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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

#311

Post by JTyQZSnP3cQGa8B »

paulcole wrote: post #189
alemanek wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have worked remotely for 7 years and in a few different companies in that time. In my experience the companies that struggle with remote work are the ones the manage via attendance. One company drove me insane with random “Hows it going” messages throughout the day so I just left for another company and let them know why on the way out. Managers that have enough domain expertise to manage via outcomes however thriv…

> One company drove me insane with random “Hows it going” messages throughout the day so I just left for another company and let them know why on the way out. But this is ideal right? Their culture is asking "how's it going" throughout the day and it's not a culture you wanted to be part of so you left. Asking "how's it going?" throughout the day isn't objectively good or bad – it's just not for everyone.

> Asking "how's it going?" throughout the day isn't objectively good or bad

Most of the time, this simple innocent question is an introduction to a work related question. It is, and has always been for me, a massive waste of time. You lose your focus, you stop working while waiting for the coworker to decide whether or not he will ask you the real question in the next 10 minutes.

I approximately lose 1 hour every day due to this behavior and it's really annoying.

Re: Remote work requires communicating more, but less frequently

#312

Post by nsonha »

Why is everyone pretending that remote work is some drastic change? I remember back when I worked in an office, we communicated in the same channels, same frequencies (github, slack). The only new channel now is video calling, which simply replaces meeting rooms, same frequency too.

Re: Remote work requires communicating more, but less frequently

#313

Post by mydriasis »

Hermitian909 wrote: post #220
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…

Even well done, this kind of communication doesn't substitute for more free-form 1:1s that in-person allows. The latter are key to building trust. I'm finding this to be one of the key drawbacks of remote work - some decisions require cross team trust and I've yet to see anything besides more frequent ad-hoc conversations that builds it. The problem is that the most trust building conversations tend to be "off-topic"…

I like the concept of water-cooler -- an always on zoom meeting that you can choose to join... Or not. It's up to you whether you hop in.

Your reward for being willing is exactly this spontaneity that is missing from remote work. I have seen it work again and again...!

Re: Remote work requires communicating more, but less frequently

#314

Post by osigurdson »

repeekad wrote: post #123
osigurdson wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can sympathize, but you should not have let it ruin you. Take responsibility for your own life.

When you’re alone, someone telling you it’s your own fault and just take responsibility for it can feel really dark

My apologies. I know the pandemic was particularly hard on young people. This is the problem with old, comfortable and scared people making all the decisions.

Re: Remote work requires communicating more, but less frequently

#315

Post by katbyte »

repeekad wrote: post #68
katbyte wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Opposite for me, wfh means healthier lunches, more time and flexibility to be active . The short walk to transit (of not driving) doesn’t come close

It’s not for everyone, but people who don’t already have an entire life outside of work struggle to start one when the majority of your day is spent alone staring at a screen. The idea that socializing at work is a bad thing I think isolated a huge number of people who used to thrive on work relations and didn’t need a huge number of close friends outside of work to be happy.

I don’t think socializing at work is bad, but depending on it I think can be: you may not get along with your coworkers or have any common interests, and the ones you do might leave/depart anytime. you shouldn't expect or need them to reciprocate

Having a strong social life outside of work insulates you form this

Re: Remote work requires communicating more, but less frequently

#316

Post by throwawayfear »

spookthesunset wrote: post #264
esafak wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of people don't know how to cook. Maybe the company offered access to a gym too. The "you problem" could be doing a lot of lifting here. I can cook but I appreciated not having to think about it, and the food was great.

If you don’t like remote work, it’s always “your problem” somehow. Everybody has to like remote work, I guess. And if they don’t it means they are flawed somehow. It’s kinda nuts the lengths people to go put down those who simply hate working at home 40 hours a week.

Nobody is putting down people who don't like remote work. People are putting down the people who are telling other people why remote work is bad. Those people are trying to take it away. Go work in an office or find a place that is onsite if you think this way.

Re: Remote work requires communicating more, but less frequently

#317

Post by throwawayfear »

jzm2k wrote: post #208
throwawayfear wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That can be measured by frequency of code commits. You can tell which juniors are making the most of a rabbit hole and becoming better versus which ones are mindlessly surfing because they don't want to think. The first group will have things to share or talk about if they go some time without committing code and their mentor or manager starts getting worried. If someone hasn't pushed something in a week or two, that…

>You can also tell on company hardware and on company accounts if the junior's browsing history represents getting better or just resting on their haunches because they want someone else to do the thinking. Are you saying the mentor should actually go and check the browsing history of one their engineers to verify whether they've actually done "correct work" or what are you trying to say exactly? This sounds to me li…

What I'm saying is that they already do it and already have access to enough information to know who is making the most of a rabbit hole and who is not. Code commit frequency is sufficient in itself.

Re: Remote work requires communicating more, but less frequently

#318

Post by trubeliever »

hypeit wrote: post #150
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…

I have to admit as someone who enjoys WFH and would never work in an office again, that having co-workers like you is one of the main reasons. You should work on not relying so much on others. You may be benefiting from all that social "charging up", but you're taking that from the person on the other side of the conversation. I work to make money, not to fill someone's social void. You'll be happier if you explore t…

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Re: Remote work requires communicating more, but less frequently

#319

Post by DiggyJohnson »

nvarsj wrote: post #310
charlie0 wrote: post #303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would be interesting to see what happens when all the extroverts self select for in office work and introverts self select for wfh.

I did the same as DiggyJohnson. And I'm introverted. Even introverts need human connection and interaction. And in my experience, being in an office is easier for an introvert. Being 100% remote for several years was terrible for my mental health. As to why... well, a lot of it was precisely because I'm introverted. As an introvert, it's a lot more draining to do the explicit communication required to work remote eff…

Well said, I appreciate you sharing this. I consider myself almost completely neutral on the extrovert / introvert scale, but when it comes to this topic, there’s a lot of spurious assumptions made about the type of person that prefers to be in office. It strikes me as caricature.

Re: Remote work requires communicating more, but less frequently

#320

Post by [deleted] »

goodpoint wrote: post #307
SketchySeaBeast wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> Work != socializing. > That's plain unhealthy. Why? I have friends and people I socialize with, I don't have to socialize with my coworkers. I am friends with people I've met along the way, but with everyone else I keep a distance and remain professional. Why is it unhealthy to have boundaries around work relationships?

It's a basic psychological need: humans are social animals. People spend 40+ hours at week at work for many decades. Unless you work only 5 hours a week, it's a huge fraction of a lifetime.

[deleted]
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