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I've read this comment like 10 times in the last hour. I get what you're saying, but it misses the point, I think. >entry-level roles. >used to flex hours, an

I've read this comment like 10 times in the last hour. I get what you're saying, but it misses the point, I think. >entry-level roles. >used to flex hours, and the ability to remotely (including WFH), that we forget that for many others, it's novel. That's the point of management and leadership. You take new people and make sure they have what they need to get the job done. For most people, that 'what they need' is a literal statement of "I know you have access to beer, and I know you just graduated college, but don't get hammered on company time" or "I know you're 22, but flex hours means your work still gets done". If you don't say it out loud, and assume people will pick it up via osmosis, you're a bad leader. >bosses thrust into this new paradigm of working haven't necessarily picked up the skill sets to effectively manage remote As someone who has never worked remotely, and manages a team very much focused on human interaction (higher ed), and who is now 100% remote, I need to know what you mean by this. Other than needing to automatically over-communicate everything (by my definition), how is remote different than in-person?

balls187 7y ago
> If you don't say it out loud, and assume people will pick it up via osmosis, you're a bad leader. To some extent, I agree, though it largely depends on the role. Setting expectations clearly is important as a leader, as is providing clear, timely feedback when expectations aren't met. In college, it's a wake up call to students, because professors do not provide followup the way grade school teachers do. You are given your work and expected to turn it in. For engineers, it's largely as you said--you're an adult. Act like an adult. If you're getting hammered on company time, we'll have a discussion about it, and why it's happening. On the flip-side, I had a house-hold employee who dressed completely inappropriately for her job. I wrote her up about it and sent her information (guidelines) around appropriate dress code for her role. > How is remote different than in-person? Physical presence can correlate with productivity. That may be the sole signal that triggers a boss to look at actual productivity metrics. There are other approximations, such as responsiveness to communications (email, slack etc) as well. But I posit the leaders who are spying on employees have trained their intuition to be based on physical presence. Without that, they're scared. I follow the model that the team owns their deliverables, and delivery dates, with input from me. I advocate shorter deliverables or checkpoints to uncover issues with estimates sooner, but ultimately leave it up to the team to execute. If something isn't delivered on time, I as a leader address the underlying causes. My philosophy as a boss is "You have a lot of flexibility. Just get your work done when you say you will." And not everyone has the maturity to work in such an environment. I hope that explains my feelings more clearly.

balls187 7y ago

> If you don't say it out loud, and assume people will pick it up via osmosis, you're a bad leader. To some extent, I agree, though it largely depends on the role. Setting expectations clearly is important as a leader, as is providing clear, timely feedback when expectations aren't met. In college, it's a wake up call to students, because professors do not provide followup the way grade school teachers do. You are given your work and expected to turn it in. For engineers, it's largely as you said--you're an adult. Act like an adult. If you're getting hammered on company time, we'll have a discussion about it, and why it's happening. On the flip-side, I had a house-hold employee who dressed completely inappropriately for her job. I wrote her up about it and sent her information (guidelines) around appropriate dress code for her role. > How is remote different than in-person? Physical presence can correlate with productivity. That may be the sole signal that triggers a boss to look at actual productivity metrics. There are other approximations, such as responsiveness to communications (email, slack etc) as well. But I posit the leaders who are spying on employees have trained their intuition to be based on physical presence. Without that, they're scared. I follow the model that the team owns their deliverables, and delivery dates, with input from me. I advocate shorter deliverables or checkpoints to uncover issues with estimates sooner, but ultimately leave it up to the team to execute. If something isn't delivered on time, I as a leader address the underlying causes. My philosophy as a boss is "You have a lot of flexibility. Just get your work done when you say you will." And not everyone has the maturity to work in such an environment. I hope that explains my feelings more clearly.