Why not have startups have their employees work from home? Much simpler and easier to implement solution. I don't have the obsession of wanting to live in a city but I'm aware most people I know who don't have that obsession either still have to because their bosses does not let them work from home. If you only have to come in once a month or less you can live in a region where housing is affordable; I could buy a livable house every 2-3 months in my region. It's not for everyone but it would provide greater quality of life for many and would certainly allow people to own their own houses / land without having the risk of the bank to throw them out no matter what goes wrong (you don't need a mortgage).
Instead you have companies like YCombinator and Facebook requiring people to move into an already overpopulated area to do work that could just as easily be done over the wire.
But technology is no longer a blocker. Often times companies will use this as an excuse instead of just coming out and saying "we prefer asses in seats because it looks good to our bosses".
With regards to remote work technology , we've done pretty poorly:
1. Normal video chat is awful. We can't create eye to eye contact. We can't see body language. It's not very useful to build trust or bonding that way , and this is critical. There might be solutions but they're only availble to very expensive telepresence suits.
2. We haven't managed to create an informal environment via video chat , say like lunch or the water cooler.
3. Working from home requires a lot of self-discipline which is hard . Social face-to-face pressure works better as a motivator for people in general(see battle units) , and it rarely translate well into electrons.
4. Working from home is isolating, and it might be due to limits of the technology.
1. I disagree. You can draw a lot from phone conversations and I've developed a great amount of trust in all the remote employees I work with on a daily basis. Certainly you should meet face to face at least 2-5 times per year (once per quarter seems like a great fit), but it's not a requirement to bond with co-workers.
2. I'm not sure you need informal video chat with co-workers. #random/#ideas channels seem to do just fine.
3. Couldn't disagree more. Working from home requires the same amount of discipline as a location-dictated workplace. The difference is that a remote job is much more enlightening because there's no burden of a commute. You also don't have to put on some fake act for a lousy boss that wants you in the office at a certain time.
4. Again, I completely disagree. It's only isolating if you let it be. Get outside for a hike or a walk. Go to a coffeeshop. Find some friends to grab lunch with. I shouldn't have to point these things out. It's pretty obvious that the only way you'd be isolated is if you deliberately lock yourself in the house and never go outside.
I've worked remotely for two years now and honestly I'd have an extremely difficult time going back to location-dictated employment.
In the past when I had a bit rougher edges I often asked after 30 minutes in a meeting face-to-face why we were in that meeting still; was there anything to discuss we didn't discuss in the first 5 minutes? The answer was almost always no. People with these face-to-face urges and (too long) meeting urges usually just want a break from work (but paid) and/or social interaction. I like that as well, but we have bars & restaurants etc for that, not the office. I rather work flat out (focused and organized) for 4 hours and then take off or go to a bar or take a walk for the 'meeting' instead of loitering in the office for 8 hours and commute for 2.
I haven't worked in an office in 10 years. If I do visit one I find it takes incredible discipline to actually sit down at your desk and work, and not take part in all the water cooler-ing that goes on.
I have made friends with people I have never been ina room with. We talk about the weekend, sports, tell jokes, etc. all over video chat. If you aren't creating that informality, it's the people not the tech.
Also , if you turn the screen/camera 90 degrees , you may be able to capture body language.
With regards to #3/#4 would working in a local communal center, remotely to your job would work ? Is it possible to design some culture that would help with the motivation problem ?
Anyway, it feels like something that deserves a sub forum of it's own, with a community experimenting and sharing, right ?
The illusion of trust is easier to build in person. Actual trust is always damn fucking hard work to create. It doesn't matter the medium through which it occurs.
I have taken online classes. I generally found them better than classes that thought my ass keeping their chair warm was somehow valuable.
It is hard to design a good remote environment, but it is hard to design a good anything.
I agree. There's too much to list, but here a few things to note about remote work:
- You need to hire people that are great self managers. This needs to be clearly communicated to the employee.
- Document everything. The internal wiki is an invaluable tool for a remote company.
- Quarterly team meetings are a requirement. You need some face to face time. Getting together at the beginning of each quarter for one week to plan is a great way to reset every 4 months.
- Send employees random gift packages and swag. This is a great way to make sure people don't fee left out.
It is! A while back, I was talking to a former colleague and pair-programming partner, and he was singing the praises of using desktop sharing software for pairing, even if when in the same room. It reduced the "driver/passenger" effect and made pairing more effective.
Strangely this is not the first time I've heard folks sing the praises of using collaboration tools, even when in the same room. Maybe because headsets and cameras keep you 'in contact' in a way that seems personal, but tones it down below the level of the shared documents. So the work 'volume' is higher than the personalitys'.
They must employ the wrong people (or, more likely, the wrong managers) IMHO. I cannot see how it is vital to sit together every day or even most days of the month. Sure you need it sometimes but so often you need to buy/rent a house 'close' to the office cannot be true. Maybe they are doing something different than the management/development I do?
