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Working from home is powering productivity

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Re: Working from home is powering productivity

#311

Post by wiseowise »

Clubber wrote: post #162
gnulinux996 wrote: post #155

I'd really like to see how the American libertarian copes with the return to office mandates. I've had a lot of American colleagues that do not wish to return to office, the types that believe in "freedom", "individual responsibility" and "if you do not like the job go work somewhere else". As the employers are closing in on them, they slowly start to understand that unless they collectively punch back they _will_ yi…

>I'd really like to see how the American libertarian copes with the return to office mandates. The American libertarian will just move to a job that allows remote. >As the employers are closing in on them, they slowly start to understand that unless they collectively punch back they _will_ yield sooner or later. Believe me, companies stand to lose a lot more with an empty dev team than any dev stands to lose moving t…

> Believe me, companies stand to lose a lot more with an empty dev team than any dev stands to lose moving to another company.

This process might take years or even decade of decay until company feels the pain. They might lose in the long run, but unless all high productivity employees leave in an instant you’re the one to lose in the short run.

Re: Working from home is powering productivity

#312

Post by jszopi »

iamthemonster wrote: post #201
THENATHE wrote: post #182

I love work from home, but I can’t help but feel like its only real benefit is removing a lot of the overhead from jobs that are already considered overhead. Agree with this next part or not, it isn’t really debatable: to the average person (which we aren’t), basically anything that can be done on a computer from home is overhead. Coding in the office? Takes up a lot of office space and commute time and energy. Finan…

I'm an engineer in the process industries (oil/gas) and we are constantly collaborating and running stuff by other engineering disciplines with different knowledge to us, and coordinating with management, logistics, maintenance, operations, commercial and contractors. Isn't there a similarly high level of interdisciplinary communication involved in coding? How do you keep up the quality of communication? (in my indus…

IME software engineering is a mix of coding, which can sometimes be fairly independent of others and require focus, and a range of collaborative activities. Face to face meetings help building the relations that help the collaborative part go smoothly. But once the high level requirements are understood and the humam relations are in place, a team can complete projects online quite effectively, even as the requirements evolve.

Others have mentioned how tooling can make the collaboration smooth. A good Internet connection, a good microphone, tooling like Jira (work backlog, prioritization and status updates), Google Drive (documentation), Zoom (VC with screen share), Slack (instant messaging for informal async comms or quickly scheduling ad hoc meetings) and whatever tool people use for scheduling meetings ahead of time.

I'm curious what part of your work wouldn't go smoothly given such a setup? Are there any physical artifacts that are difficult to share, like blueprints or models? Or is it a human aspect like gathering people for an ad hoc meeting?

Re: Working from home is powering productivity

#313

Post by CalRobert »

Roark66 wrote: post #294
CalRobert wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately this can be a race to the bottom as companies with wfh are driven out of business by those without

Show me one example of this.

I was just referencing ops statement about how wfh is better even if it’s less efficient. I love wfh. I miss it.

Re: Working from home is powering productivity

#314

Post by pbhjpbhj »

ahimthedream wrote: post #146
throwaway918299 wrote: post #52

I am literally at least 10x when I work from home. I have ADHD and through years of discipline, cultivating my workspace to suit my needs, and hard work I can be productive most of the day in the zone without (much) sidetracking. Literally impossible for me to do in the modern software dev sweatshop. I also make more money, can spend more time with my family because I don’t commute, and plenty of other positives. I l…

You are the anomaly, not the norm. WFH takes discipline, work ethic and honestly the ability to manage a work life balance. Doing this is hard, like you said. Problem is most people aren’t disciplined:)

It seems too take more discipline to attend a workplace than to do the same work from home. I don't understand your position.

To me, what you're saying is like how banks won't give people mortgages when the monthly payments are half what their current rental is because of person's "inability to pay".

Re: Working from home is powering productivity

#315

Post by pbhjpbhj »

tiborsaas wrote: post #199
hirvi74 wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> WFH takes discipline That is bizarre to me. I find the office takes far more discipline. Do people really get that distracted at home? What is so distracting?

Office is an external discipline forced on you while WFH is an internal discipline no one watching over your shoulders, that's the difference. For an undisciplined person anything can be distracting: birds chirping, picking up a delivery, cooking, a friend dropping by, daily chores like washing, organizing things, etc... it's an endless list really.

If you can't tell whether your staff are working that seems quite orthogonal to WFH.

Re: Working from home is powering productivity

#316

Post by newswasboring »

bromuro wrote: post #309
jandrewrogers wrote: post #260

I think a lot of people are talking past each other. I’ve mostly WFH since long before the pandemic, in many different capacities at many companies. A lot of people have tunnel vision and the reality is more nuanced than most allow. For IC work that requires minimal collaboration, WFH is often more productive. Fewer interruptions, more focus. However, when the role requires detailed collaboration and regular interact…

What is an “IC work” and what does it mean “being an IC”? Can’t get the acronym.

It is my understanding that IC is individual contributor. So basically devs who are making their own parts of the code.

Re: Working from home is powering productivity

#317

Post by MattPalmer1086 »

bromuro wrote: post #309
jandrewrogers wrote: post #260

I think a lot of people are talking past each other. I’ve mostly WFH since long before the pandemic, in many different capacities at many companies. A lot of people have tunnel vision and the reality is more nuanced than most allow. For IC work that requires minimal collaboration, WFH is often more productive. Fewer interruptions, more focus. However, when the role requires detailed collaboration and regular interact…

What is an “IC work” and what does it mean “being an IC”? Can’t get the acronym.

Individual Contributer.

Re: Working from home is powering productivity

#318

Post by BoingBoomTschak »

seanvelasco wrote: post #181

i definitely know myself that i'm less productive working from home than working on the office. the commute (or the ritual of it) and the different environment makes all the difference.

Same, home is associated with relaxation in my mind (and I have an apartment, so no "work desk"). Being quite depressed also makes a big difference, as work gives a social life I otherwise don't have.

Re: Working from home is powering productivity

#319

Post by varjag »

noch wrote: post #303
CalRobert wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately this can be a race to the bottom as companies with wfh are driven out of business by those without

> companies with wfh are driven out of business by those without This is unlikely. Notice the parent post said: >> I don't care about company KPI or efficiency, I care about my own well-being first and foremost […] So you have a situation where: - Most of your employees think of your company's success and their lifestyle as competing interests. - Most of your employees are focused on optimizing their lifestyle rather…

It's adorable but my modern German car came plagued by software glitches, from a development team of 6000.

Re: Working from home is powering productivity

#320

Post by benterix »

noch wrote: post #303
CalRobert wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately this can be a race to the bottom as companies with wfh are driven out of business by those without

> companies with wfh are driven out of business by those without This is unlikely. Notice the parent post said: >> I don't care about company KPI or efficiency, I care about my own well-being first and foremost […] So you have a situation where: - Most of your employees think of your company's success and their lifestyle as competing interests. - Most of your employees are focused on optimizing their lifestyle rather…

> Now if you have another company whose employees believe in the company's mission, prioritize company success, don't see a necessary trade-off between work and lifestyle, and enjoy working with their teams in person

This is a nice image you've painted but this company doesn't exist except in the minds of some CEOs and startup founders.

You know what actually happens? A CEO announces RTO, people are outraged, everybody is looking at their options, those who manage to do it switch jobs immediately, those who can't do it at the next opportunity, the ones who are left are a combination of extroverts who finally can have endless interactions with those who want them and those who don't, and a bunch of disgruntled employees who don't give a fuck about your company because of the way you treated them.

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