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What if remote work didn’t mean working from home?

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Re: What if remote work didn’t mean working from home?

#251

Post by GordonS »

deviation wrote: post #142

Some people fail to recognise the actual problem here. I, among many, live within The deciding factors were - that I didn't have to leave the room for a personal call so that I didn't disturb anyone. - that I didn't need to have six seperate conversations in the morning before being able to sit down and begin my work. - that I didn't need to sacrifice portions of my lunchtime to grab a coffee with others and look lik…

I'm only a 20 minute drive from my local office, so it wasn't a big deal for me either.

And my boss isn't even in the same country, so I didn't have that kind of boss that makes sure you're sat at your desk and questions every moment away - I could come and go as I pleased, and as long as I got my work done and didn't take the piss, nobody would have a problem with me arriving late, leaving early, taking a few hours off for appointments etc.

But when I started working almost full-time from home some years back (5-10, I forget exactly), it was a great move for me.

My biggest issue with working in the office was they way we were made to work in the office - everything open plan, everyone fully exposed to the noise and bussle of everyone else. And there's always that one guy (OK, usually at least 3) who talk REALLY loudly all.the.time. And there's always that one guy who spends his whole day taking calls on a bluetooth headset, wandering around the office all.day.long, constantly in and out of your peripheral vision, or standing right behind you while he continues talking.

So having a nice, quiet home office makes working so much better. Plus, I get to have breakfast with my family, and lunch with my wife/kid/kids depending on the day.

I have to add though, that I have a decent sized house, with a dedicated home office, with a big desk, 2 monitors etc - I realise that not everyone has the space for that. I also realise that the social aspect was/is a huge deal for some people.

I actually think the ultimate solution would be for companies to be fully remote, but with the option of working from co-working spaces whenever you want - I'm really curious to see if we have a co-working space boom coming up; they are non-existent around me.

Re: What if remote work didn’t mean working from home?

#252

Post by chrisandchris »

berkes wrote: post #228
shard wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm guessing you are young and have better eyesight than me. :) When I was young, I carried a little subnotebook with a 7.1" screen and really enjoyed it. Now I have to hold my phone at a certain exact distance, too close and it's burry, too far and it's blurry. I had to use the 13" work laptop for a few weeks without an external monitor and it was painful, the screen was small enough that I have to lean in to see th…

While I do use a large second screen, often, I don't need it all the time. I don't need it when cleaning my inbox. Or planning a sprint. I don't need it when conferencing. Or when designing an architecture. I don't need it when reviewing PRs, stepping through a debugger, poring through logs, deploying, running ansible or finding what config made that deploy fail. I split my time as such. I can work on my laptop for a…

> [...] I don't need it when reviewing PRs, stepping through a debugger, poring through logs, deploying, running ansible or finding what config made that deploy fail. [...]

Interesting how people work different. Would not like to dig through logs without 2 monitors (allows to have 4 different logs open). Same with debugging (having multiple source positions visible). Or deploying (watching logs/deployment progress). Reviewing PR (having spec side-by-side with code).

It could not imagine any task I could do in a park (besides playing with a dog ;) )...

Re: What if remote work didn’t mean working from home?

#253

Post by jjk166 »

XorNot wrote: post #115
dcolkitt wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of managers seem to have an unshakeable convention that as soon as workers are no longer cattle-penned into an office that they'll turn into lazy slobs. As if the only thing stopping them from vegging out on the couch, eating ice cream and watching Jerry Springer during the work day is the watchful and benevolent gaze of their adult supervisors from across the open office floor plan. Believe it or not, most pro…

There's a disturbing number of managers who's only metric for success seemed to be "well they're in the office on time".

A natural consequence of the peter principle. You get one mediocre manager with questionable methods of evaluating employees, they promote more people who succeed according to those criteria, and in turn evaluate people on the same criteria, while the people who care about productivity and other more meaningful metrics move on to greener pastures.

Re: What if remote work didn’t mean working from home?

#254

Post by mgh2 »

Aeolun wrote: post #192
ne0flex wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fully agree. I have about a 15min walk away from my work place. Recently, my company has annoucned its re-entry plan and have decided on a hybrid work environment in order to "foster collaboration and increase productivity." My department was classified as a 'mostly-essential' department which means that we'd be required to be in the office 3 -4 days a week. I immediately emailed management requesting a near 100% tra…

It is clear that these are your real numbers, so last year you obviously weren’t even trying. We’ll retroactively reduce last years raise to 1%. The difference will be held from next month’s salary. Thank you for bringing this to our attention. Also, your request is rejected. Someone clearly has to keep an eye on you to make sure you don’t slack off again.

I hardly see these sarcastic comments in HN, greatly appreciated! xD

Re: What if remote work didn’t mean working from home?

#255

Post by jjk166 »

Ar-Curunir wrote: post #208
throwaway3699 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An underlying issues nobody is talking about is real estate prices need to crash then. The quality of life outside a city is just so unbelievably better that I'm not going back to live in a box for hundreds of dollars a month, on a filthy street with no sense of community.

QoL is much much better in the city IMO. The only downside is rent, and maybe parking. I have access to lively nightlife, food, shops, etc, whereas in suburbs stuff is closed by 8/9PM. Of course, this varies by stage of life; I don't have kids, so I'd prefer the city to a suburb.

I was paying close to twice the area average in rent so I could be within walking distance of a bunch of restaurants and bars and such. Then the pandemic hit and I was paying a fortune to live in a smaller-than-average box. Although looking back on it, even before the pandemic hit I only really took advantage of my proximity to those locations a few days a month.

I'm uncertain to what degree life will go back to how it was before, but even in the best case scenario I'd probably be better off living in a cheaper area and using the money I save to get an uber to the bar. I'm a lot easier to move than my residence.

Re: What if remote work didn’t mean working from home?

#256

Post by heavyset_go »

egypturnash wrote: post #73
the_greyd wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now that you can sit in inside spaces without a mask, I feel libraries and cafes are a real alternative for me! And this is me typing from a desk at a public library 10 minutes from my apartment. Can't express the amount of relief and joy I feel right now

ooh, thanks for reminding me about libraries, I got a lot of work done upstairs in the main branch of Seattle's library, I gotta get around to checking out the options in my new city.

In some libraries I've worked from, they even offer small private rooms and meeting rooms you can reserve for video calls or in-person meetings.

Re: What if remote work didn’t mean working from home?

#257

Post by qshaman »

syshum wrote: post #250
qshaman wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is just not true , at least in the US. Minorities and immigrants are treated considerably worst in rural areas than in the cities. I get some people want to live in the country. As I said , most people like to interact with other human beings, outside the Sunday church gathering. Being from a rural town in the US doesn't make an outsider in any city, I would say the other way around is correct, the city is big e…

This is not my experience, there is plenty of area's in cities where outsiders will be mugged, beaten, or other wise treated terribly. This idea that only white people treat minorities badly is insane and not fit with actual realty (and is actually racist )

Is it insane tho? Reality you said? Are you sure you want to make that argument? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism_in_the_United_States , your ”argument” is as racist as Carlson Tucker’s “What’s white supremacy ? anyway”

Re: What if remote work didn’t mean working from home?

#258

Post by artur_makly »

quesera wrote: post #241
artur_makly wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Custom Team Portraits are also a nice personal thoughtful touch. Either sprinkled around the office and/or at home: https://POPteam.io

Hard disagree. There is nothing nice, personal, or thoughtful about a photograph of my coworkers. As a manager, I would expect to be laughed at (with a healthy team, to my face; with a dysfunctional team, behind my back) for such an idea.

Last time I checked, Art is personal, emotional, and in our case, sends a clear message of team unity and celebration.

100's of other CEO's and managers who have bought and rebought from us think otherwise, and have had incredibly positive feedback from their teams.

But instead of assume the creative tastes of your team, or project yours, why not just simply ask them what they think?

YMMV.

Re: What if remote work didn’t mean working from home?

#259

Post by [deleted] »

artur_makly wrote: post #258
quesera wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hard disagree. There is nothing nice, personal, or thoughtful about a photograph of my coworkers. As a manager, I would expect to be laughed at (with a healthy team, to my face; with a dysfunctional team, behind my back) for such an idea.

Last time I checked, Art is personal, emotional, and in our case, sends a clear message of team unity and celebration. 100's of other CEO's and managers who have bought and rebought from us think otherwise, and have had incredibly positive feedback from their teams. But instead of assume the creative tastes of your team, or project yours, why not just simply ask them what they think? YMMV.

[deleted]

Re: What if remote work didn’t mean working from home?

#260

Post by quesera »

artur_makly wrote: post #258
quesera wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hard disagree. There is nothing nice, personal, or thoughtful about a photograph of my coworkers. As a manager, I would expect to be laughed at (with a healthy team, to my face; with a dysfunctional team, behind my back) for such an idea.

Last time I checked, Art is personal, emotional, and in our case, sends a clear message of team unity and celebration. 100's of other CEO's and managers who have bought and rebought from us think otherwise, and have had incredibly positive feedback from their teams. But instead of assume the creative tastes of your team, or project yours, why not just simply ask them what they think? YMMV.

I wish you luck in your business, and certainly opinions will vary.

My teams are more skeptical of corporate gestures. As the culmination of a week-long offsite in an exotic locale, a candid team photo might be a welcome commemoration. Anything more artificial would be artificial.

PS: It's customary to disclose your relationship when plugging your own business, here on HN. I did not realize you had a vested interest in your opinion. Again, good luck with customers of other dispositions than ours!

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