An article just in time for the end of (most) remote work
Remote work requires communicating more, but less frequently
81–90 of 326 posts
Re: Remote work requires communicating more, but less frequently
#82Remote work and async comms means that latency tends to be high. Latency issues can be overcome by not stopping to wait at each decision point. For example, low latency this is ok: “do you want to go to dinner or a movie?” Movie. ”Do you want to see Barbie or Oppenheimer?” Oppenheimer. “Do you want to go at 6:00, 7:00, or 8:00?” 8:00. Instead for high latency, this will cut down on a lot of dead time in back and fort…
I feel socially uncomfortable asking a bunch of questions which have lots of dependencies, somehow it feels presumptuous and overwhelming. I’m not saying it actually is presumptuous, there’s every possibility that there’s a defect in my social skills.
Somehow I’ve become more comfortable just proposing a complete plan, but also explicitly calling out the fact that it is actually totally up for discussion. So instead I’ll say something like:
Want to see Oppenheimer at 5:30 on Sunday (n.b. I pulled that time completely out of my ass just to get the ball rolling, any time this weekend is fine on my end, and Barbie also looks good).
Somehow it just feels more natural to me, I don’t know why. I like that it presents the person with a default-path, but also leaves everything up for discussion if necessary.
Re: Remote work requires communicating more, but less frequently
#83This 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.
Generally agree that rabbit holes (or as my wife calls mine: black holes) can be conducive to learning. But I suspect that there's diminishing returns. At some point, you may end up spinning your wheels and reaching out for help does not distract from learning the valuable lesson.
Re: Remote work requires communicating more, but less frequently
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
> We went from offices to cubicles to open space and nobody stopped to think if it was a good idea. People have been complaining about this development since forever. I'm not sure who that 'nobody' in your sentence is?
That nobody is obviously within the people making the decisions. The people complaining were a whole different set of nobodies.
Re: Remote work requires communicating more, but less frequently
#85Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
I was one of those juniors, the rapid shift to remote work ruined me. I had just moved to a new city where I knew no one to start a life doing the work I loved, and all at once I got told leaving my house was dangerous and to stay home alone all day staring at a screen to keep people safe, for 2+ years… It’s great you value work life balance, but junior engineers suffered a lot (to different degrees), and you being o…
I can sympathize, but you should not have let it ruin you. Take responsibility for your own life.
Re: Remote work requires communicating more, but less frequently
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
I was one of those juniors, the rapid shift to remote work ruined me. I had just moved to a new city where I knew no one to start a life doing the work I loved, and all at once I got told leaving my house was dangerous and to stay home alone all day staring at a screen to keep people safe, for 2+ years… It’s great you value work life balance, but junior engineers suffered a lot (to different degrees), and you being o…
I had the same timeline as you, but it was fine for me. Granted, I've never known anyone anywhere I've lived and barely leave home anyway. :p I'm grateful I seem optimized for the fully atomized cyberpunk existence which may only become more intense and universal in the future.
Re: Remote work requires communicating more, but less frequently
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
> Instead of properly adapting the onboarding and mentoring But... how? Remote check-ins with juniors every 30-60 minutes? That's crazy. But that's basically the only way to replicate the in person experience. The best mentoring results for me as the mentee and for me as a mentor have been when we're sitting next to each other. The mentor can visually tell when the mentee is stuck, and mentee can tell when the mentor…
It's really not an issue to have a junior bang their head against the wall for a few hours and then telling them that they should have gotten help sooner.
They won't do that every single time. At some point they'll realize that asking for help isn't an issue.
Re: Remote work requires communicating more, but less frequently
#88in my current role at my current company, the opposite is the case. Daily sometimes hour long meetings talking about features and some crap and less time for the actual work. I hate it. Because I love to code, but I am constantly distracted. Everyone wants something from me... some people ask if I have time, some simply call, even if I am in another meeting already.
Re: Remote work requires communicating more, but less frequently
#89This 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).
exactly, the most frustrating type of behavior for any colleague (esp jrs) is those who just default to consistently ask for help instead of diving deep. That behavior is costly in slowing down others. People need to learn how to learn, otherwise they will just be handicapping team if they cannot function independently. At the same time, navigating large proprietary or new knowledge sources can be tedious and sometimes impossible, but I have found that starting from the ask first mentality to be a positive feedback loop for never diving deep.
Re: Remote work requires communicating more, but less frequently
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
> We went from offices to cubicles to open space and nobody stopped to think if it was a good idea. People have been complaining about this development since forever. I'm not sure who that 'nobody' in your sentence is?
My point is that we are invoking this alleged benefits when it serves a narrative but just ignore it when it's convenient for the "bottom" line