People love working remotely • Hacker News Board

Re: People love working remotely

#191

Post by war1025 » Tue, Aug 20, 2019, 5:03 PM UTC

ken wrote: post #19

Elephant in the room: how many of these people would prefer it to having a private office ? Strangely, this article/survey/infographic never mentions that option. I'd prefer remote work, too, over sitting in an open floorplan office, but I'd much prefer an actual office to either one. The easy "why" is: despite all the drawbacks, a lot of us will do pretty much anything to get out of an open floorplan.

I have a private office, but we also work from home two days a week (often more than that as various things come up for people).

I come in to the office every day because my wife stays home with our 3 kids. Work from home when home is four people that want your attention doesn't work out very well. The few times I tried it, everyone just got frustrated that I was present but not available.

Maybe in a couple years when the kids are in school working from home will seem appealing. Honestly a ten minute commute and the entire office to myself twice a week isn't half bad.

Re: People love working remotely

#192

Post by ken » Tue, Aug 20, 2019, 5:05 PM UTC

"63% of US companies now have remote workers, according to a 2018 Upwork Study."

Hmm, I don't believe this number. According to the SBA [1], there are over 30 million small businesses in the USA (averaging just under 2 people each). These constitute the vast majority (99.9%) of US companies.

You probably can't do "an online survey of 1,005 workforce hiring decision makers obtained through a third-party, independent online sample" and get useful information about 63% of all companies. This sounds like Sample Bias galore. There aren't even 19M (.63*30M) companies with offices in this country.

[1]: https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/advocacy/2018-Small-...

Re: People love working remotely

#193

Post by Buttons840 » Tue, Aug 20, 2019, 5:07 PM UTC

shrimp_emoji wrote: post #96

dustinmoris wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The big boss said "a 15 minute fact-to-face is better than a multi-day email chain" I can't believe that people who are so out of touch with reality are still given so much responsibility at companies which they effectively unknowingly misuse to make everyone's life miserable. There's nothing wrong about a multi day email chain. Sometimes it's the best communication tool, because non-critical/important things can b…

I've chatted online (in text) virtually my entire life, way more than I've actually talked, face-to-face or otherwise. My reading/writing comprehension's really developed as a result. Not only do people like me (even in my age range) seem relatively rare though, but it feels like talking IRL has some... weird clarity to it. Maybe it's because the lower info bandwidth but higher emotional bandwidth (?) forces a kind o…

How's the typing speed and habits of those opposed to text chat? It's not often asked about in interviews, but I've noticed some co-workers do not view typing as being fast and effortless like I do.

Re: People love working remotely

#194

Post by Phlarp » Tue, Aug 20, 2019, 5:10 PM UTC

g051051 wrote: post #16

I was full-time WFH for 6 wonderful years. I was happy, my productivity was off the charts, I was saving tons of money because I didn't have to spend it on my car and clothes, I had extra time that I wasn't wasting on my commute, etc. Then, we had a big shake-up. A bunch of senior people left, and new "leadership" came in to "transform" our workplace. All WFH was cancelled in our division (in spite of still being off…

I had a very similar experience at a previous company. Leave, management does not value you or your inputs to the business. You will be much much happier at another company that embraces remote work instead of grudgingly tolerating it. It's easier than ever to find remote first companies.

Don't make the mistake of thinking management is mistaken and just needs to be educated. The big shake up, changing WFH and open office plans are all giant neon signs that say management is attempting to line their pockets off the misery of their employees.

Re: People love working remotely

#195

Post by larrywright » Tue, Aug 20, 2019, 5:11 PM UTC

ebiester wrote: post #158

kps wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What they also failed to realize, which was also true then, is that the person I need a face-to-face conversation with is neither in the desk next to me nor at my employer's site the next country over: he was in my desk last year, works somewhere else now, and didn't write anything down because Agile™ told him it wasn't ‘effective’.

This is a poor understanding of "comprehensive documentation." You should absolutely be keeping documentation. However, you should not require hundreds of pages of specs and design documents before a single line of code is written. Instead, documentation should be written at the same time as the code, and should follow what is actually needed for and by developers and the organization rather than being subject to a "…

This is a problem with reading documents without understanding the time and context they were written in. If you’re a twentysomething developer who’s never worked in a process and documentation-heavy organization, the agile manifesto will sound like it is advocating something it is not. It was a reaction to the prevailing thinking of the time.

Re: People love working remotely

#196

Post by aantix » Tue, Aug 20, 2019, 5:12 PM UTC

spurdoman77 wrote: post #43

codingdave wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> a 15 minute fact-to-face is better... Good thing we have better tools for videoconferencing than ever. I can have a 15 minute face-to-face with anyone in my company, no matter where in the world they are.

Videoconferencing is OK, but it is still common to have issues with it. Bad image quality, setup by lowest common denominator etc. Often you use that 15 minutes just by trying to make it work properly.

https://www.owllabs.com/see-it-in-action

My neighbor owns a consultancy. They’ve started shipping the Meeting Owl camera to their bigger clients to improve their meeting experience. It’s has a 360 degree camera, eight directional mics.

The camera stitches together a full view of the conference room up top, with the bottom 2/3 intelligently shifting the focus across multiple speakers. It will even put a whiteboard into the focus of the frame, if someone starts drawing. I thought it was pretty cool.

Disclaimer: I just thought the product looked cool after my neighbor mentioned it. Nothing more.

Re: People love working remotely

#197

Post by JSavageReal » Tue, Aug 20, 2019, 5:13 PM UTC

nickjj wrote: post #142

I've been working remotely for my entire freelance career (~20 years). Very occasionally I'll go on site for certain local clients but that's not the norm. There's huge wins for working remotely that everyone has already stated but the isolation factor is real, especially if you're single. It might seem fun for a while (couple of months) to not wear pants at work and be able to put in 4 super productive hours of work…

Possible solutions:

* Rent a co-working space

* Work out of coffee shops

* Make an effort to have a social life outside of your job.

Re: People love working remotely

#198

Post by smush » Tue, Aug 20, 2019, 5:14 PM UTC

ebiester wrote: post #158

kps wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What they also failed to realize, which was also true then, is that the person I need a face-to-face conversation with is neither in the desk next to me nor at my employer's site the next country over: he was in my desk last year, works somewhere else now, and didn't write anything down because Agile™ told him it wasn't ‘effective’.

This is a poor understanding of "comprehensive documentation." You should absolutely be keeping documentation. However, you should not require hundreds of pages of specs and design documents before a single line of code is written. Instead, documentation should be written at the same time as the code, and should follow what is actually needed for and by developers and the organization rather than being subject to a "…

I wish the agile manifesto had included a bullet point that said 'favor working code over comprehensive documentation%'

% where working code != the code will work if all stars align and no invalid data is input and comprehensive documentation != a single typed character more than what is forced out of your tortured fingers by those who have to support your code at 2AM

I love my job :)

Re: People love working remotely

#199

Post by JSavageReal » Tue, Aug 20, 2019, 5:15 PM UTC

patagonia wrote: post #121

To those complaining about the commute. You’re complaining about city and transportation architecture, not workplace design. We are social creatures. I don’t understand the complete lack of addressing the issue: 8 hours a day I’m cut off from people except virtually. Prisons that force virtual visitation are criticized for this exact issue.

How is staring at a computer for 8 hours in an office any different from staring at a computer for 8 hours in a co-working space or coffee shop? I prefer the freedom to choose where I'll work from today.

Re: People love working remotely

#200

Post by JSavageReal » Tue, Aug 20, 2019, 5:15 PM UTC

jdavis703 wrote: post #168

What I hate is being lonely. They're shutting down our offices for cost savings. As such I've basically been straight work from home. Working from home reminds me of the isolation of being homeschooled. I love having the flexibility to work remote on certain days, for example when I need to bang out a bunch of code. But, having a place to interact with people is invaluable for me. I imagine countless others feel the…

Try working outside of your home, perhaps in a co-working space or coffee shop.