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The full quote is a bit narrower than the title implies; > "I think definitely one of the tech industry's worst mistakes in a long time was that everybody coul

The full quote is a bit narrower than the title implies; > "I think definitely one of the tech industry's worst mistakes in a long time was that everybody could go full remote forever, and startups didn't need to be together in person and, you know, there was going to be no loss of creativity,” he told attendees. "I would say that the experiment on that is over, and the technology is not yet good enough that people can be full remote forever, particularly on startups." There are two points here - firstly he's talking about 'full remote' so hybrid work is still on the table, and secondly he's talking mostly about startups rather than established companies. With those caveats in mind what he says is a lot less controversial. But still a little. Where it's disappointing (to me) is that it seems he's just ... giving up. He's suggesting that there are problems with remote work for creative teams, but rather than think of ways to solve those problems he's defaulting to the not-much-better-for-creativity-and-far-worse-for-other-things 'solution' of working in offices. That's kind of rubbish. Sam Altman is a clever guy who has a ton of experience working in startups, and the suggestion that he hasn't ever seen one work well and can't think of anything other than 'everyone in the same room' isn't very exciting. What's especially sad is that he said this stuff while he was in an office. Surely that's the most creative place!

ambicapter 4y ago
> He's suggesting that there are problems with remote work for creative teams, but rather than think of ways to solve those problems I hate this mindset (and I enjoy remote work). It's not his job to solve remote work for everyone. He probably (definitely) has other topics he's more interested in.
- noirbot 4y ago
  Sure, but going out and publicly just going "it's a failed experiment" when you're as influential as he is is different than just not trying to solve it for everyone. It's actively contributing to ending the experiment for everyone and reducing the pressure to try to solve the problems.
- pgeorgi 4y ago
  > It's not his job to solve remote work for everyone. He probably (definitely) has other topics he's more interested in. Interested enough to chime in on a debate that he can't contribute anything meaningful at any rate.
marcinzm 4y ago
>Where it's disappointing (to me) is that it seems he's just ... giving up. His job isn't to solve the remote work problem but to run a company effectively. Given the current job market and glut of engineers looking for jobs solving the remote work problem won't provide much if any competitive advantage. That may change in the future but right now isn't the future.
- onion2k 4y ago
  His job isn't to solve the remote work problem... He's talking about the remote work problem, and he's suggesting a solution to it...
  - zamnos 3y ago
    He's also been working on a solution to the problem of having work for a lot of people.
crypot 4y ago
It is just part of the Silicon Valley lore. You know how all those successful start-ups were all started in big office complexes. It is just more creative that way. It has been obvious for a while now that the optimal workplace was designed in the 18th century.
- p0pcult 4y ago
  Just like it was obvious in the 18th century, the optimal loom (the Jacquard) was invented, and no possible improvements to textile manufacture could be made.
  - raverbashing 4y ago
    It should be good enough to print Hello World with that loom
- bushbaba 4y ago
  It’s not just lore though. Harvard and others have done extensive research and found 100% remote is less effect for most organizations. Is office work the only solution here, no. Is some work cultures work better with remote, sure. However most companies benefit from in person work.
- kyrra 4y ago
  While I'm fine with exploring if there are better ways of doing collaborative work, just because an idea is old doesn't mean it's bad. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronological_snobbery https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronological_snobbery
taylodl 4y ago
I bet he also advocates for open office plans as well - after all, you need to maximize the team's communication and collaboration in order to maintain your level of creativity. Of course we all know this is rubbish. We also know there's a need for teams to be able to come together. We've discovered it's best to have set times and of course ad-hoc times to collaborate - to essentially come together the way we did back when we were in the office. And yes, today's tools allow us to do that. Being remote and never coming together save maybe for a daily standup is just as bad as working in a cubicle all day and never interacting with your team. Either way, remote teams work and work well - even in startups. In fact, prior to the pandemic the environment in which I saw the most remote teams was in startups. It's strange people are now saying that's the worst environment for remote teams. Makes me think they have another agenda.
- RestlessMind 3y ago
  > In fact, prior to the pandemic the environment in which I saw the most remote teams was in startups. Mind sharing some examples? Among the startups I know (big and small), they were all in-office. Some famous examples - Robinhood, Stripe, Figma, Coinbase, Confluent...
eamq 3y ago
I agree that the title of the article is misleading, and that Sam Altman is not dismissing remote work entirely, but only for startups and only for full remote. I think that remote work is not a one-size-fits-all solution, and that different roles and tasks may require different levels of interaction and synchronicity. For example, some activities where there is a lot of ambiguity or uncertainty may benefit from more collaborative and tighter feedback loop, while others may require more independence and concentration. Some aspects of in-person communication, such as non-verbal cues and implicit knowledge, may be lost or distorted online. In one side, you have something like game development where outside of some indies who have been successful working remotely, you have many examples of failed or delayed projects due to remote work issues. Devops? Oh yes, let me do that from Florida or North Dakota, if you have the infrastructure and culture to support it. Remote work has its advantages and opportunities, but also its drawbacks and risks. I think that startups may suffer from remote work if they are not careful and intentional, rather than optimistic thinking that they will figure out along the way.

ambicapter 4y ago

> He's suggesting that there are problems with remote work for creative teams, but rather than think of ways to solve those problems I hate this mindset (and I enjoy remote work). It's not his job to solve remote work for everyone. He probably (definitely) has other topics he's more interested in.

noirbot 4y ago
Sure, but going out and publicly just going "it's a failed experiment" when you're as influential as he is is different than just not trying to solve it for everyone. It's actively contributing to ending the experiment for everyone and reducing the pressure to try to solve the problems.
pgeorgi 4y ago
> It's not his job to solve remote work for everyone. He probably (definitely) has other topics he's more interested in. Interested enough to chime in on a debate that he can't contribute anything meaningful at any rate.

marcinzm 4y ago

>Where it's disappointing (to me) is that it seems he's just ... giving up. His job isn't to solve the remote work problem but to run a company effectively. Given the current job market and glut of engineers looking for jobs solving the remote work problem won't provide much if any competitive advantage. That may change in the future but right now isn't the future.

onion2k 4y ago
His job isn't to solve the remote work problem... He's talking about the remote work problem, and he's suggesting a solution to it...
- zamnos 3y ago
  He's also been working on a solution to the problem of having work for a lot of people.

crypot 4y ago

It is just part of the Silicon Valley lore. You know how all those successful start-ups were all started in big office complexes. It is just more creative that way. It has been obvious for a while now that the optimal workplace was designed in the 18th century.

p0pcult 4y ago
Just like it was obvious in the 18th century, the optimal loom (the Jacquard) was invented, and no possible improvements to textile manufacture could be made.
- raverbashing 4y ago
  It should be good enough to print Hello World with that loom
bushbaba 4y ago
It’s not just lore though. Harvard and others have done extensive research and found 100% remote is less effect for most organizations. Is office work the only solution here, no. Is some work cultures work better with remote, sure. However most companies benefit from in person work.
kyrra 4y ago
While I'm fine with exploring if there are better ways of doing collaborative work, just because an idea is old doesn't mean it's bad. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronological_snobbery https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronological_snobbery

taylodl 4y ago

I bet he also advocates for open office plans as well - after all, you need to maximize the team's communication and collaboration in order to maintain your level of creativity. Of course we all know this is rubbish. We also know there's a need for teams to be able to come together. We've discovered it's best to have set times and of course ad-hoc times to collaborate - to essentially come together the way we did back when we were in the office. And yes, today's tools allow us to do that. Being remote and never coming together save maybe for a daily standup is just as bad as working in a cubicle all day and never interacting with your team. Either way, remote teams work and work well - even in startups. In fact, prior to the pandemic the environment in which I saw the most remote teams was in startups. It's strange people are now saying that's the worst environment for remote teams. Makes me think they have another agenda.

RestlessMind 3y ago
> In fact, prior to the pandemic the environment in which I saw the most remote teams was in startups. Mind sharing some examples? Among the startups I know (big and small), they were all in-office. Some famous examples - Robinhood, Stripe, Figma, Coinbase, Confluent...

eamq 3y ago

I agree that the title of the article is misleading, and that Sam Altman is not dismissing remote work entirely, but only for startups and only for full remote. I think that remote work is not a one-size-fits-all solution, and that different roles and tasks may require different levels of interaction and synchronicity. For example, some activities where there is a lot of ambiguity or uncertainty may benefit from more collaborative and tighter feedback loop, while others may require more independence and concentration. Some aspects of in-person communication, such as non-verbal cues and implicit knowledge, may be lost or distorted online. In one side, you have something like game development where outside of some indies who have been successful working remotely, you have many examples of failed or delayed projects due to remote work issues. Devops? Oh yes, let me do that from Florida or North Dakota, if you have the infrastructure and culture to support it. Remote work has its advantages and opportunities, but also its drawbacks and risks. I think that startups may suffer from remote work if they are not careful and intentional, rather than optimistic thinking that they will figure out along the way.