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Companies have to be serious about a culture of remote work for this to happen. That means including the remote workers in all of the meetings, code reviews, et

Companies have to be serious about a culture of remote work for this to happen. That means including the remote workers in all of the meetings, code reviews, etc. It means making a conscious effort to include the remote employees even when doing so is a pain for the onsite employees. Otherwise the remote employees become second-class citizens and miss out on a lot of what is going on. For that reason, I think remote-only companies are probably easier to run than companies with a mix of remote and onsite workers -- at remote-only companies, it's not possible to intentionally or accidentally exclude the remote workers from things they ought to be involved in. Also for that reason, adding a culture of remote work to the kind of company where any onsite employees can grab a room and start whiteboarding stuff is going to be very difficult.

maxxxxx 9y ago
From my experience a mix within a team won't work well. You can have either remote-only or onsite-only teams. Both need a chunk of work where they can make autonomous decisions. Same for offshoring teams. Give them work they can finish without having to coordinate too much with the onsite people.
ravenstine 9y ago
Not to say anyone here is wrong, but I'll weigh in with my experience, which is success with a team that was a mix of remote and on-site. Maybe it was just a unicorn, but it worked quite well. The downside to that, though, is the remote workers have to be prepared to feel a certain amount of disconnection from the rest of the team who are probably having lunches together and group activities that leave out those who aren't physically present. Otherwise, I think it ultimately comes down to how the team and the leaders of the organization view the remote employees – not as synonymous with freelance "techies" working in their underwear, but playing on the same field as everyone else and having as much value to bring despite not having their butt placed in a specific chair.
RestlessMind 9y ago
> That means including the remote workers in all of the meetings, code reviews, etc. That also assumes that everyone is in the same time zone (+/- a few hours). How would that work when someone in Europe / Asia is working with colleagues in the USA? Even collaborating between east coast and west coast colleagues get harder because you only have 9-9:30 - 2:30-3 PST window, which is then consumed by lunch etc. > Also for that reason, adding a culture of remote work to the kind of company where any onsite employees can grab a room and start whiteboarding stuff is going to be very difficult. Absolutely agree with this one.

maxxxxx 9y ago

From my experience a mix within a team won't work well. You can have either remote-only or onsite-only teams. Both need a chunk of work where they can make autonomous decisions. Same for offshoring teams. Give them work they can finish without having to coordinate too much with the onsite people.

ravenstine 9y ago

Not to say anyone here is wrong, but I'll weigh in with my experience, which is success with a team that was a mix of remote and on-site. Maybe it was just a unicorn, but it worked quite well. The downside to that, though, is the remote workers have to be prepared to feel a certain amount of disconnection from the rest of the team who are probably having lunches together and group activities that leave out those who aren't physically present. Otherwise, I think it ultimately comes down to how the team and the leaders of the organization view the remote employees – not as synonymous with freelance "techies" working in their underwear, but playing on the same field as everyone else and having as much value to bring despite not having their butt placed in a specific chair.

RestlessMind 9y ago

> That means including the remote workers in all of the meetings, code reviews, etc. That also assumes that everyone is in the same time zone (+/- a few hours). How would that work when someone in Europe / Asia is working with colleagues in the USA? Even collaborating between east coast and west coast colleagues get harder because you only have 9-9:30 - 2:30-3 PST window, which is then consumed by lunch etc. > Also for that reason, adding a culture of remote work to the kind of company where any onsite employees can grab a room and start whiteboarding stuff is going to be very difficult. Absolutely agree with this one.