I am an employee of a company based in Virginia but work from home in Rochester NY. Been only doing this since last December, but I am loving it and will have a hard time going back to commuting.
Lots of people with prior telecommuting experience warned me about issues like isolation, putting on weight (because of proximity to food) and lack of discipline. Now after telecommuting, I feel that I have none of these issues. I have friends that I play tennis with or meet up occasionally for drinks, and I feel that more than makes up for the lack of social interaction. Regarding food, I used to eat out when I commuted so now I have more control over what I eat being at home. Lack of discipline is a problem only when you see it as a lack of discipline. I have moments when I want to stop work and read HN, do a tutorial etc. This actually helps me getting back to work in an hour or two with fresher focus on the problem.
All in all, I believe remote work is the future. The so-called benefits of an "impromptu technical discussion in the hallway" might seem nice, but in terms of getting things done, it has no advantages over interacting remotely.
Its really a puzzle why more companies don't adopt this.
> All in all, I believe remote work is the future. The so-called benefits of an "impromptu technical discussion in the hallway" might seem nice, but in terms of getting things done, it has no advantages over interacting remotely. Its really a puzzle why more companies don't adopt this.
I'd disagree with this.
As someone who has done both, I find if most of your team works out of one place then the lone remote worker often gets cut out of these impromptu discussions.
When 3 people grab a room and diagram something on a whiteboard it's usually easier to not include the remote worker due to issues, like:
- time zone, the worker may not be working at that moment
- how do you share a vanilla whiteboard in real time
- how does the remote worker "point" to specific parts of a white board to illustrate a point or draw on the white board?
- most people don't want to spend 10 minutes setting up for a 1 minute meeting, hence the remote worker gets dropped.
I'd say working together trumps remote workers for hallway discussions always.
In reality, it is better not to depend on impromptu discussions (meaning not grabbing people to discuss something with as soon as an idea hits you). When a person comes up with an idea and wants to discuss, you are almost always better off notifying people you want to get together with and set up a time. This will have the added advantage of not disturbing the flow of the other person, as well as give you sometime to re-iterate over exactly what you want to discuss. In that case, a remote worker will most likely be factored in.
Also, I was talking about the case where ALL employees in IT are remote and not just some of them. In that model, you all adjust to working in a virtual environment, highlighting actions that maximize interaction and minimizing those that dont.
Lots of people with prior telecommuting experience warned me about issues like isolation, putting on weight (because of proximity to food) and lack of discipline. Now after telecommuting, I feel that I have none of these issues. I have friends that I play tennis with or meet up occasionally for drinks, and I feel that more than makes up for the lack of social interaction. Regarding food, I used to eat out when I commuted so now I have more control over what I eat being at home. Lack of discipline is a problem only when you see it as a lack of discipline. I have moments when I want to stop work and read HN, do a tutorial etc. This actually helps me getting back to work in an hour or two with fresher focus on the problem.
All in all, I believe remote work is the future. The so-called benefits of an "impromptu technical discussion in the hallway" might seem nice, but in terms of getting things done, it has no advantages over interacting remotely. Its really a puzzle why more companies don't adopt this.