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I'd prefer to work an environment where I can't get interrupted synchronously by someone wanting their problem resolved that moment. Also, one thing with those

• PragmaticPulp 5y ago
  > I'd prefer to work an environment where I can't get interrupted synchronously by someone wanting their problem resolved that moment. FWIW, I found synchronous interruptions to be more of a problem when remote. Too many people used Slack messages or video calls for everything because it was only a click away, as opposed to having to get up and walk over to someone’s desk > Also, one thing with those in person interactions is you have no artifact of the interaction. Slack or tickets are great for documenting… Slack is terrible for documenting. It needs to be reserved for ephemeral communication. Forcing people to search through Slack archives works when the team is small and company is new, but it becomes useless at scale.
  • scarface74 5y ago
    The difference is when I work remotely, I can quit Slack, block my calendar and do “deep work”.
  • lostcolony 5y ago
    Someone messaging on Slack can be ignored quite easily, without it being rude. If someone is starting a video call with you without arranging a time with you first then I agree you need to get in physical proximity with that person, but only to smack them. Slack is not usefully searchable, true, but its purpose for documentation is not nearly as bad as you make it out to be. If you have a link to the conversation you have the whole conversation; that can be useful to share context. Likewise meetings; being able to record them is HUGE. But either way, you mention Slack should only be used for ephemeral communication...all in person communication is ephemeral. Slack at least has it saved, even if it's a pain to find; in person does not. I can share a Slack link; if you missed it, forgot it, or disagree about what was said, you're out of luck with in person.
  • fasteddie 5y ago
    Especially once you get big enough to require a retention policy and have to delete your years of knowledge repository! Better off documenting separately from the start.
  • heavyset_go 5y ago
    Slack is a poor tool for that job, but that isn't the fault of the remote work.
  • Clubber 5y ago
    >>Also, one thing with those in person interactions is you have no artifact of the interaction. Slack or tickets are great for documenting how decisions are made. >Forcing people to search through Slack archives works when the team is small and company is new, but it becomes useless at scale. The OP was comparing it with someone walking over to his desk to tell him something, which if you are busy and eager to get back to what you were doing, is easy to forget. At least Slack has a record while vibrations in the air have none. He also said Slack or tickets, so you weren't even attempting to refute his actual argument.
  • idontwantthis 5y ago
    I don't understand why people get so upset about slack messages. Do you get berated by your boss if you don't reply immediately? At my company, we send messages when we need help, but the expectation is that the reply comes at the convenience of the person being asked.
    • hunter-gatherer 5y ago
      > I don't understand why people get so upset about slack messages. Do you get berated by your boss if you don't reply immediately? Sort of, yeah.
      • 3np 5y ago
        Sorry to hear that, it sounds stressful. That’s not an issue of Slack, IM, or remote work, though.
      • deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
    • chaps 5y ago
      Yes. When the pandemic started this, a boss berated someone in the main channel for not responding within 5 minutes. Incidentally he accidentally posted porn in the slack.. and never made a deal out of it from then on.
      • throwaway1777 5y ago
        Lmao. Do you actually like working somewhere like that? Why not quit?
        • chaps 5y ago
          I was a freelancer and it was my first gig in the industry. The parent company eventually fired him and in doing so, everyone lost their jobs. True story.
      • quickthrower2 5y ago
  • taylodl 5y ago
    Do you think the Slack interruptions are going to stop when you return to the office? You must not be familiar with how people work.
  • Salgat 5y ago
    Treat your slack messages as a queue, something asynchronous you respond to when you are free. If management forces you to immediately respond to every slack message, then you have a dysfunctional culture that will of course clash with WFH. They should be using something like pagerduty if it's urgent.
• echelon 5y ago
  It's way more than just interruptions, travel, etc. I recently found /r/overemployed [1] on VC Twitter, and a lot of folks are using this setup to work two (or more) jobs. They know that they'll only need to dedicate 4 hours a day to any given job and as long as they can schedule non-overlapping meetings, they can get away with it. It's got me thinking though - this might be an opportunity for startups to knowingly hire less than full time employed engineering staff at a reduced comp rate with low stress / low pressure work. Say, 10-20 hours a week, choose your own hours. You might be able to grab a few MANGA/FAANG folks and get them to work on your project instead of their "110% time" pet project at the giantcorp. It might be an operational advantage. Has anyone looked into this? [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/overemployed https://www.reddit.com/r/overemployed ; the lingo is J2 = "job two", J3, etc.
  • heavyset_go 5y ago
    Plenty of people work more than one job. As long as someone does the work that's expected of them and performs their job duties well, it isn't any employer's business what someone does in their time off.
    • sshumaker 5y ago
      Actually, most tech companies have employment agreements that prevent exactly this sort of behavior. When you are dealing with IP, you don’t want this leaking to a competitor. And when you are a big tech company, almost any other tech company is potentially a competitor.
      • wyclif 5y ago
        IP can be negotiated, though. I've seen it done many times. I've done it myself.
      • heavyset_go 5y ago
        If companies don't want IP leaking, then society provides them plenty of avenues and incentives to prevent that from happening, from NDAs to fines and prison time. If companies don't want employees working for anyone else, then they should compensate those employees for that privilege. They don't own anyone's free time unless they pay for that privilege.
• spike021 5y ago
  >Also, one thing with those in person interactions is you have no artifact of the interaction. Slack or tickets are great for documenting how decisions are made. Not exactly. Some organizations have limits to how long historical chats are stored.
  • blacksmith_tb 5y ago
    True, but still it seems like some records are preferable to no records?
    • spike021 5y ago
      Yep, that's fair. However at that point I'd say anything of note like that should really be recorded somewhere with a more long-term/permanent record, like in a wiki or similar, rather than ephemerally.
• EMM_386 5y ago
  > I do think it's great to meet your coworkers so they're more than faces in Zoom, but I am absolutely never going back to rotting away in a car and office most of my waking week. I feel the same way. I have been remote for over 10 years but prior to that, it was another 10 in an office. That included an hour commute each way, random downtime and interruptions. I honestly have no doubt I am more productive now, given that was "leave at 7 AM get home at 7 PM". There is no way in any given day I am getting less work done in 12 hours than I was then. I will never again go back to bumper-to-bumper traffic on the expressway again, even if we end up in a race-to-the-bottom on salaries. QoL is more important to me now.