4 ms·
The funny thing is these companies talk about digital connectivity moving to the cloud, editing files in the cloud, video conferencing in the cloud, make social
by rdtsc 9y ago
The funny thing is these companies talk about digital connectivity moving to the cloud, editing files in the cloud, video conferencing in the cloud, make social networks in the cloud, buy things online without leaving your house, watch movies online etc. Everything is online, pretty, efficient, and convenient.
Then they turn right around and tell all their employees to move to the area, then to get in their cars, buses, trains and start commuting to a physical location, in one of the busiest, most expensive city every single day. So that these workers can then sit on chairs in a building and do probably the easiest thing to do with a remote connection -- write code, documents, email, monitor servers.
- softawre 9y agoIf that's really such a waste then where are all the remote-only companies eating everybody's lunch? Has it not yet been long enough since remote working has reached some workable peak?
- rdtsc 9y ago> If that's really such a waste then where are all the remote-only companies eating everybody's lunch? Maybe they are eating it? Facebook, Amazon, and Google just have a very large buffet and it would take a while for them to notice. Heck, I am taking little bytes (pun intended) every day ;-) But seriously, I believe that could be the next revolution in the economy. We had the industrial revolution, the technological one (internet and such). Maybe remote work can be the next one. If it starts happening and large employers start to adopt it, it could change how cities and whole regions evolve.
- davidw 9y agoSomething like that? consume_remote_work(<<Byte:8>>) -> Do_something(Byte); consume_remot_work(<<Byte:8, Rest/binary>>) -> do_something(Byte), consume_remote_work(Rest).
- rdtsc 9y agoExactly! Can even to do it bit by bit if feeling particularly cruel that day.
- abandonliberty 9y agoMany players are already moving in the opposite direction. It doesn't mean that remote is not possible, but that remote is more challenging than colocation. Consider: agile frameworks at their core focus on improving communication, but remote increases the barriers to communication. For humans, online social contact doesn't provide the same benefits as as f2f. It makes depression worse, not better. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4183915/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4183915/ I know someone at Amazon who gets flown halfway around the world over 4 times a year. They're not remote, but a frugal company like amazon decides it's important enough for them to visit headquarters regularly.
- rdtsc 9y agof2f is important greed and there is problem flying someone over 4 times over in year. Heck even more. It's the idea that it has to be the default. I work remotely but when we brainstorm an idea we like to fly to a site and hang around there for a week, white-boarding and socializing afterwards. Timezones make communications harder as well, etc. However I'll take these downsides vs the upsides.
- aswanson 9y agoMaybe they're eating their own lunch. I'd bet if the metric is revenue-per-employee, 37Signals is probably kicking most of the bigger tech companies arses.
- conanbatt 9y ago37Signals does not have a scale worth comparing to.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- jimmydddd 9y agoI would think WordPress is a good example.
- philgoetz 9y agoGoogle and Amazon have, instead of going remote, established branch offices all over the US, in every cool city where hip young non-Republicans live.
- kamaal 9y ago>>Then they turn right around and tell all their employees to move to the area This isn't just a modern phenomenon. Note the whole point of outsourcing was that given how well the world is connected, it barely matters from where you get work done from. But what it is in reality is basically a cost equation. Early IT departments in most companies were considered a back office expense so remote/outsourcing work used to make sense. These days most tech companies have a lot of money, so the cost thing doesn't make sense. Good connectivity was never reason for remote/outsourcing work, so it doesn't matter how good it gets.
- userpass 9y agoBecause that's where the money is. Employees go to SF because that's where the jobs are. Employers go to SF because that's where the investors are.