InVision has no physical headquarters and all 700 employees work remotely
businessinsider.com
InVision has no physical headquarters and all 700 employees work remotely
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Re: InVision has no physical headquarters and all 700 employees work remotely
#2I underestimated how high the competition is for remote work. All my attempts failed so far despite having well customized application materials. I didn't submit to hundreds maybe around 20. Most of the time I never even reached a technical test at these companies which I thought would be the hardest part.
Re: InVision has no physical headquarters and all 700 employees work remotely
#3I underestimated how high the competition is for remote work. All my attempts failed so far despite having well customized application materials. I didn't submit to hundreds maybe around 20. Most of the time I never even reached a technical test at these companies which I thought would be the hardest part.
You're not competing with your locality but with an entire country, or more. You need to stand out somehow.
Re: InVision has no physical headquarters and all 700 employees work remotely
#4While this is no doubt great I don't really believe a statement "But most importantly, Frein said, it helps InVision build a better product".
Under what metric? I don't believe that people who are forced to cooperate with video and screen sharing options can deliver a better product than these, who can walk up to a colleague and ask them in person or use a whiteboard to explain their problem. In the end, remote workers are logically forced to spent much more time in meetings that their "in-office" counterparts.
EDIT: You're very much all correct, but I still don't believe that I would be effective without any personal contact. Guess the experience is personal!
Re: InVision has no physical headquarters and all 700 employees work remotely
#5While this is no doubt great I don't really believe a statement "But most importantly, Frein said, it helps InVision build a better product". Under what metric? I don't believe that people who are forced to cooperate with video and screen sharing options can deliver a better product than these, who can walk up to a colleague and ask them in person or use a whiteboard to explain their problem. In the end, remote worke…
I've remote worked for decades, and that isn't my experience.
Video/screensharing meetings are far more productive in my experience, but only if everybody is using the tool. Its frustrating to hold an in-person meeting at the office, and try to add remote folks. The local ones shut out the 'voice on the phone' and start drawing on boards and paper and it breaks down.
I spent 10 years in a company that had all meetings online, even if you were in the office. It was very productive, with all the automation tools at everyone's disposal at every meeting.
Also with our tool, it took an average of 30 seconds to get a meeting started. Vs the 15-minutes-late average starting time of in-person meetings
Re: InVision has no physical headquarters and all 700 employees work remotely
#6I am all for the remote trend. I think InVision is doing a really good thing here and it looks like a lot of other companies are following suit.
I hope it influences people to migrate from major tech hubs and help boost the economy in rural areas. I am from the rust belt area and it's been pretty unaffected by all of the tech growth. Most of the locals are still hoping for natural gas or coal to start booming again. I hope somehow remote work could help revitalize the area, although I'm not sure it's enough.
Re: InVision has no physical headquarters and all 700 employees work remotely
#7I moved from the software sales industry to waiting tables in a rural area. I have a 10 minute commute by car or moped, I breathe fresh air, and I make enough money to support myself.
My colleagues are my friends and my boss has never once slighted me on anything.
There is something to be said about the perks of working remotely, but for once it is nice to work in a supportive, engaging environment that is close to my house.
Re: InVision has no physical headquarters and all 700 employees work remotely
#8While this is no doubt great I don't really believe a statement "But most importantly, Frein said, it helps InVision build a better product". Under what metric? I don't believe that people who are forced to cooperate with video and screen sharing options can deliver a better product than these, who can walk up to a colleague and ask them in person or use a whiteboard to explain their problem. In the end, remote worke…
Why can't that case be handled by Slack + a collaborative drawing application?
Sure, with Slack you have the option of being ignored/receiver not noticing the message, but a remote-only company should have methods to discourage that. For example, people could set 'office hours' where they agree to be butt-in-chair for some chunk of time every day and actively monitoring Slack.
Re: InVision has no physical headquarters and all 700 employees work remotely
#9While this is no doubt great I don't really believe a statement "But most importantly, Frein said, it helps InVision build a better product". Under what metric? I don't believe that people who are forced to cooperate with video and screen sharing options can deliver a better product than these, who can walk up to a colleague and ask them in person or use a whiteboard to explain their problem. In the end, remote worke…
[meta] Hey, all of HN? I'll risk a bit of karma on this question:
Why are any of you downvoting klohto's comment? klohto's requesting specific information and providing one's own impression of (or perhaps anecdotal experience in) a remote environment.
I can't think of a single good reason to downvote, and it's really irritating seeing good discourse being suppressed in this manner. [/meta]
As for the question about remote work and productivity, my inclination is that it's something that's selected for during the hiring process. The types of working personalities who work best in a remote environment are likely the ones being successfully recruited to work at firms like InVision. I'm equally curious to know the success criteria (klohto's original question, in essence), but I can at least speculate as to why they're successful at all. Most firms which are not remote-only don't have the privilege of being able to select for the traits which work well in a remote environment.
Re: InVision has no physical headquarters and all 700 employees work remotely
#10While this is no doubt great I don't really believe a statement "But most importantly, Frein said, it helps InVision build a better product". Under what metric? I don't believe that people who are forced to cooperate with video and screen sharing options can deliver a better product than these, who can walk up to a colleague and ask them in person or use a whiteboard to explain their problem. In the end, remote worke…
I've remote worked for decades, and that isn't my experience. Video/screensharing meetings are far more productive in my experience, but only if everybody is using the tool. Its frustrating to hold an in-person meeting at the office, and try to add remote folks. The local ones shut out the 'voice on the phone' and start drawing on boards and paper and it breaks down. I spent 10 years in a company that had all meeting…
> start drawing on boards and paper
Sounds like important brainstorming activities. How do you deal with this when you're remote?