3 ms·

Writing software remotely works out great with things like version control, ticket managing systems, chat and screen sharing/video conferencing. I wonder what i

Writing software remotely works out great with things like version control, ticket managing systems, chat and screen sharing/video conferencing. I wonder what industries struggle to be efficient remote. I know the designers at my current company have said they have a hard time collaborating remote compared to in person. I wonder if it’s a culture issue or a lack of tooling. There might be some money making ideas there.

systematical 8y ago
Works well nearly as well as in person. But I do notice how its easier to explain things to non-technical departments when I am onsite. Call-centers are another industry that can be entirely remote.
humblebee 8y ago
I work remotely, as does pretty much my entire company. Some of the biggest issues we have due to remote work is communication tools. I haven't found a tool that can replace the ease of communicating with a large number of people in the same room when having a collaborative discussion. I think the issue is largely due to latency. It's take a lot of practice to understand how to communicate effectively using video conferencing software. Another issue is team building / comradery. I don't know my current coworkers nearly as well as I've been able to know coworkers from previous companies I've worked with. When remote you don't get to go to lunch, grab coffee or a beer with your coworkers. We do travel a lot to meet up, but I still only see people I work with closely when doing so. As the company grows it's much more difficult to even begin to meet everyone in the company which is much easier when in and office because everyday you can bump into someone different. We've tried to solve this to some extent through randomly pairing two people every two weeks to schedule a short 15 minute meeting. However the scheduling itself is not automated and it's not always easy to schedule time due to lack of proper calendaring software and distributed share calendars. This is definitely something that could be solved but it's just another challenge of working remotely.

systematical 8y ago

Works well nearly as well as in person. But I do notice how its easier to explain things to non-technical departments when I am onsite. Call-centers are another industry that can be entirely remote.

humblebee 8y ago

I work remotely, as does pretty much my entire company. Some of the biggest issues we have due to remote work is communication tools. I haven't found a tool that can replace the ease of communicating with a large number of people in the same room when having a collaborative discussion. I think the issue is largely due to latency. It's take a lot of practice to understand how to communicate effectively using video conferencing software. Another issue is team building / comradery. I don't know my current coworkers nearly as well as I've been able to know coworkers from previous companies I've worked with. When remote you don't get to go to lunch, grab coffee or a beer with your coworkers. We do travel a lot to meet up, but I still only see people I work with closely when doing so. As the company grows it's much more difficult to even begin to meet everyone in the company which is much easier when in and office because everyday you can bump into someone different. We've tried to solve this to some extent through randomly pairing two people every two weeks to schedule a short 15 minute meeting. However the scheduling itself is not automated and it's not always easy to schedule time due to lack of proper calendaring software and distributed share calendars. This is definitely something that could be solved but it's just another challenge of working remotely.