171–180 of 191 posts
I'm thinking the perfect mix is to live 1.5 hours from a big city where the jobs are. Go to the office if needed once/twice a week. Do the rest remotely, enjoy living in a house instead of a cramped appartment.
Is anyone doing this?
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I'm not going to invest money into my employer's company unless I get a return on that investment. Edit: That's a slippery slope. What next? Buying a new microwave, new window blinds, a modern thermostat, softer toilet paper ...
If it's something that isn't standard or I know is so peculiar to me (mechanical keyboard, expensive mouse, headphones) that the company can't redistribute it when I leave, I just buy it myself and bring it in. That slippery slope is also slippery on the other end, ok, company A bought you "xyz gamer laptop" when everyone uses MBPs or what not. 99% chance it's going to go sit in the closet for a few years after you l…
When it comes to the chair it's inexcusable for the company to provide equipment that will hurt the health of their employees.
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I have a feeling open source projects flourish in spite of their distributed contributors. Text chat is a poor replacement to in-person conversation as it is occasionally async and a lot of meaning is lost. Video conference is better, but is less spontaneous and makes it harder to pull someone else into the conversation. Above all, text and video eliminate serendipity - I won't overhear the the conversation my collea…
>I won't overhear the the conversation my colleagues are having about a pain-point I solved 2 days ago. That is ridiculous. If you solved something like that, post it on some channel everyone is subscribed to, instead of trying to "overhear" problems people are having, not to mention you are willing to be distracted perpetually, listening for problems your colleagues might have...ridiculous.
I'm not saying employees shouldn't help others, but there is a time and place. You can schedule calls, send an email, or even send something in a Slack channel. All three of those say "a response in a few hours is acceptable" instead of HELP NOW!
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> I don't get you. What does a developer has to do with deciding what the business needs? If your job is that, ie, figuring out what a business needs, then by all means work closely with people..But I am not sure that is the type of work being discussed in this context. Well, if you're a rank and file engineer, your "job" isn't explicitly to figure out what the business needs. However, if you care about becoming more…
This is the fundamental difference between great engineers and the rest. Just giving a damn and being engaged. Seriously.
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> If pivoting your engineering goals requires hallway conversations, there's something wrong. I agree but isn't there always something wrong? I'm in that spot, I worked mostly remote for the past 4 years and at every company it would have helped a lot to have a casual hallway conversation from time to time. It shouldn't be necessary but in reality it often is. It seem to me like you need well thought out, light weigh…
Do none of those companies utilize chat? My experience with "open office" arrangements is that most of the conversation (important and casual) takes place in chats anyway--even between people sitting right next to eachother--because generally people don't want to distract uninvolved parties.
Even without that though, it's less about not being able to discuss things but more about not being 'casually included' in what is going on which leads to general misunderstandings.
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The US has enough empty/low-density land in it that every metropolis west of the Appalachians could be shadowed by completely new cities, with other approaches to planning and density beyond just building around the ubiquitous automobiles. Then people and businesses can just gradually move in. This is something that China has apparently been doing for a long time, albeit with insufficient attention to quality control…
> In the US, it just seems like city governments are holding the city infrastructure as hostage to squeeze some more ransom money out of the residents, then shooting the hostage anyway. I don't fully understand what you're getting at here -- are you referring to Urban Renewal policies? Or utilities/real estate industry corruption...? > How much would it cost, really, to abandon an old, sprawly city, and build somethi…
Plans to build a downtown multistory parking garage quashed by city council due to bond issue requirement. Instead, parking meters installed in business district to help manage parking shortage. Parking meter enforcement rights sold to private business for the equivalent of 2 years of parking meter revenue. Private business raises parking prices 300%, cancel free weekend parking, and ticket all violators within 5 minutes. Roads still full of potholes. Residents angrily oil their pitchforks and sharpen their torches, then storm city hall. Residents find that they cannot now build the original parking garage, because the parking meter contract forbids the city from acting as competition in the parking business. The ousted councilmen begin collecting $100k/year pensions. Municipality declares bankruptcy. Judge says that they still have to pay the pensions. Whaddya call your town? The Aristocrats!
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> personally am much more distracted at home because "I'm home". When I'm at work, I'm in work mode. Not sure if you've tried this or if it's practical for you, but I've found that having a completely dedicated space, with dedicated tools, can create a working context that helps boost productivity. I won't name them due to privacy concerns but my company has been very good about dealing with remote workers and provid…
I think it is more me personally than being about a dedicated space. I also probably average about 3 ad-hoc white board sessions in my office per week with varying people and topics. Additionally, I feel much more a part of a team all working towards a common goal when there is personal interaction. This is just what works for me, others prefer quiet. I work best in chaos and distractions. Part of it is my brain. If…
I think one of the interesting effects of using different types of communication tools is that they limit the spectrum and volume of input we can receive. It sounds like your experiences are enhanced by using a communication tool (in-person) that has a very high dynamic range of input (sight, touch, sound, smell, etc.) and that's very "chatty" (literally). Personally I get side-tracked easily by spontaneous conversations (to my professional detriment) so I find that tools that help me sanitize and rate-limit my inputs tend to help.
Feel free to defend your privacy (I did) but if you don't mind me asking, what's the online tool you built?
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I think it is more me personally than being about a dedicated space. I also probably average about 3 ad-hoc white board sessions in my office per week with varying people and topics. Additionally, I feel much more a part of a team all working towards a common goal when there is personal interaction. This is just what works for me, others prefer quiet. I work best in chaos and distractions. Part of it is my brain. If…
These are all valid points. I think one of the interesting effects of using different types of communication tools is that they limit the spectrum and volume of input we can receive. It sounds like your experiences are enhanced by using a communication tool (in-person) that has a very high dynamic range of input (sight, touch, sound, smell, etc.) and that's very "chatty" (literally). Personally I get side-tracked eas…
Basically it is a kind of puzzle but there is information you have that the others don't (and vice versa) and you all have a shared piece of information (the goal). The intention is for you to use the tools you use today (phone, Slack, text, etc. but not video/screen sharing) and communicate to solve the puzzle by collectively meeting the goal.
You can reach the tool at http://mmunicate.co (remember it is an MVP and work in progress) You can message me directly with minimal research. :)
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> Do none of those companies utilize chat? Sure they do. But you're going to miss adhoc conversations that people in the same physical location have. Remote people aren't left out on purpose, but many times this chatter doesn't warrant saying "Hold on, let's not talk to each other's faces. Better do this on Slack.". Source: Worked remote for about four years, really missed these kinds of random chatter.
This seems like it all comes down to the remote-first vs. remote-friendly divide.[1] [1] My favorite post on the subject is Holman's: https://zachholman.com/posts/remote-first/
There are tradeoffs inherent in every working situation. This is one that really bothered me. It doesn't bother everyone, though.