I'm one of those people who left a telecommute job to work in an office. The walls definitely closed in on me and I felt increasingly isolated, and I had to get

I'm one of those people who left a telecommute job to work in an office. The walls definitely closed in on me and I felt increasingly isolated, and I had to get out. I think it was when I realized that I was sitting around my apartment for 23+ hours a day that I started looking for a new position. I think there's something inherent in working with people around you that you can't really replicate online. Being able to go over and talk to someone and ask them a question is invaluable when compared to having to message/email someone and wait for them to respond. It took us far longer to get sprint planning done (we were also doing Scrum) over the phone because no one wanted to talk, and that's easier to shrug off when you're at home. There's some level of team building that's missing when you telecommute - you don't go out for lunch with people, or have any sort of real social interaction. Honestly I think it's up to the team/company to help work through those issues. We set up a chat system so we could talk during the day and that did seem to help for awhile, though.