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I hope work from home continues

ryanmercer.com

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Re: I hope work from home continues

#481

Post by vp8989 »

munificent wrote: post #447
vp8989 wrote: post #420

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Engineering culture should be disseminated via documents rather than oral lore. If it's disseminated via oral lore it's expensive to change and is often misinterpreted across a large enough org. A silent killer of engineering orgs is bad practices that stick around because that's the way it's always been done. No one knows why because it wasn't written down. The only way to fix that is for someone high enough to prov…

> Engineering culture should be disseminated via documents rather than oral lore. I'm always startled by comments like this because it's so counter to how I understand humanity. We are social mammals . No amount of good grammar and excellent font choice can substitute for sharing the same physical space together, an act that has been core to what it means to be human literally since we first speciated. Yeah, writing…

"sounds to me like raising a baby using a six-axis robotic arm"

No it's like raising a baby using advice you read from books that are peer reviewed and revised over time vs. just listening to what your parents say.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#482

Post by rabidrat »

blunte wrote: post #462
UnpossibleJim wrote: post #347

Earlier quoted context omitted.

LOL, this might be one of the biggest truths I've ever read on HN. An expanded, micromanagement style of leadership just isn't necessary in a remote style office. Trust in your employees and a flatter structure, with fewer executives and more people who produce is ideal for a remote office business style. This is a direct contrast to the mantra of the 80's, 90's and 2000's logic of grind it out for as short a time as…

This is a depressingly accurate assessment of the last 30 years. The only hope I hold is that people with shared creative interests will eventually prevail. The pessimist in me also considers that the allowed monopolies will then buy up those creative successes.

As long as they are paying decent prices for those creative successes (so the creators can have a comfortable retirement with healthcare in the US), this is not the worst outcome.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#483

Post by autokad »

protonimitate wrote: post #143
blunte wrote: post #64

Wow, the author has a pretty miserable company :(. That said, I share most of the opinions even though I quite like the office environment of my company. I abso-fking-love choosing where I work (and to some degree, when). Being able to take my laptop and go sit under a canopy in my back yard when the weather is nice, seeing my rabbits hopping around the yard, my cats avoiding the aggressive she-rabbit, hearing the bi…

I have a hard time wrapping my head around why companies are mandating 100% return to office. Cost issues aside, I've always maintained that the absolute best experience is a hybrid/flexible schedule and location policy. I'm currently full time remote (I'm on the East Coast working for a West Coast company). My previous company had its main office in my current city, but allowed a super flexible choose-where-you-work…

a lot of the big tech use their footprints as political power. who wants to bet California goes less after big tech if they keep their hq in San Francisco fully staffed?

Re: I hope work from home continues

#484

Post by mLuby »

schwartzworld wrote: post #403

The article mentions the cost of commuting that is now saved by working from home, but fails to mention the new added cost of maintaining a workspace in your home. Prior to covid I would work from the couch on WFH days, but that's not sustainable for full time work. Now my wife and I have to have two permanent setups, and it's a challenge to make it all work. If my industry goes mandatory WFH forever, I'll probably e…

I haven't heard anyone talk about "mandatory WFH forever" but lots of companies are talking about mandatory RTO forever.

Time and money spent on commuting is mostly just lost. In contract, investing in a comfortable chair, good desk/computer workspace, and high-speed internet is still beneficial when you're not working.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#485

Post by 52-6F-62 »

Johnny555 wrote: post #292
BurningFrog wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's pretty easy to get two full time programming jobs and do both remotely. Being in the office at least ensures you're not in another office.

Being in the office at least ensures you're not in another office. How? If I'm willing to work another job while I'm at my first job, no one would know if the code I'm working on my screen belongs to job #1 or job #2. The employer could use screen monitoring, but then they could do that while I'm at home and see that either I'm working on a second project, or that my computer is idle for long periods of time when I'm…

Man, I would fail those screen time monitors so badly.

I still work out some things on paper—I think well that way. Other times I have to get up and walk around to work something out in my head. I'd look like a constant slacker.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#486

Post by gffrd »

twobitshifter wrote: post #455
mumblemumble wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I have a hard time wrapping my head around why companies are mandating 100% return to office. Hot take: There's a whole way of communicating and handling team organization that grew up around 20th century business management culture, and it just doesn't work well with remote teams. Methods that do work well with remote teams, though, don't work well with traditional deeply hierarchical management structures. At bes…

My company promotes themselves as a “flat connected organization” yet our CEO has adamantly stated that work from home will not be possible as long as he is CEO. This is despite the company doing better than ever. He leans on a belief that some ephemeral energy and cultural value is being sapped away from working remotely and that we are “running on fumes” through COVID. I don’t believe any of it, and the company has…

> running on fumes

I think management people are likely running on fumes … it's like the inverse of what introverts feel when they have to be in-office 5 days a week I suspect.

I'd add that the second take is also kind of outmoded, in that it assumes that mentorship, friendship, business opportunities must flow through your company. I've actually found more of this during the pandemic, and apart from my company …

True, serendipity (e.g. water cooler conversation) is harder in remote environments, but not unsolvable …

Re: I hope work from home continues

#487

Post by blunte »

folkrav wrote: post #198
blunte wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my remote experience, I definitely don't talk to my colleagues that much. But when you're trying to build a small company, one approach is to make it feel like a family. And families always have people we like and people we like not so much. But there's something special about one unit working toward a single goal. My design is for a startup with young people. This would not work nearly as well for older people an…

> In my remote experience, I definitely don't talk to my colleagues that much. Maybe you should, then. I speak to my colleagues at the very least 30 minutes to 1h a day, and work full remote. > But when you're trying to build a small company, one approach is to make it feel like a family. An approach I immensely dislike. IMHO it's a huge waste of time to pretend like most employees aren't just there to make a living.…

"not much" is a matter of perspective. In a workday, I have a lot of interactions. And then I thankfully have periods of 2-4 hours at a time when I don't talk to anyone.

As a developer, at least with my limited attention span, I need periods of no interruption to get anything done. That's why sometimes I stop "working" in the afternoon and resume at 00:00 for a couple of hours to really get things done.

On the family topic, I guess it's a matter of our experiences. Even at my current company, I feel like at least 2-3 of my close colleagues are sort of family. We can discuss some life issues, and we clearly care about each other. We also are totally committed to a shared goal, and we give our all in a sort of intimate way to get the result we agree on. This is the kind of sentiment I want to foster.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#489

Post by asdff »

sologoub wrote: post #199
jonnycomputer wrote: post #45

Things I miss: - interacting with my colleagues, going out to lunch - the very high-speed and reliability of being on the network wire - dedicated work-space outside of my home where home-chores don't press on my mind while I'm trying to work - my commute: I cycled into work, and the daily exercise was great - a clearer separation of work and home life Things I don't miss: - interacting with my colleagues, when i don…

Pandemic is the only thing preventing organized lunch with coworkers. Nothing about wfh prevents it - just agree on a place and time. Internet is a problem, but a solvable one - assuming you are in the US, we need competition for ISPs. I had ATT fiber for a while and it was for all practical purposes as good as office (symmetric gigabit). Cycling has been covered :) Separation - door closed to the space I work in wor…

Before the pandemic it was hard enough to get people to stick around for a few hours after work to grab a beer. I can't imagine having people drop what they are doing for over an hour just to have a half hour lunch in a central spot. Adult coworkers do not drop everything in front of them for a short good time like college friends would have.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#490

Post by gffrd »

ryandrake wrote: post #475
twobitshifter wrote: post #455

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My company promotes themselves as a “flat connected organization” yet our CEO has adamantly stated that work from home will not be possible as long as he is CEO. This is despite the company doing better than ever. He leans on a belief that some ephemeral energy and cultural value is being sapped away from working remotely and that we are “running on fumes” through COVID. I don’t believe any of it, and the company has…

I’m so tired of this “ad hoc water cooler chat” suddenly being elevated as the most important part of office work. It’s never in the past been valued by these execs, and on the contrary sometimes punished (hey, quit socializing and get back to work!). But, now, all of a sudden when these execs are scrambling to find some reason to return to the office, they trot out “serendipitous hallway conversations” as the great…

When you can't point to something quantifiable, I guess you point to something like "water cooler chat!"

My feeling is the same: while random interactions are important, they aren't exclusive to an office setting. Weird logic. It's been surprising to me how much ink has been spilled about this, and how few solutions have been offered.

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