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Sam Altman says era of remote work is over
161–170 of 399 posts
Re: Sam Altman says era of remote work is over
#162Geographic distribution is a feature if you leverage it properly and set the right expectations.
It also requires active participation.
Re: Sam Altman says era of remote work is over
#163Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’m not sure I agree. Our industry isn’t full of people that have more integrity than the general population, and “your problem for hiring the wrong people” is short sighted, or even victim blaming. I’ll share this recent HN post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35767280 Remote work only makes sense when everyone has integrity, but that seems less and less likely in my experience, sadly.
"victim blaming" your boss, the person hired to have responsibility. You can't make this up.
You can defraud people in positions of power. It’s often more lucrative to do so.
Re: Sam Altman says era of remote work is over
#164I could not disagree more. At least for the last decade in the places I've worked (major tech companies), everyone has been doing "remote work" anyway even though they were in the office. I mean, meetings were held online, discussion took place through chat, etc., between people literally sitting in cubes next to each other. Everything is just more efficient and less disruptive that way. Working from home changed no…
You clearly didn't read the article and came to react from the headline. He says the earlier the stage and the more unclear the more you need to spend time together. His general comment is about full 100% transition from in office to remote. I agree with this. You need SOME time in person, especially with an early stage startup.
Have you ever done a substantial amount of remote work in order to get a real idea of its contrast against in-office?
Re: Sam Altman says era of remote work is over
#165I assume he’s got either direct or indirect links to commercial realestate; as an owner or investor or something else. It makes literally 0 business sense to be forking out anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand per employee per month to give them a space to work, when that can just be avoided. The amount of cost and overheads involved; from insurance to upkeep to rent to OHS - a work space is probably the nex…
Why do you assume this? Sam literally takes no salary or compensation of any kind from OpenAI because he thinks he has enough money.
Your bias is clouding your judgement.
Re: Sam Altman says era of remote work is over
#166Earlier quoted context omitted.
So two friends living in two different places can never build a product and then business around it together. They must be sitting within one meter proximity or the magic potion doesn't work.
Why don't you show us successful startups where people built it fully remotely without meeting each other in person? Sam is claiming that in early stage startups , one need some in-person interaction which I fully agree with.
Supabase comes into mind....
Re: Sam Altman says era of remote work is over
#167Earlier quoted context omitted.
The point of the article is that for team work with unclearity you are more creative by working in a physical space together. If your work can be done in isolation and doesn't require a team to deal with any uncertainty, then by all means work fully remote. However, if your work is about innovation and collaboration, then it's going to be more effective to spend time together. I think it's telling that you talk about…
Or… Just have optional office hours, Slack huddles and mob sessions every few days. Some of my engineers… - have a open huddle for a few hours a day where anyone can drop into their project while they work - others make use of our scheduled themed mob sessions (ie. Maintenance Mondays, deployment Thursdays). have a problem, idea or just want to hangout then come by? - ICs & seniors are required to host at least a wee…
> - ICs & seniors are required to host at least a weekly office hour to assist juniors or teach something of their choice.
When I was a junior engineer working in-person, I was learning from senior engineers multiple times a day, not just once a week.
Re: Sam Altman says era of remote work is over
#168Earlier quoted context omitted.
Linux is doing rather well. Not a business but the people building it have eaten's microsft's server market pretty well. That's what happens when you let engineers do their jobs.
Hmm, yes, mainly remote (Red Hat notwithstanding), but no, not a business, so I am not sure it's quite clear-cut enough to use as proof...
I know of a few companies around the uk, one is mythic beasts, a hosting company. Gitlab is also successful, canonical too. Thing is it doesnt matter. If a client needs me onsite to brainstorm then i dont mind it. But there needs to be a valid reason and not just because of an insecure managed’s lack of skill in using modern tech, or worse, to fill voids in people’s lives. Focused work is best done in a quiet place, and for some that’s their own home and their own office. Being surrounded by things you like and a setting you like makes you more productive.
Re: Sam Altman says era of remote work is over
#169Autonomous working has proven to be a game changer for myself and others in my team. I can login and out when I need to (meetings/stand ups I obviously need to factor in) which allows me to take an actual break and go somewhere with my dog when I am feeling bogged down/unproductive. The ability to do this means that, when I return to the desk, I am refreshed and ready to tackle a problem with fresh eyes instead of gl…
The point of the article is that for team work with unclearity you are more creative by working in a physical space together. If your work can be done in isolation and doesn't require a team to deal with any uncertainty, then by all means work fully remote. However, if your work is about innovation and collaboration, then it's going to be more effective to spend time together. I think it's telling that you talk about…
> However, if your work is about innovation and collaboration, then it's going to be more effective to spend time together.
Not convinced yet, at this point it just seems to be anecdotes, and pretty nebolous ones at that. I would be open to listen to this position if it was backed up by actual examples like "So we were working on Product X and team Y struggled with remote work in that and that way." Creativity/Innovation is not something fuzzy, but something very real that will result in deadlines not met, lower morale and so on - I will start to consider Altmans et al.'s position once I hear those non-fuzzy experiences. (As someone working in a small startup doing innovative products, and collaboration being crucial).
Re: Sam Altman says era of remote work is over
#170I assume he’s got either direct or indirect links to commercial realestate; as an owner or investor or something else. It makes literally 0 business sense to be forking out anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand per employee per month to give them a space to work, when that can just be avoided. The amount of cost and overheads involved; from insurance to upkeep to rent to OHS - a work space is probably the nex…
Why do you assume this? Sam literally takes no salary or compensation of any kind from OpenAI because he thinks he has enough money. Your bias is clouding your judgement.
Obviously the "indirect" part of the post you are responding to applies.
Your last sentence seems to indicate that you know more than us - if so, enlighten us please about the incentive situation of Mr. Altman. (Whose products I value quite a lot, I will say)