3 ms·

If we don't come to the office, then the communists win! We must somehow pull people back into the office. Even if we can't find people to hire, we must do that

by rnk 4y ago

If we don't come to the office, then the communists win! We must somehow pull people back into the office. Even if we can't find people to hire, we must do that. There are lots of companies that are pushing this view. In reality, I think for beginning people coming to the office does help them get started, if there are people to work with them. For experienced people it's not as clear. I'm happy to work from home the past few years, and I can't see working in an office again.

000ooo000 4y ago
I actually don't mind being in the office if the purpose of being in the office is to talk to my coworkers about interesting problems/solutions or to commiserate about how business daddy has done xyz BS. Can't beat that for building rapport. But the idea that my sitting in a building owned by the company while being expected to operate at my most productive in an open office, full of distractions, and this somehow increases collaboration just by virtue of being near other people physically? That seems like a very shallow assessment of things. I've 'collaborated' and built really solid rapport remotely just by working together on something on a call informally, talking shit and having a laugh. It almost becomes like gaming online, and funnily enough I now game with some of these people. The moment collaboration becomes mandated is when it all starts feeling fake and I dunno about you, reader, but fake shit repulses me. I think, ideally, most people want to do good work, want to improve things, and want to work as a team or in some social context. Maybe not always. The space and trust to do good work with people you enjoy working with is key; being physically near them is unrelated IMO. Of course asking for space and trust as a developer working under Agile is a bit of a joke. But I totally agree with what you said about new starters. It can be disorienting and alienating if you aren't given the support, and anxiety inducing if you focus on how they might be evaluating your performance. Do I have a question quota before they sack me for bring too needy? This is kind of relevant to me because I've been working in a fully remote company for a few months now, and the people are mostly nice, but their culture building is super fake. I get dished bite-size tickets, my initiatives are all shutdown (go work on the backlog), and there's so far no opportunity for working together outside of code review. What good is Virtual Coffee on Friday if I have no rapport with the people I work with? You think a few canned questions about the weather and the weekend build rapport? It's laughable. Anyway I'm ranting because I've had enough of this job.

by rnk 4y ago

000ooo000 4y ago

I actually don't mind being in the office if the purpose of being in the office is to talk to my coworkers about interesting problems/solutions or to commiserate about how business daddy has done xyz BS. Can't beat that for building rapport. But the idea that my sitting in a building owned by the company while being expected to operate at my most productive in an open office, full of distractions, and this somehow increases collaboration just by virtue of being near other people physically? That seems like a very shallow assessment of things. I've 'collaborated' and built really solid rapport remotely just by working together on something on a call informally, talking shit and having a laugh. It almost becomes like gaming online, and funnily enough I now game with some of these people. The moment collaboration becomes mandated is when it all starts feeling fake and I dunno about you, reader, but fake shit repulses me. I think, ideally, most people want to do good work, want to improve things, and want to work as a team or in some social context. Maybe not always. The space and trust to do good work with people you enjoy working with is key; being physically near them is unrelated IMO. Of course asking for space and trust as a developer working under Agile is a bit of a joke. But I totally agree with what you said about new starters. It can be disorienting and alienating if you aren't given the support, and anxiety inducing if you focus on how they might be evaluating your performance. Do I have a question quota before they sack me for bring too needy? This is kind of relevant to me because I've been working in a fully remote company for a few months now, and the people are mostly nice, but their culture building is super fake. I get dished bite-size tickets, my initiatives are all shutdown (go work on the backlog), and there's so far no opportunity for working together outside of code review. What good is Virtual Coffee on Friday if I have no rapport with the people I work with? You think a few canned questions about the weather and the weekend build rapport? It's laughable. Anyway I'm ranting because I've had enough of this job.