3 ms·

Gotta make sure the workers do their work! And also, very important to have useless chit-chat around the coffee machine the whole time, and useless meetings wit

Gotta make sure the workers do their work! And also, very important to have useless chit-chat around the coffee machine the whole time, and useless meetings with managers who have too much time on their hands.

donatj 4y ago
I honestly find the lack of cross-department chitchat an actual problem. When we were in the office I would often strike up a conversation with people from another part of the company, people I had no reason to talk to. I would get an honest idea of their struggles and needs not filtered through corporate meeting grandstanding. It built connections and empathy. I have barely spoken to anyone outside my department since work from home began, and I think that’s a problem. Sure large cross department slack channels exist, but the public performative nature of it just isn’t the same.
- adrian_b 4y ago
  I agree that such unplanned conversations with random colleagues can be very useful. Nevertheless, such conversations normally take just a very small fraction of the time spent in the office. While doing real creative work, I have never seen anyone who doesn't do it better when insulated from their colleagues. I have always worked in places where I wasted at least a couple of hours every day with commuting, and those are certainly not worth 10 or 20 minutes of useful daily conversations with the colleagues. In my opinion, the best would be a hybrid style of work, with 4 days at home and 1 in the office, or at most with 3 days at home and 2 in the office, to have an opportunity for unplanned discussions.
  - walterbell 4y ago
    Planning unplanned discussions is an unsolved problem.
    - erichocean 4y ago
      I dunno, Pixar's headquarters are designed so there's only one central bathroom in a large indoor plaza. Apparently Steve Jobs required it, the plan being to enable "unplanned discussions" to occur.
      - walterbell 4y ago
        Kudos to Jobs' vision. Cafeterias sometimes play a similar role. And places where smokers congregate.
redleader55 4y ago
I find the random coffee machine/water cooler chat very useful. I can run an idea quickly by someone, I can see that others are burned out or tired and take more time to just chat about stuff. Being in the office also allows me to turn to my colleagues and ask for help if I need it. At home there is no way to do that. My wife was also working from home so I'm not alone, but it's not the same when you are a couple, working in different companies. If meetings with managers are bothering you, it means either you have bad managers(they need to justify their time), you have bad culture in your company(big boss needs to see "slavers" working in cubicles) or you don't communicate well asynchronously with the team (managers are forced to get updates live).
- alexdh 4y ago
  I really like that you mentioned working asynchronously. Truly an understated part of remote work (and even in-person work too). The most successful remote work jobs I've worked have had a really healthy balance of async work.

donatj 4y ago

I honestly find the lack of cross-department chitchat an actual problem. When we were in the office I would often strike up a conversation with people from another part of the company, people I had no reason to talk to. I would get an honest idea of their struggles and needs not filtered through corporate meeting grandstanding. It built connections and empathy. I have barely spoken to anyone outside my department since work from home began, and I think that’s a problem. Sure large cross department slack channels exist, but the public performative nature of it just isn’t the same.

adrian_b 4y ago
I agree that such unplanned conversations with random colleagues can be very useful. Nevertheless, such conversations normally take just a very small fraction of the time spent in the office. While doing real creative work, I have never seen anyone who doesn't do it better when insulated from their colleagues. I have always worked in places where I wasted at least a couple of hours every day with commuting, and those are certainly not worth 10 or 20 minutes of useful daily conversations with the colleagues. In my opinion, the best would be a hybrid style of work, with 4 days at home and 1 in the office, or at most with 3 days at home and 2 in the office, to have an opportunity for unplanned discussions.
- walterbell 4y ago
  Planning unplanned discussions is an unsolved problem.
  - erichocean 4y ago
    I dunno, Pixar's headquarters are designed so there's only one central bathroom in a large indoor plaza. Apparently Steve Jobs required it, the plan being to enable "unplanned discussions" to occur.
    - walterbell 4y ago
      Kudos to Jobs' vision. Cafeterias sometimes play a similar role. And places where smokers congregate.

redleader55 4y ago

I find the random coffee machine/water cooler chat very useful. I can run an idea quickly by someone, I can see that others are burned out or tired and take more time to just chat about stuff. Being in the office also allows me to turn to my colleagues and ask for help if I need it. At home there is no way to do that. My wife was also working from home so I'm not alone, but it's not the same when you are a couple, working in different companies. If meetings with managers are bothering you, it means either you have bad managers(they need to justify their time), you have bad culture in your company(big boss needs to see "slavers" working in cubicles) or you don't communicate well asynchronously with the team (managers are forced to get updates live).

alexdh 4y ago
I really like that you mentioned working asynchronously. Truly an understated part of remote work (and even in-person work too). The most successful remote work jobs I've worked have had a really healthy balance of async work.