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I'm a remote worker and I'm sure it's occasionally a pain that I'm at the gym, or sleeping, or otherwise not responding on Slack or whatever. However, like man

by biztos 9y ago

I'm a remote worker and I'm sure it's occasionally a pain that I'm at the gym, or sleeping, or otherwise not responding on Slack or whatever. However, like many remote workers I work in a distributed team across several time zones. So it's not just "he goes to the gym in the afternoon," it's more like one person leaves the office in one time zone in order to beat the traffic jams, while another person in another time zone has to pick his daughter up from school, another in a third time zone gets up really early but can't do night calls because of family life, and so on. Slightly wonky schedules actually give us more coverage in case of crises, and the only way we could ever line everybody up for the same work hours would be to fire half the team. We manage it all pretty well by scheduling our meetings in advance, not being afraid to pick up the phone, taking ownership of our work, and having senior people in different zones who can help fix urgent problems. (However I totally agree with the "need for trust" comment above. I worked locally before going remote in this job, and also in two of the three other remote jobs I had in the past.)

CydeWeys 9y ago
Distributed teams across multiple timezones is a bit of a different situation though; you're naturally going to be more asynchronous there, and the team structure will be different. All of my experience with remote coworkers has been on collocated teams with the occasional remote worker in the same timezone. I don't have any interest in being on a fully distributed team; I like being physically present with my coworkers and I tend to get depressed ("cabin fever") if I'm alone all day every day. I realize that that might work for others, but it doesn't work for me, so I'd never do it.
- disc_magnum 9y ago
  > I tend to get depressed ("cabin fever") if I'm alone all day every day I think we found your problem
  - CydeWeys 9y ago
    Humans are social animals. It's not just "my" problem, it's "most people's" problem.
    - khedoros1 9y ago
      I see you being downvoted, but I don't get it. I actually work in the office, with 3 teammates nominally there too, but often working remotely, so I spend 2/3 of my days without any of my team around. Even the other teams around me are often out traveling, and I'll be the one tripping the motion sensor to turn on the lights at 9 or 10 in the morning. It's not comfortable for me as an almost-every-day thing.
      - CydeWeys 9y ago
        Too many people think that what works for them must be ideal, and should work for everyone. I honestly think that most people will not thrive in a fully remote, work-from-home environment.
        dasmoth 9y ago
        Too many people think that what works for them must be ideal, and should work for everyone. Agreed. I honestly think that most people will not thrive in a fully remote, work-from-home environment. That may well be true. But there's clearly a non-negligible group that swing very much the opposite way. What we're looking for is flexibility, not one-size-fits-all.
        CydeWeys 9y ago
        > What we're looking for is flexibility, not one-size-fits-all. And yet people look at me like I have a third eye sometimes (including several posts up in this exact thread) just because I, like many people, don't like working from home.
        dasmoth 9y ago
        I can certainly understand that preference, even though I don't share it. I will, however, say that, when phrases like "humans are social animals" get deployed, it's quite easy to read them as implied criticism of those of us who need substantial amounts of time alone.
- ncallaway 9y ago
  We run an entirely remote company, and the cabin fever is definitely a real concern. If you ever have to be a remote worker in the future, I'd highly recommend getting a co-working space as it really helps fulfill a ton of those social needs. Your employer might even pay for some (or all) of the costs associated.
  - CydeWeys 9y ago
    That's definitely the only way I would ever consider being remote full-time. Though at that point you're still working in an office, just not with your coworkers, so it's still inferior to on-site working in many respects. The biggest advantage I suppose is you can do it from a low CoL area.
    - ncallaway 9y ago
      I think the other advantage is it totally separate any concept of "butts in chair hours". Nobody in a coworking space is going to quietly judge you if you leave at 1pm, which would be more of a concern at an on-site location. A co-working space gives you the option to have a social work space, but you get to choose each day (and even each hour) if that's what you want. I think they other advantage is in a commute. You have many more options about where you want to be co-working than you do about where your company's location is. If your company is across town from you residence, and you have an hour commute you could find a co-working space that is closer to home.
  - biztos 9y ago
    Do you have any other strategies against cabin-fever? I've tried co-working but once you add in your own chair and monitor (ergonomics) and eavesdropping-proof location (security) and taking the laptop home at night (security) and on top of all that having a commute again, it's kind of a pain. I will probably eventually rent my own office (at my own expense) near where some friends work, but that's a pretty expensive way to guarantee social interactions. I'd be curious what else you've come up with.
    - bcostlow 9y ago
- biztos 9y ago
  Cabin fever is definitely a risk. I'm quite comfortable working remotely and we have a few others doing it on the team (mostly senior tech people) but most of the team is in one of the various offices. My preference would be to go to the office and be with my colleagues 2-3 days a week, and work from a home office the other days. We have some people who do that. But all the offices with direct colleagues are at least a 12-hour flight away from me, and I like where I live, so I have to just deal. If I ever find myself leading a remote-first team I would make it a priority to have good strategies against isolation.

by biztos 9y ago

CydeWeys 9y ago

Distributed teams across multiple timezones is a bit of a different situation though; you're naturally going to be more asynchronous there, and the team structure will be different. All of my experience with remote coworkers has been on collocated teams with the occasional remote worker in the same timezone. I don't have any interest in being on a fully distributed team; I like being physically present with my coworkers and I tend to get depressed ("cabin fever") if I'm alone all day every day. I realize that that might work for others, but it doesn't work for me, so I'd never do it.

disc_magnum 9y ago
> I tend to get depressed ("cabin fever") if I'm alone all day every day I think we found your problem
- CydeWeys 9y ago
  Humans are social animals. It's not just "my" problem, it's "most people's" problem.
  - khedoros1 9y ago
    I see you being downvoted, but I don't get it. I actually work in the office, with 3 teammates nominally there too, but often working remotely, so I spend 2/3 of my days without any of my team around. Even the other teams around me are often out traveling, and I'll be the one tripping the motion sensor to turn on the lights at 9 or 10 in the morning. It's not comfortable for me as an almost-every-day thing.
    - CydeWeys 9y ago
      Too many people think that what works for them must be ideal, and should work for everyone. I honestly think that most people will not thrive in a fully remote, work-from-home environment.
      - dasmoth 9y ago
        Too many people think that what works for them must be ideal, and should work for everyone. Agreed. I honestly think that most people will not thrive in a fully remote, work-from-home environment. That may well be true. But there's clearly a non-negligible group that swing very much the opposite way. What we're looking for is flexibility, not one-size-fits-all.
        CydeWeys 9y ago
        > What we're looking for is flexibility, not one-size-fits-all. And yet people look at me like I have a third eye sometimes (including several posts up in this exact thread) just because I, like many people, don't like working from home.
        dasmoth 9y ago
        I can certainly understand that preference, even though I don't share it. I will, however, say that, when phrases like "humans are social animals" get deployed, it's quite easy to read them as implied criticism of those of us who need substantial amounts of time alone.
ncallaway 9y ago
We run an entirely remote company, and the cabin fever is definitely a real concern. If you ever have to be a remote worker in the future, I'd highly recommend getting a co-working space as it really helps fulfill a ton of those social needs. Your employer might even pay for some (or all) of the costs associated.
- CydeWeys 9y ago
  That's definitely the only way I would ever consider being remote full-time. Though at that point you're still working in an office, just not with your coworkers, so it's still inferior to on-site working in many respects. The biggest advantage I suppose is you can do it from a low CoL area.
  - ncallaway 9y ago
    I think the other advantage is it totally separate any concept of "butts in chair hours". Nobody in a coworking space is going to quietly judge you if you leave at 1pm, which would be more of a concern at an on-site location. A co-working space gives you the option to have a social work space, but you get to choose each day (and even each hour) if that's what you want. I think they other advantage is in a commute. You have many more options about where you want to be co-working than you do about where your company's location is. If your company is across town from you residence, and you have an hour commute you could find a co-working space that is closer to home.
- biztos 9y ago
  Do you have any other strategies against cabin-fever? I've tried co-working but once you add in your own chair and monitor (ergonomics) and eavesdropping-proof location (security) and taking the laptop home at night (security) and on top of all that having a commute again, it's kind of a pain. I will probably eventually rent my own office (at my own expense) near where some friends work, but that's a pretty expensive way to guarantee social interactions. I'd be curious what else you've come up with.
  - bcostlow 9y ago
biztos 9y ago
Cabin fever is definitely a risk. I'm quite comfortable working remotely and we have a few others doing it on the team (mostly senior tech people) but most of the team is in one of the various offices. My preference would be to go to the office and be with my colleagues 2-3 days a week, and work from a home office the other days. We have some people who do that. But all the offices with direct colleagues are at least a 12-hour flight away from me, and I like where I live, so I have to just deal. If I ever find myself leading a remote-first team I would make it a priority to have good strategies against isolation.