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> “We believe the data shows the shift to remote work, though abrupt, has been successful overall,” the company said in a blog post at the time. “... In our int

> “We believe the data shows the shift to remote work, though abrupt, has been successful overall,” the company said in a blog post at the time. “... In our internal surveys most employees say they’re able to be productive at home (nearly 90%) and don’t want to return to a rigid five-day in-office workweek.” It's funny that we needed a pandemic to let a bunch of techy, smart people know that "typing in front of a keyboard can happen anywhere." I guess a huge part of management thinks if they can "watch" the bodies of their employees arrive to an office be on time and not blatantly text and watch YouTube at their desks, huge rents and overhead will be worth it. Why did we need a pandemic to let people know that remote working isn't really a big deal?

nzmsv 6y ago
I thought you just answered that question in the preceding paragraph? :) At my workplace the founder was staunchly anti-remote. Something about discipline and hallway conversations being necessary for creativity. Mostly discipline. It really did take a pandemic to prove to people like him that remote work works. The execs sounded genuinely surprised in their Zoom presentations about engineering still hitting all the targets like nothing happened. Realistically speaking, even before the pandemic deep work could only happen when people got away from the open plan office. Some would come in or leave at odd hours. Others would work late from home and roll into the office closer to lunchtime. Others still hunted for empty conference rooms. Communication is important but it is realistically needed only about 20% of the time.
- DaedPsyker 6y ago
  Hasn't there been some research into open office plans causing negative social issues, noise, anxiety, distraction etc? Thankfully for my work the open office was used amongst tight nit groups, but for large companies or teams I'd think I'd hate it.
Spivak 6y ago
Because when you have a wide-scale every-company experiment like this it immediately squashes any counter argument like “well our company is different because $silly_reason.” For me having an office available is nice for when I need a change of scenery but I think it would genuinely be cheaper for our company to just pay for daily passes at a coworking space than the rent for our building.
- bluefirebrand 6y ago
  Am I the only one who finds that coworking spaces kinda suck? They're all of the problems I have with open office dialed up to 10.
  - jameshush 6y ago
    They do kinda suck, but it’s better than 10 people working in a 3 bedroom apartment (which I also did in my early 20’s). Coworking spaces are a good “in between” step. My current company is fully distributed but four of us live in Taipei so we rent a coworking space. It’s optional to come but there’s always at least three of us there.
rkwasny 6y ago
I wonder how this will impact startup scene, most projects start with few people having a discussion over a beer about an interesting topic.
- jasonjei 6y ago
  I’ve also heard that a lot of startups happened via side projects (often from WFM or on the side at work)
- redis_mlc 6y ago
  > most projects start with few people having a discussion over a beer about an interesting topic. What city are you talking about? SV doesn't have a beer culture, so it's not here.
EdwinLarkin 6y ago
There is a huge difference between having to work from home and having the option to work from home. I prefer the latter. I really like going to the office and also loved my commute. Being at home 24/7 feels like I am working all the time.
- bagacrap 6y ago
  never heard anyone claim to love their commute, but luckily working from home doesn't prevent you from going for a recreational walk/train ride/drive to make up for the lost commute
  - tweetle_beetle 6y ago
    I have had times when a commute was kind of invigorating - walking through bustling streets flaneur-like, or getting the heart rate up on a bike (even in the pouring rain), or listening to something while the world rolls by on a bus. Being around people gives me a kind of energy. When it's good, it bookends the working day nicely. And I'm currently missing that positive experience having been forced to work from home for a year. Personally, finding the motivation to recreate this every day is extremely difficult. I would, however, never willingly go back to a long commute on my own in a car on main roads. I found it soulless and depressing.
otabdeveloper4 6y ago
Don't speak in absolutes. The pandemic proved to me that remote work does not work. Or, rather, it works when employees have a home office and set office hours. Which most people don't. And it only takes one team member to ruin productivity for everyone. In other words, remote work only works when you can force your employees to pay for office space out of pocket. Maybe Dropbox can do that; I certainly can't. (Or maybe productivity for Dropbox employees was already close to zero so any change is imperceptible; it's a fact that many companies don't hire developers to actually make stuff, they hire them so they don't make stuff for competitors. Maybe Dropbox is that sort of company.)

nzmsv 6y ago

I thought you just answered that question in the preceding paragraph? :) At my workplace the founder was staunchly anti-remote. Something about discipline and hallway conversations being necessary for creativity. Mostly discipline. It really did take a pandemic to prove to people like him that remote work works. The execs sounded genuinely surprised in their Zoom presentations about engineering still hitting all the targets like nothing happened. Realistically speaking, even before the pandemic deep work could only happen when people got away from the open plan office. Some would come in or leave at odd hours. Others would work late from home and roll into the office closer to lunchtime. Others still hunted for empty conference rooms. Communication is important but it is realistically needed only about 20% of the time.

DaedPsyker 6y ago
Hasn't there been some research into open office plans causing negative social issues, noise, anxiety, distraction etc? Thankfully for my work the open office was used amongst tight nit groups, but for large companies or teams I'd think I'd hate it.

Spivak 6y ago

Because when you have a wide-scale every-company experiment like this it immediately squashes any counter argument like “well our company is different because $silly_reason.” For me having an office available is nice for when I need a change of scenery but I think it would genuinely be cheaper for our company to just pay for daily passes at a coworking space than the rent for our building.

bluefirebrand 6y ago
Am I the only one who finds that coworking spaces kinda suck? They're all of the problems I have with open office dialed up to 10.
- jameshush 6y ago
  They do kinda suck, but it’s better than 10 people working in a 3 bedroom apartment (which I also did in my early 20’s). Coworking spaces are a good “in between” step. My current company is fully distributed but four of us live in Taipei so we rent a coworking space. It’s optional to come but there’s always at least three of us there.

rkwasny 6y ago

I wonder how this will impact startup scene, most projects start with few people having a discussion over a beer about an interesting topic.

jasonjei 6y ago
I’ve also heard that a lot of startups happened via side projects (often from WFM or on the side at work)
redis_mlc 6y ago
> most projects start with few people having a discussion over a beer about an interesting topic. What city are you talking about? SV doesn't have a beer culture, so it's not here.

EdwinLarkin 6y ago

There is a huge difference between having to work from home and having the option to work from home. I prefer the latter. I really like going to the office and also loved my commute. Being at home 24/7 feels like I am working all the time.

bagacrap 6y ago
never heard anyone claim to love their commute, but luckily working from home doesn't prevent you from going for a recreational walk/train ride/drive to make up for the lost commute
- tweetle_beetle 6y ago
  I have had times when a commute was kind of invigorating - walking through bustling streets flaneur-like, or getting the heart rate up on a bike (even in the pouring rain), or listening to something while the world rolls by on a bus. Being around people gives me a kind of energy. When it's good, it bookends the working day nicely. And I'm currently missing that positive experience having been forced to work from home for a year. Personally, finding the motivation to recreate this every day is extremely difficult. I would, however, never willingly go back to a long commute on my own in a car on main roads. I found it soulless and depressing.

otabdeveloper4 6y ago

Don't speak in absolutes. The pandemic proved to me that remote work does not work. Or, rather, it works when employees have a home office and set office hours. Which most people don't. And it only takes one team member to ruin productivity for everyone. In other words, remote work only works when you can force your employees to pay for office space out of pocket. Maybe Dropbox can do that; I certainly can't. (Or maybe productivity for Dropbox employees was already close to zero so any change is imperceptible; it's a fact that many companies don't hire developers to actually make stuff, they hire them so they don't make stuff for competitors. Maybe Dropbox is that sort of company.)