

mildbow wrote: post #93
err4nt wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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,…

I focus on delivering recurring value so we're on the same page. I also agree that communication should have clear hours regardless of when you work, so you can be reached when others need you, and you know when you can reach them. For us it gets a little stretched out because of the time zone difference too, but most of our communication happens through the ticket system.

I'm not advocating numbers of lines of code or numbers of commits either, value is what's important, but having a daily, timestamped record of everything everybody did just takes all the question out of 'What did you do last Tuesday?', any of us could just go and check. Working with version control has been a _huge_ benefit to remote working because it provides a way that people who don't see each other can trust each other.

It also ensures that nothing of value what was ever produced by anybody (and paid for) is ever lost, even if deleted. That's just smart business!

Re: Working remotely is hard

#159

Post by mildbow »

err4nt wrote: post #158
mildbow wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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,…

I focus on delivering recurring value so we're on the same page. I also agree that communication should have clear hours regardless of when you work, so you can be reached when others need you, and you know when you can reach them. For us it gets a little stretched out because of the time zone difference too, but most of our communication happens through the ticket system. I'm not advocating numbers of lines of code…

That makes sense. I like the idea also of using it as a quick refresher to remind everyone/yourself what you were doing X days ago esp. during review time. Thanks!

Re: Working remotely is hard

#160

Post by mildbow »

enraged_camel wrote: post #148
mildbow wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

You are being a good short-term team member, but that might not be the best for you or the team in the long-term. If you/other senior devs are getting the same random questions, maybe create a faq/run book? I've usually made it a point to say: here's the answer, now can you add it to the FAQ? That way, ideally, I never have to answer it again/that's the first place people check.
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