5 ms·
Collaboration is more effective in person. We're not machines, we're humans.
by pertymcpert 3y ago
Collaboration is more effective in person. We're not machines, we're humans.
- collaborative 3y agoSure, but employees would rather work and live away from the grind-zero. If businesses want to attract talent, they need to accept this. Again, it's about leverage. Employees need to hold the line
- pertymcpert 3y agoAs I said in another comment, part of the job as an experienced/senior engineer in tech is to work with others, and not be a hero programmer. I actually think that there's room here for a hybrid. Have one track for remote engineers and one for in person. Remote engineers get different work, they generally have a lower ceiling in career potential. In exchange they get what they want, they work mostly by themselves with videoconf/slack as aid. Of course there's always the exceptions. If you're the top 0.0001% in domain experts in a field, you can do whatever you want.
- RestlessMind 3y ago> employees would rather work and live away from the grind-zero Citation needed. Most of the people I talk to prefer a hybrid setup - 2/3 days from home, 2/3 days in office. For office days, an obvious caveat is that the entire team has to be present on those days to realize the benefits. > If businesses want to attract talent, they need to accept this. Looking around here in SV, plenty of businesses seem to be attracting great talent even with RTO policies.
- rqtwteye 3y agoI feel in today's workplace we need to collaborate all the time (preferably in a loud open office) and nobody needs to do any actual work. I love to collaborate but my best work got done when I had several weeks of uninterrupted focus on a task.
- pertymcpert 3y agoYes, there's a balance. Best focused, individual work is probably done alone, in quiet. But with collaboration, sometimes weeks of work can be cut out if one discovers the right work to do. And even better if a new direction or idea can be found. This is all of course technically possible remotely, but it doesn't happen in the general case because we didn't evolve to work by ourselves without f2f contact.
- paulryanrogers 3y agoWe also didn't evolve for worldwide, nearly instantaneous communication; or even monogamy for that matter. Yet people are adapting.
- pertymcpert 3y agoAdapting sure. As effective though? No. That's my point, it's not as effective. > worldwide, nearly instantaneous communication This isn't nearly as good of a point as you think it is. > or even monogamy Speak for yourself.
- paulryanrogers 3y ago> > worldwide, nearly instantaneous communication > This isn't nearly as good of a point as you think it is. Why not? If we evolved to relate to a small tribe and now are exposed to huge numbers of people then I'd say there's proof humans can and are adapting.
- pertymcpert 3y agoWhat does adapting mean to you? Surviving? Yes. Thriving? Epidemics of loneliness, mental health declines in young people exposed to technology and social media since birth and online echo chambers allowing violent conspiracy theorists to hype each other up to commit crimes. Doesn't seem like thriving to me. And you didn't respond to my point about being as effective. This is all relative to baseline in office working.
- orange-mentor 3y agoYea, but 99% of all jobs aren't important enough to demand it. The average tech startup is vastly less important than a hospital, grocery store, etc.
- pertymcpert 3y agoI'm not sure what you're trying to say here. Are you saying because you think tech jobs aren't important then collaboration in tech jobs isn't important as well?
- orange-mentor 3y agoYes, that's what I'm saying. The commuting and associated infrastructure are wasted on most office jobs, and they're not important enough to warrant it.
- pertymcpert 3y agoThe business benefits from collaboration though, and people tend to grow professionally as well. It's not important as being a surgeon saving lives sure. Taking your logic further, why bother with anything? Why even work remotely? Just don't work. Nothing is as important as putting food on the table and a roof over your head, so become a builder and a farmer.
- RestlessMind 3y agoIt's funny to bring up hospital and grocery stores when the subthread is about RTO and collaboration in person. Those would probably be the last places to go fully remote.
- the_gipsy 3y agoIt sure feels more like a machine, shuffling to the office every day.
- pertymcpert 3y agoEnd of the day, you can always quit and do another job. Part of the role of senior+ engineers in tech is to be a force multiplier and work across silos. If you don't want to do that, there's still remote jobs out there where if you're a good enough pure coder you can get paid. Sure you won't have the same career progression but it's different priorities right?
- the_gipsy 3y agoHave you heard of the Gervais' principle?
- pertymcpert 3y agoYes, I have. I love it. It doesn't however contradict anything I said, because unlike say the laws of thermodynamics, it's just something that someone made up one day having watched the best version of The Office.
- the_gipsy 3y agoDo you believe that 100% remote companies are something like a perpetual motion machine, or a fraud?
- pertymcpert 3y agoNo I don't. Why do you think I think that?
- wkat4242 3y agoBreaking silos... You sound like the complete idiot they chose to "lead" our Enterprise IT department :') In fact we have more silos since this idiot stepped in.
- wkat4242 3y agoMost of my collaboration is a distraction and wasted time. People can fix their own excels.
- pertymcpert 3y agoSure, for some jobs there's probably not much benefit to collaboration. I'm mostly talking from the perspective of FAANG type companies, where there's very high potential impacts from small groups of focused people. If you're not working at that scale, the stakes are lower and it may not matter as much.