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Why Do We Still Commute?

citylab.com

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Re: Why Do We Still Commute?

#11

Post by coldtea »

amorphid wrote: post #7
fwsgonzo wrote: post #2

I work from home as much as I can, but nothing trumps seeing your colleagues face to face. Text can also cause misunderstandings, and apparently no one likes video, at least in my company. I don't like video much either, though.

One thing we, or at least I, haven't seen is the remote equivalent of a whiteboard. Or pen & paper.

There are lots of such implementations (virtual whiteboard and/or pen and paper).

Search for: "collaborating writing tool", "virtual whiteboard" etc.

The latter are usually part of teleconference tools. Here's from an open source one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MNqiMEblgo

Re: Why Do We Still Commute?

#12

Post by rejschaap »

k__ wrote: post #6

I work remote almost 100% and it'a pretty awesome. A Dev I work with has to commute through 50% of Germany every week. He only sees his kids on the weekend.

You make it sound like he doesn't have a choice in the matter, which is extremely unlikely and also very sad.

Re: Why Do We Still Commute?

#13

Post by Raf_ »

dagw wrote: post #9

Because 'we' prefer it? I like going into the office. The morning walk to the office with its clear demarcation between work and not work, the ritual of grabbing a coffee in the morning with some colleagues and catching up on what's happening in their projects even if they're not directly related to anything I'm working on, having a dedicated space and a dedicated computer that's just for work, all those little thing…

You're certainly lucky to be able to walk to your office. Most people in my company need to drive at least 50 minutes to get to the office.

Re: Why Do We Still Commute?

#14

Post by BjoernKW »

I think that the 'importance of face-to-face interaction' argument is a helplessly contrived one, an attempt to avoid the elephant in the room.

There are plenty of examples that show that working remotely without daily face-to-face interaction can work very well.

What's markedly different about environments that successfully adopted remote work are aspects like:

- a lack of cargo cult work organisation and office politics

- an atmosphere of trust rather than petty control freaks who need to constantly keep an eye on their subordinates in order to know they're still 'working'

- adapting to different forms of communication

When people say that they can't communicate as well with someone who isn't in the same room that doesn't necessarily mean that a remote setup doesn't work. It could simply mean they're just lazy and not willing to adjust to a different kind of work environment.

Working remotely requires the participants to be much more communicative because in such a setting communication for the most part doesn't just happen serendipitously, you have to work to make it happen.

Re: Why Do We Still Commute?

#15

Post by k__ »

rejschaap wrote: post #12
k__ wrote: post #6

I work remote almost 100% and it'a pretty awesome. A Dev I work with has to commute through 50% of Germany every week. He only sees his kids on the weekend.

You make it sound like he doesn't have a choice in the matter, which is extremely unlikely and also very sad.

Maybe they just fear "being dad" I don't know

Re: Why Do We Still Commute?

#17

Post by majewsky »

BjoernKW wrote: post #14

I think that the 'importance of face-to-face interaction' argument is a helplessly contrived one, an attempt to avoid the elephant in the room. There are plenty of examples that show that working remotely without daily face-to-face interaction can work very well. What's markedly different about environments that successfully adopted remote work are aspects like: - a lack of cargo cult work organisation and office pol…

Another huge problem is the transition path from "everyone in the same office" to "everyone working remote". If you have 60% of your team sitting in the office, and 40% remote, you can be absolutely certain that those 40% will be out of touch on all those important decisions that just emerge during a watercooler conversation. (The watercooler also provides a way for different teams to get to know each other, even if they do not work with each other directly, thus forging bonds that might later turn out helpful.)

With all that (plus what you said), most individual employees will prefer the office over remote access. So remote would only work if you moved everyone from the office to remote access at a single point in time.

Re: Why Do We Still Commute?

#18

Post by dagw »

Raf_ wrote: post #13
dagw wrote: post #9

Because 'we' prefer it? I like going into the office. The morning walk to the office with its clear demarcation between work and not work, the ritual of grabbing a coffee in the morning with some colleagues and catching up on what's happening in their projects even if they're not directly related to anything I'm working on, having a dedicated space and a dedicated computer that's just for work, all those little thing…

You're certainly lucky to be able to walk to your office. Most people in my company need to drive at least 50 minutes to get to the office.

I actually take the bus to the office now, but get off ~3km before my stop so I can get a 30 minute walk in.

Re: Why Do We Still Commute?

#19

Post by Swinx43 »

BjoernKW wrote: post #14

I think that the 'importance of face-to-face interaction' argument is a helplessly contrived one, an attempt to avoid the elephant in the room. There are plenty of examples that show that working remotely without daily face-to-face interaction can work very well. What's markedly different about environments that successfully adopted remote work are aspects like: - a lack of cargo cult work organisation and office pol…

These are points that I have found to be true as well. In many organisations where remote work is not allowed I found there to be generally worse communication, masked by meetings that achieve very little other than giving people a false sense of "work being done".

There also seems to be a lack of properly planning tasks and as such this lack of planning is papered over with the sort of serendipitous spontaneous communication that happens when you have to walk over to someone and ask them what on earth is going on.

A focused remote worker can be orders of magnitude more productive than the typical office worker who is simply doing "busy work".

Re: Why Do We Still Commute?

#20

Post by tribaal »

dagw wrote: post #9

Because 'we' prefer it? I like going into the office. The morning walk to the office with its clear demarcation between work and not work, the ritual of grabbing a coffee in the morning with some colleagues and catching up on what's happening in their projects even if they're not directly related to anything I'm working on, having a dedicated space and a dedicated computer that's just for work, all those little thing…

Well, working remotely doesn't mean you can't commute!

I used to walk with my wife to her office and back when I started full remote work (it's been 6 years, in a fully remote company).

Also, you're free to rent coworking space or shared office space if you like to. Working remote means you have a choice - not that you have to work from home :)

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