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Working from home is powering productivity

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Re: Working from home is powering productivity

#371

Post by codexjourneys »

capn_duck wrote: post #248
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?

The 16 pings a minute. The 6 hours of meetings a day because people aren't getting the information they need organically each day. The "hey, can I call?"'s during what I thought would be my free half hour in the afternoon. This is definitely not what it was like in the office. Unfortunately, I recognize this doesn't change unless an org goes 100% back onsite.

Why wouldn't it work with 2 or 3 unified days onsite and 2 or 3 days wfh, with a no-meetings, minimal-interruptions directive on wfh days? I think this structure, if well managed, would work even better than the old 5-days-in-office.

Re: Working from home is powering productivity

#372

Post by mncharity »

bongodongobob wrote: post #137
kortilla wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would the city care about number of people in the office if they are deriving the money from commercial property taxes?

Why would the city care if no one is working downtown?

For Boston in particular, governmental borders are close to downtown. The city is composed of several unconsolidated abutting Towns and Cities. The City of Boston[1] mostly extends from downtown to the south-west. So MIT/Harvard are Town of Cambridge, not City of Boston. Downtown-vs-suburb revenue tensions extend into the city.

For analogy, imagine the historical City of New York (Manhattan and Bronx) never consolidated with the City of Brooklyn and the city and towns of Queens County, to form a City of Greater New York. WFH Queens would be as bad for Manhattan as WFH New Jersey. Not only loss of going-to-work-associated revenue, but little home-associated. As it is, the mayor vocally pushed for back-to-office (real-estate interests are powerful in NYC, transit budget income, CRE better-vacant-than-cheaper dysfunction, etc).

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neighborhoods_in_Boston

Re: Working from home is powering productivity

#373

Post by lloeki »

DrBazza wrote: post #307
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…

WFH is best for focused work. Office is best for collaboration. I'm not sure I've found a tool that works for collaboration like a whiteboard. Digital solutions just never really worked in our company and we tried a few. On the flip side, open source projects function just fine with 100% remote work in different time zones. One thing I found with WFH pre-and-post Covid is the the 'Feynman moment'- "If you cannot expl…

> 'Feynman moment'- "If you cannot explain something in simple terms, you don't understand it".

Unsure if you're attributing it to Feynman (although I do see the relationship in Feynman's thought process, but the quote is from Einstein:

> If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.

... buuut really it's from Nicolas Boileau (1674):

> Ce que l'on conçoit bien s'énonce clairement. Et les mots pour le dire arrivent aisément.

Tx'd:

> What is well understood is told with clarity, and the words to say it come up easily.

As well as a few others that are right on point:

> Avant donc que d'écrire, apprenez à penser. Selon que notre idée est plus ou moins obscure, l'expression la suit, ou moins nette, ou plus pure.

Tx'd:

> Before even to think one should learn to write. Whether the idea is more or less obscure, expression follows through, 'ther less sharp or more pure.

Re: Working from home is powering productivity

#374

Post by baxtr »

Hendrikto wrote: post #327
matrix2003 wrote: post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I kind of think WeWork’s business model might have succeeded in the WFH post-Covid era. It allows the company to be flexible with meeting space budget without being on the hook for permanent space. My company ran out of space pre-Covid, so we would book random meeting spaces (within walking distance) around the city.

There are companies that have pulled off We Work style office renting successfully for decades. Just without the crazy, megalomaniac founder CEO, without trying to spin it as being the savior of humanity, without a buttload of unrelated and extremely questionable side projects, without trying to sell it as a tech company and inflating the valuation to absurd levels.

But did the founders of those companies become as rich as the WeWork founder?

Re: Working from home is powering productivity

#375

Post by sumeno »

mellosouls wrote: post #342
benterix wrote: post #321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think a lot of people are talking past each other. Of course. Apart from the WFH majority there also vocal proponents of hybrid (and I believe some who believe in full RTO, although these seem to be very few). The solution to this conundrum is to give people a choice. Yes, I worked for a few companies who do just that and everybody is happy! Those who want it, come to the office, those who don't, work from where…

The solution to this conundrum is to give people a choice. Except that if most choose full time remote, then those who favour hybrid (like me) or RTO have their choice made for them wrt collaboration and the other reasons given in the parent comment, so unfortunately, no, that's not really a solution.

If most people choose full time remote if given the option then it's pretty selfish to demand they all go to the office because you prefer it.

Re: Working from home is powering productivity

#376

Post by lolinder »

mellosouls wrote: post #342
benterix wrote: post #321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think a lot of people are talking past each other. Of course. Apart from the WFH majority there also vocal proponents of hybrid (and I believe some who believe in full RTO, although these seem to be very few). The solution to this conundrum is to give people a choice. Yes, I worked for a few companies who do just that and everybody is happy! Those who want it, come to the office, those who don't, work from where…

The solution to this conundrum is to give people a choice. Except that if most choose full time remote, then those who favour hybrid (like me) or RTO have their choice made for them wrt collaboration and the other reasons given in the parent comment, so unfortunately, no, that's not really a solution.

A bunch of reluctantly-at-the-office coworkers isn't going to be the collaboration utopia you're hoping for. If you end up with an empty office because everyone chose WFH, switch companies.

Eventually things will balance out, with people in companies that have the right balance for them.

Re: Working from home is powering productivity

#377

Post by benterix »

noch wrote: post #350
benterix wrote: post #320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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, everybo…

> You know what actually happens? […] A bunch of disgruntled employees who don't give a fuck about your company because of the way you treated them. I'm sorry you've had bad experiences. I hope you'll heal and be okay or find work that makes you feel appreciated and rewards you. I remember being stealth fired simply because I was never in the office and those who were assumed "he doesn't really work here anyway". Out…

> I'm sorry you've had bad experiences.

No, actually I haven't. I just have many colleagues who share their feelings with me. In my niche, all best-paid positions are remote only, I basically cooperate with teams from different continents, it's very rewarding. If someone tried to offer me a job forcing me to sit in an open plan office, I would laugh in their face, it seems so ridiculously absurd and unnecessary. The possibility of WFH (for those who want it) is one of the best that happened to the working class since 5-day workweek.

Re: Working from home is powering productivity

#378

Post by IshKebab »

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…

Funny you mention whiteboard work. I agree that is one of the things that sucks remotely, but I also think it's because whiteboard support in video calls is universally awful.

Would it be as bad if everyone had a digital whiteboard next to their desk that synced with video calls? Probably not, but companies never pay for proper remote work setups (good cameras, microphone etc).

We're still stuck with Google Meet, which is honestly the best video call system (highest quality, most reliable) except that it doesn't support bloody remote control of other people's computers. So infuriating. "No click the next... down a bit. ok now type this... no not there in... no go back..." Ugh.

Re: Working from home is powering productivity

#379

Post by analog31 »

dustingetz wrote: post #333
simonbarker87 wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the vast majority of human existence the majority of communication was done verbally and in person. We’ve never communicated this much with text and most of that increase has probably come in the past, what, 20 years? I think rather than people being lazy/inept it’s more a case of our brains struggling to adapt to a way of communication that is thousands of years newer than speech.

hunter gatherers vs universities. one of these groups is dirt poor the other unimaginably wealthy in comparison

Written communication, and in-person interaction, are force multipliers, and universities have very high levels of both.

Re: Working from home is powering productivity

#380

Post by Clubber »

wiseowise wrote: post #311
Clubber wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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.

>all high productivity employees leave in an instant

That almost never happens, unless a company enacts a very unpopular policy and there are many opportunities for high productivity tech employees elsewhere. That sounds a lot like right now.

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