I'm a developer and I'd agree that debating becomes harder. Even worse, what's missing is the cross pollination of ideas that happens naturally in an office whe

I'm a developer and I'd agree that debating becomes harder. Even worse, what's missing is the cross pollination of ideas that happens naturally in an office when people overhear conversations. You don't just overhear a conversation on Skype and chime in. A lot of bad ideas are stopped in their tracks this way, and a lot of debates can gain valuable perspective this way. However saying there's no positive effect is stupid as well. I tend to be able to work more hours since it's easier to go running in my lunch time, I save the commute time so I'm less stressed arriving at work, I can concentrate on my work better since there's less office chatter (the opposite side of the benefit above). So like everything it has positive and negative effects. But yes, maybe there are too many middle managers that are twiddling their thumbs now. They probably didn't do much before either, but they felt like they were contributing, and this feeling has gone away.