Managers. People working from home scare them. They might be slacking. They might be leaking. Heaven's sake, man, they might even be organizing a union!
Why Do We Still Commute?
51–60 of 400 posts
Re: Why Do We Still Commute?
#52Because '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…
> Because 'we' prefer it?
A majority of people don't have to prefer something for it to become standard. It's possible for only a minority of influential or vocal people to prefer commuting for it to be widespread.
In that case, 'they' prefer it, not 'us'.
Re: Why Do We Still Commute?
#53I think it's connected with the rise of bullshit jobs. If your job is well defined, e.g. make an app or a website design, you can do it anywhere in the world. The app/design is your deliverable that anyone can see and judge. If your job is a poorly defined "management" or "product ownership", with no real deliverable, how can your work be judged? Your job turns into convincing other people that your job is useful. Wo…
I think it's kind of a leap to assume the value is low just because it's hard to measure.
This is in general a common, elusive mistake: "We can't measure it, so it must be zero." Better to be ridiculous and say it's worth between $100 and $10,000.
Re: Why Do We Still Commute?
#54Managers. People working from home scare them. They might be slacking. They might be leaking. Heaven's sake, man, they might even be organizing a union!
If it weren't for the evil managers, we would all adopt to a 21st century lifestyle overnight, throwing out the stale routines of the backwards generation that raised us.
Re: Why Do We Still Commute?
#55Because '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…
I don't believe your "commute" constitutes a commute in the sense of what this article is about. Your commute is just a walk. People traveling for 30-90 (or more!) minutes to and from work, particularly the ones driving in traffic, are the commuters. And the ones I know that fall into that category hate it. Good for you that you have such a nice situation, though!
I commute 60 minutes each way (give or take depending on traffic). I wish the commute was shorter but I personally wouldn't work from home regularly even though I technically could.
Between a chatty wife, active kids, and unfinished projects around the house, I don't have the willpower or ability to avoid distractions at home. I'm more productive going into work even if you factor in the time spent driving.
Plus, my drive gives me some down time to listen to audiobooks or podcasts. I do look forward to self-driving cars though (adaptive cruise control helps a lot in the meantime...)
Re: Why Do We Still Commute?
#56Conversations around whiteboards between stakeholders creates value. Pair programming makes for lower defects and more reliable scheduling. Software is a design delivery operation. There was recent article on MS office space redesign to create more value. We are never typing approximations to futures like the proverbial monkeys. Productivity is not per-keystroke. I have been paid extra to kill projects that never should have started. Personal productivity is almost a misnomer.
Re: Why Do We Still Commute?
#57It's the employer's call, and short term there are no obvious downsides there as all the effects are longer term (burnout, depression, quitting) and business is mostly blind to anything beyond 4 quarters. The 'productivity' thing is intangible as long as the business doesn't switch to a performance based model as opposed to a sociopolitical hierarchy. And their lies the rub, because a performance based system doesn't mesh very well with middle-management, which is the 'backbone' of our archetypal company model.
Re: Why Do We Still Commute?
#58I don't speak for anyone but myself, but I wouldn't give up the extra time that I get to spend with my young kids for all the productivity boosts in the world. No commute and being home for lunch is time that would be stolen by any company that doesn't allow remote work.
Re: Why Do We Still Commute?
#59Because where you live with your family is a better environment for them than a industrial estate car park.
Re: Why Do We Still Commute?
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 :)
you can commute to the cafe and get to hear focusing sounds of the cafe, like this https://www.coffitivity.com/
Yes, that is exactly the same thing.