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The answer for software companies in particular seems obvious to me: remote work. I think that for the kind of work we do, in-person communication and synchrono

The answer for software companies in particular seems obvious to me: remote work. I think that for the kind of work we do, in-person communication and synchronous collaboration are over-rated. I hope that the next generation of programmers will all have the freedom to stay in their home towns rather than having to congregate in a few cities, thus driving up costs. I know that this change requires a major culture shift, though.

taurath 8y ago
Execs don’t go for it. That’s the primary reason it’s not been done at large scale companies - you do get better control and coordination in person, but not so much better that it outweighs the economics (IMO)
afarrell 8y ago
Remote work is harder for entry-level workers just out of university who haven't yet learned the communication skills needed to be effective working remotely. At least, this is my own particular experience. It took me years to learn how to ask good questions. Before, I would either: 1) When I ran into something that seemed frustrating or inefficient, I would assume that the task was just difficult and I needed to put my head down and slog through it. 2) Ask broad questions to try and build a mental model that would let me work more efficiently and know what to focus on, hear the feedback "you're trying to understand the universe", and think that meant I should stop asking questions and just keep punching. It was only at my current employer (where everyone is in the same office and my tech lead and I could have in-person 1-on-1s) that I got feedback on how to be more specific and contextual in my questions.
- mwcampbell 8y ago
  > my tech lead and I could have in-person 1-on-1s Do you think it matters that they were in-person? The fact that you called them 1-on-1s implies dedicated chunks of time for direct communication. Would they not have worked just as well over VoIP? Did you have to schedule time for 1-on-1s in the office, or was it more spontaneous? FWIW, I'm visually impaired, and I spent most of my career so far on a distributed team where the same was true of my boss and most of my coworkers. So maybe there's some aspect of in-person communication that we're just used to doing without. Edit: Then again, remote work _is_ on the rise in the wider software industry.
  - afarrell 8y ago
    > Do you think it matters that they were in-person? yes. I wish I had an explicit enough understanding that I could give you a solid explanation of why I believe this, but I don't.

taurath 8y ago

Execs don’t go for it. That’s the primary reason it’s not been done at large scale companies - you do get better control and coordination in person, but not so much better that it outweighs the economics (IMO)

afarrell 8y ago

Remote work is harder for entry-level workers just out of university who haven't yet learned the communication skills needed to be effective working remotely. At least, this is my own particular experience. It took me years to learn how to ask good questions. Before, I would either: 1) When I ran into something that seemed frustrating or inefficient, I would assume that the task was just difficult and I needed to put my head down and slog through it. 2) Ask broad questions to try and build a mental model that would let me work more efficiently and know what to focus on, hear the feedback "you're trying to understand the universe", and think that meant I should stop asking questions and just keep punching. It was only at my current employer (where everyone is in the same office and my tech lead and I could have in-person 1-on-1s) that I got feedback on how to be more specific and contextual in my questions.

mwcampbell 8y ago
> my tech lead and I could have in-person 1-on-1s Do you think it matters that they were in-person? The fact that you called them 1-on-1s implies dedicated chunks of time for direct communication. Would they not have worked just as well over VoIP? Did you have to schedule time for 1-on-1s in the office, or was it more spontaneous? FWIW, I'm visually impaired, and I spent most of my career so far on a distributed team where the same was true of my boss and most of my coworkers. So maybe there's some aspect of in-person communication that we're just used to doing without. Edit: Then again, remote work _is_ on the rise in the wider software industry.
- afarrell 8y ago
  > Do you think it matters that they were in-person? yes. I wish I had an explicit enough understanding that I could give you a solid explanation of why I believe this, but I don't.