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Remote work requires communicating more, but less frequently

ben.balter.com

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Re: Remote work requires communicating more, but less frequently

#11

Post by bonestamp2 »

I've worked remotely for about 15 years now, and I think it's the same amount of communicating, it's just broken up differently than in-person.

Instead of booking a 30 minute meeting, that only has maybe 10-15 minutes of work talk and 5-10 of personal talk, we might instant message for 15-20 mins spread across a whole day.

Or if things get complicated in the first few minutes we'll just have an adhoc call for 5 mins, then IM whatever details we thought of after hanging up. That 5 minute call is similar to swinging by someone's desk.

Some people still insist on booking the 30 minute meeting, and that can make sense when you have several people or some "meetings are my job" people are involved (upper management, marketing, sales, etc).

It seems like about the same amount of work talk either way, but usually less personal talk. Introverts love that, extroverts are missing out.

It also varies by person. Some people are too vague in their typed messages so it's better to talk on the phone. Other people have really thick accents and English may be a second language, so a detailed IM conversation can actually be more efficient than talking on the phone for both parties.

Re: Remote work requires communicating more, but less frequently

#12

Post by sublinear »

> It shifts communication from a one-to-one relationship, to a one-to-many. Next time you’re about to “send a quick DM” or “schedule a quick chat”, consider what steps you could take to optimize for the long tail of information retrieval and discovery.

This is the only real difference: that any individual can wield the power of one-to-many communication. We all have a voice now.

Calls and DMs exist solely to ensure what's in writing is understood. Same as it was in the physical office for meetings.

Re: Remote work requires communicating more, but less frequently

#14

Post by rcarmo »

Swizec wrote: post #7
mydriasis wrote: post #2

> Remote work requires communicating more, less frequently, because asynchronous communication involves less frequent, but richer communication, meaning there is less time talking about the work and more time doing it, allowing the system to optimize for throughput and flow. This whole thing seems to be what people struggle with about remote work. Communication is way, way more important, and being an effective commu…

Funnily, studies have shown that people spend more time on chat and less time in face-to-face communication when working from an openspace office than when they work from home. Hopping on a quick 5min zoom is frictionless at home. Walking aaaaalll the way over to someone’s desk and disrupting the entire office with your conversation, or god forbid finding a free conference room, is way harder. So you smear the meetin…

I've never been more productive than when I have an office with a door -- home or otherwise. That also makes it much easier to have quick chats without disturbing the rest of the floor.

Re: Remote work requires communicating more, but less frequently

#15

Post by fsociety »

FartyMcFarter wrote: post #4

This sounds great for experienced engineers, but in my experience junior workers often require bite-sized guidance in order to avoid going down rabbit holes. A 10 second conversation could easily save hours of head-banging-into-wall type work for a junior SWE (not even exaggerating). Accordingly, during the pandemic I think it was mostly the less experienced engineers suffering from low productivity and lack of confi…

I think the experience of banging your head against the wall (for a bit) can be valuable. As long as the culture of the team encourages this and offers an escape hatch after a few hours (or whatever timeframe is appropriate for the problem).

Re: Remote work requires communicating more, but less frequently

#16

Post by freeone3000 »

sussexby wrote: post #6

Currently in crisis because I simply can't handle communication in remote work. For something I do for the majority of my working day, I feel devoid of human interaction to such an extent that it's massively affecting my mental health. I regularly find myself clock-watching until the next time I can talk to someone because everyone is always busy - there are no water coolers or coffee breaks to stitch in between. Eve…

Take your own breaks. Hang out with friends. Take a lunch. Your officemates do not have to be your end-all of social interaction :)

Re: Remote work requires communicating more, but less frequently

#17

Post by ResearchCode »

FartyMcFarter wrote: post #4

This sounds great for experienced engineers, but in my experience junior workers often require bite-sized guidance in order to avoid going down rabbit holes. A 10 second conversation could easily save hours of head-banging-into-wall type work for a junior SWE (not even exaggerating). Accordingly, during the pandemic I think it was mostly the less experienced engineers suffering from low productivity and lack of confi…

Those "rabbit holes" are where you learn. Saving hours is more important if you bill hourly, less if you are salaried.

Re: Remote work requires communicating more, but less frequently

#18

Post by x86x87 »

FartyMcFarter wrote: post #4

This sounds great for experienced engineers, but in my experience junior workers often require bite-sized guidance in order to avoid going down rabbit holes. A 10 second conversation could easily save hours of head-banging-into-wall type work for a junior SWE (not even exaggerating). Accordingly, during the pandemic I think it was mostly the less experienced engineers suffering from low productivity and lack of confi…

Oh.. The poor juniors.

Instead of properly adapting the onboarding and mentoring to the remote setting let's romanticize the good old ways that imho sucked.

Let's cherrypick and pretend everything is fine. We went from offices to cubicles to open space and nobody stopped to think if it was a good idea. Wr transformed the office from a place where work actually is done to a placr where we "socialize". Work? Do that on your own time.

Re: Remote work requires communicating more, but less frequently

#19

Post by dpz »

sussexby wrote: post #6

Currently in crisis because I simply can't handle communication in remote work. For something I do for the majority of my working day, I feel devoid of human interaction to such an extent that it's massively affecting my mental health. I regularly find myself clock-watching until the next time I can talk to someone because everyone is always busy - there are no water coolers or coffee breaks to stitch in between. Eve…

find the social outside of work? Work has always been work for me and nothing more, not really looking for socialising.

In fairness I've been fully remote for 10 years but I see friends during the day for coffees, lunch, exercise. And then multiple sports clubs in the evenings

Re: Remote work requires communicating more, but less frequently

#20

Post by sublinear »

sussexby wrote: post #6

Currently in crisis because I simply can't handle communication in remote work. For something I do for the majority of my working day, I feel devoid of human interaction to such an extent that it's massively affecting my mental health. I regularly find myself clock-watching until the next time I can talk to someone because everyone is always busy - there are no water coolers or coffee breaks to stitch in between. Eve…

Send your DMs when people are on "busy" status anyway. They can respond later. That's the huge advantage of remote work. Async communication is so much more efficient. If you're watching the clock, there's something wrong.
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