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I Miss Working from the Office

roguelazer.com

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Re: I Miss Working from the Office

#311

Post by dudul »

staticfish wrote: post #284
slumdev wrote: post #239

I don't miss the office at all, and I never want to go back. If management asks us to go back full-time, I will start looking for another job. I'm happier and more productive than ever. I never want to go back to rotting in a cube farm pretending that 1-2 productive hours a day is enough. 1. Cubes, cube pods, and "open offices" are inhumane. 2. I don't have to wear headphones to "hear myself think" anymore. 3. Meetin…

let me guess. you're not a single?

Can you expand on that? Which of the points mentioned above make you infer that?

Re: I Miss Working from the Office

#312

Post by sodapopcan »

staticfish wrote: post #284
slumdev wrote: post #239

I don't miss the office at all, and I never want to go back. If management asks us to go back full-time, I will start looking for another job. I'm happier and more productive than ever. I never want to go back to rotting in a cube farm pretending that 1-2 productive hours a day is enough. 1. Cubes, cube pods, and "open offices" are inhumane. 2. I don't have to wear headphones to "hear myself think" anymore. 3. Meetin…

let me guess. you're not a single?

I'm single and never want to go back to the office again.

Re: I Miss Working from the Office

#313

Post by Grimm1 »

kuzimoto wrote: post #274
donatj wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t follow. Why should where I spend the majority of my waking hours, the majority of my life in practical terms, not also be my primary source of socialization? I genuinely feel the opposite. Relying on your few off hours to satisfy your innate human need for socialization places an unhealthy demand on your off hours, not to mention an unfair demand on your friends and family. I am now forced to spend 8 hours a…

Seems a little dangerous to completely rely on work for socialization. In my opinion most work relationship are pretty shallow and not meaningful long-term. When you leave a company, your entire social circle is going to be up-ended. > Why should where I spend the majority of my waking hours, the majority of my life in practical terms, not also be my primary source of socialization? I think because the primary goal i…

I only need superficial socialization most of the time though. It's kind of silly to think everyone needs deeply engaging social time for 99% of their life. My close friends are all busy and successful we talk and see each other every couple of weeks and months but I rather like the superficial socialization to fill the gap and liked being able to go home to escape all of it if I wanted.

Re: I Miss Working from the Office

#314

Post by DoofusOfDeath »

donatj wrote: post #156
WJW wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Humans were never intended Humans were never "intended" to catch deadly respiratory viruses either, but here we are. For that matter, neither were humans "intended" to work on computers. The situation is what it is and it seems naive to expect no changes to our lifestyle when the external circumstances have changed so drastically.

I’m not arguing that we should go back into the office. I’m arguing it’s ok to lament the loss of socialization while working, how you spend most of your time. There’s a pandemic, and I am lonely. I think the comment I was replying to blaming that on me not having good enough friends and family is both pointed and hurtful. I have a wonderful support system, and I am still lonely, particularly during the work day. > H…

My thoughts as well regarding "no intent", if we assume an atheistic world view.

Sometimes when people use language like that, I can't tell if they really mean intent, or just use it as shorthand for evolutionary fit.

Re: I Miss Working from the Office

#315

Post by balfirevic »

ravenstine wrote: post #303

I don't plan on ever going back to the office. HOWEVER, it is possible that a company could entice me to come in to the office, and here's how: - Stop with the ridiculous open office plans - If you have free snacks or a machine with Monster energy drinks, don't get rid of those things a year after instating them - Give my team a budget for tools, like if we need Parallels or Sketch, and make that budget transparent -…

> Get rid of Agile. It doesn't work. All you need is sprints with planning and retrospective, a ticketing system, and a daily status sync through Slack.

What do you think "agile" is?

Re: I Miss Working from the Office

#317

Post by ghaff »

ck425 wrote: post #281
gamesbrainiac wrote: post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> An empty office often isn't any better than WFH for many folk. That is really their problem. You can't force people to come to the office because you want it "hustling and bustling".

We can debate separately if companies should force people back to office. But in this case it is an either or. If the advantage of the office comes from being around your team and colleagues then it very much is an either or between home working or everyone being in the office.

It's not wholly binary--maybe 2 scheduled days a week will work for both many of the people who would just as soon mostly work from home and those who want to be in an office with their team. But, in general, yes. A "you can come into an office if you want" policy is probably not going to be very satisfactory for someone who wants a co-located team and much of their team chooses not to come in most days or even live in the same area.

As I've said before, as this shakes out over the next year or two, I suspect a fair number of people who can do so will end up choosing jobs based on remote policies and how companies operate in practice.

Re: I Miss Working from the Office

#318

Post by falcolas »

petra wrote: post #242
Xevi wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yet it feels very common to see employers buy subpar equipment, because they either don't understand how much of a difference it makes, or it "costs too much" to give every developer higher quality tools. I'm also in the camp of preferring to work from home with my triple high-res monitor setup, good chair, height adjustable table, ergonomic keyboard/mouse, and so on. I dread the day I'll have to go back to the offic…

Why is it so hard to explain to employers the value of using 2 displays ?

I’ve found that it’s because it’s all-but-impossible to quantify in numbers. Secondarily, it’s because the person doing the signoff doesn’t agree with you. You know that person, the one who prefers to work from his laptop on a conference table.

Re: I Miss Working from the Office

#319

Post by balfirevic »

Kye wrote: post #248
tluyben2 wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> impolite While that is true if it's just some singular instance, when living with people (parents, spouses, kids, roommates) it is better to explain it once or twice and after that, just be impolite. Even for the simple reason that they are actually the impolite ones for not respecting your process.

That's great for people living/working with people who have a healthy respect for boundaries, but not everyone has that luxury. Boundary issues are rampant, especially in families.

Boundaries need to be enforced. That's hard to do if you shy too much from being perceived as impolite.

Everyone has a different level of conflict tolerance, of course. But letting someone know that they are being rude and disrespectful should be on the table.

Re: I Miss Working from the Office

#320

Post by abellerose »

I fundamentally believe anyone that wants to return to the office are shills/managers that believe people in seats where they can observe them is the only way they can justify their jobs. I personally would quit my job if I had to return to the office and the reasons have all been repeated by others already. Mainly, the office environment is just worse than what you can setup at home. I personally don't like sitting in an open space around others. I can communicate to whoever I wish by slack or video chat from home. Anyway I'm hopeful this goes on for another year and until I have to find another job if managers get their ill way.
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