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Is going to the office a broken way of working?

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Re: Is going to the office a broken way of working?

#271

Post by baud147258 »

zmmmmm wrote: post #173
gaoshan wrote: post #100

I genuinely miss the office. Being in a different space for work (one that was pretty gorgeous), in a nice part of downtown, able to tap people on the shoulder for quick questions rather than having to ping them over chat, more spontaneous collaboration (right before we went remote again I overheard two people discussing an area I have some expertise in and was able to interject and provide useful insight), extra pro…

I get a lot of what you say but this one drives me bonkers: > able to tap people on the shoulder for quick questions rather than having to ping them over chat My work requires so much focus, having people randomly tap me on the shoulder to ask a question they could just drop in chat is debilitating. I'm curious you phrase "having to ping them over chat" negatively? I would say the same sentence almost totally in reve…

in the office, even if the person I want to ask a question is next to me, I'd usually ping them beforehand and wait for their answer, it feels more polite this way.

Re: Is going to the office a broken way of working?

#273

Post by icedchai »

bserge wrote: post #218
_6pvr wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We are in the middle of a global pandemic. I'm sorry this reality upsets you.

No, the middle is far behind.

We're probably closer to the beginning than the end. Look at the numbers and you'll see things are worse than they were a year ago, in terms of cases and deaths. Imagine if we didn't have the vaccines.

Re: Is going to the office a broken way of working?

#274

Post by jader201 »

Ancalagon wrote: post #8

I’m gonna go against the HN grain here and, despite having been fully for remote work for the first year or so of the pandemic, come out and say that life has really gotten a lot more repetitive and frankly disappointing since covid and the death of the office. I kind of miss meeting people in the office. I was in the unfortunate position of having moved to a new city for a new tech job where I knew nobody just seven…

Be sure you don’t mix work from home and COVID.

I see many people try and combine these, saying that the current state sucks, therefore WFH sucks.

I’m not saying WFH wouldn’t otherwise suck for you/others, but it’s really hard to separate these two to figure out how different WFH would be without COVID, unless in your particular area, they’ve gone back to business as usual (which I don’t think anywhere truly has, yet).

But in a world where more companies are WFH, and COVID has much less of an impact on everyday life, I think WFH will look a lot different.

Again, my point isn’t that WFH is the greatest thing for everyone and every company, just saying that people that are just now WFH due to COVID should wait until COVID is mostly uneventful before declaring WFH a failure.

Re: Is going to the office a broken way of working?

#275

Post by alchemism »

mjfl wrote: post #21

I used to work from home at a relatively fast paced job (software engineer / trader for a hedge fund) and it really didn't work for me. I needed the face to face communication of an office setting to work at the pace required. I would also be afraid that working from home would disconnect me from things going on at the company and make me seem less essential, more redundant, more likely to be laid off, which DID happ…

That sounds somewhat like a toxic culture leaving you with a sense of insecurity more than their position on remote work.

Re: Is going to the office a broken way of working?

#276

Post by jdavis703 »

jokethrowaway wrote: post #241
jdavis703 wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People are definitely staying home more. I live in what was once a bustling night life district. It is far less bustling now. I also feel people are sticking more to their core friends and family groups, and venturing out to meet new people less. But that’s more of a personal feeling than something I have quantitatively observed.

Are there still restrictions where you live? I didn't go anywhere while masks were still required. It's annoying and, sure, I'm sorry for your small business (a nearby business wrote a sign "come and eat here or we'll starve") but I won't bother covering my face just to buy something I can order online, helping my friend Jeff Bezos in the process. Same with holidays, I'm not coming to your country to relax if I have…

Yeah masks are still technically required, but if they’re anything like indoor dining, people are lax about wearing them once inside (I haven’t been to any since the pandemic, so I could be wrong).

Re: Is going to the office a broken way of working?

#278

Post by jimmaswell »

IggleSniggle wrote: post #138
mmmpop wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

First off, if you're not vaccinated, it's really a lot less safe for you for me to be around you. I don't really want to be responsible for getting you or your family sick. But beyond that, if I can't trust you to take very basic precaution of vaccinating, can I trust you to take the much more obnoxious precaution of masking up, or the still more inconvenient precaution of social distancing generally? Or quarantining…

> masking up, or the still more inconvenient precaution of social distancing generally? Or quarantining after travel?

Why would I still be doing any of that when I'm vaccinated and no longer required?

Re: Is going to the office a broken way of working?

#279

Post by distrill »

zmmmmm wrote: post #173
gaoshan wrote: post #100

I genuinely miss the office. Being in a different space for work (one that was pretty gorgeous), in a nice part of downtown, able to tap people on the shoulder for quick questions rather than having to ping them over chat, more spontaneous collaboration (right before we went remote again I overheard two people discussing an area I have some expertise in and was able to interject and provide useful insight), extra pro…

I get a lot of what you say but this one drives me bonkers: > able to tap people on the shoulder for quick questions rather than having to ping them over chat My work requires so much focus, having people randomly tap me on the shoulder to ask a question they could just drop in chat is debilitating. I'm curious you phrase "having to ping them over chat" negatively? I would say the same sentence almost totally in reve…

Even for something quick, I will type up a question and then go over it a few times, make some edits, probably provide some links for context. It just feels like a bigger deal than just asking someone next to you.

In person they can cut me off when they start to get it, or I can tell from their face that I need to keep going with more context, it's just more more collaborative.

In chat I'll either end up having to answer a ton of follow up questions for detail, or I'll drown the question in context.

Yes, I can get better at asking questions. But tbh most of this complexity stems from me trying to ask questions well to begin with. IDK, pinging someone over chat seems like more of an intrusion than just asking a question.

Also, I won't, like, ask someone to take off their headphones for this. I'll ask them at lunch, or when we're grabbing coffee / snacks. Over chat there's no coffee break, it's all "headphone" time, from my perspective.

Re: Is going to the office a broken way of working?

#280

Post by QuercusMax »

zmmmmm wrote: post #173
gaoshan wrote: post #100

I genuinely miss the office. Being in a different space for work (one that was pretty gorgeous), in a nice part of downtown, able to tap people on the shoulder for quick questions rather than having to ping them over chat, more spontaneous collaboration (right before we went remote again I overheard two people discussing an area I have some expertise in and was able to interject and provide useful insight), extra pro…

I get a lot of what you say but this one drives me bonkers: > able to tap people on the shoulder for quick questions rather than having to ping them over chat My work requires so much focus, having people randomly tap me on the shoulder to ask a question they could just drop in chat is debilitating. I'm curious you phrase "having to ping them over chat" negatively? I would say the same sentence almost totally in reve…

When I'm sitting in close proximity to other humans, I can often tell what they are doing. People can give signals that they are currently occupied; this could be things like putting on headphones, etc. It's pretty easy to tell when someone is doing focused work vs. talking to a desk mate, etc.
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