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OpenAI (https://fortune.com/2023/05/05/openai-ceo-sam-altman-remote-work-mistake-return-to-office/ https://fortune.com/2023/05/05/openai-ceo-sam-altman-remote-.
by bratao 3y ago
OpenAI (https://fortune.com/2023/05/05/openai-ceo-sam-altman-remote-work-mistake-return-to-office/ https://fortune.com/2023/05/05/openai-ceo-sam-altman-remote-...) is a example of a high performing company where remote work is an exception. That's why I say that there is no cake recipe that guarantees that remote or in-person work is better than the other. Each company has its own culture and employees have to look for the culture that makes the most sense for them.
- weird-eye-issue 3y ago"That's why I say that there is no cake recipe that guarantees that remote or in-person work is better than the other." You should really choose a different saying
- hervature 3y agoThe more common expression is "cookie cutter" implying that anyone can follow a simple process to achieve a good result. Cake is hard in general so even having the cake recipe is fairly useless for execution.
- oh_sigh 3y agoIt's true though isn't it? But, I guess, there is also no souffle recipe that guarantees that remote or in-person work is better than the other.
- resolutebat 3y agoWait 'till you taste my AI-generated ramen recipe that does guarantee it! (Spoiler: it contains bleach, and is fed only to those in the office.)
- Jensson 3y agoIs there any large high performing company where remote work is the norm? OpenAI is the normal case here, not the exception.
- rmorey 3y agoGitLab is a famous example
- rapsin4 3y agocan they even be considered "high performing"?
- Gigachad 3y agoFeels like they were ahead around 2018 but just lost all that advantage to GitHub.
- deltree7 3y ago[dead]
- mathverse 3y agoThey are not high performing. They are a mediocre company, not a leader or an innovator and they pay shit wages (60k/pa).
- chrisdbanks 3y agoIf you think top 1% of companies is mediocre then yes. Any company that makes is to their size is way beyond mediocre.
- elliotec 3y agoGitLab? Top 1%? Of what?
- chrisdbanks 3y agoCompanies in the world. Very few make it to GitLab's size.
- 3c6bYDXLMj 3y ago
- bugglebeetle 3y agoI would assume no one can work remote because of who they’re actually doing work for vs. it actually being necessary to collaborate.
- mcast 3y agoRemote work seems like a bigger liability for a company which is expecting future legal battles and anti-trust cases, especially since all communications will be entered into discovery. It's easier for VPs to discuss AI ethics in hallways and unrecorded meetings rooms.
- MrOwen 3y agoEh, unless there's current ligation forcing record retention, just having a really short retention period is an easy enough solution.
- cyrux004 3y agoDidnt Sundar ask disappearing messages to be turned on on an internal communcation tool ?
- MrOwen 3y agoI believe so but from what I recall, he still wanted syncing between phone/computer which required the messages be stored at some point, alebeit with an extremely small ttl (minutes? seconds?). This miniscule retention meant the record was created despite a low ttl and so when the record was removed, it became a violation of the court-ordered record retention. Again, this is all just from fuzzy memory but I think that's how it approximately went down.
- Rebelgecko 3y agoYou might be interested in https:// https:// www. jwz.org /gruntle/ rbarip.html (I'm obfuscating the URL a bit because the website's owner does something rude if your browser sends an HN referer header)
- fragmede 3y agohttps://www.jwz.org/gruntle/rbarip.html https://www.jwz.org/gruntle/rbarip.html HN turned off referrer globally, so that no longer happens.
- benatkin 3y agoSimilar to Apple. Apple seems to understand whatever this sort of structure is really well, and have followed it for a long time. Facebook thought they were different but now they seem to need the same. Less openness externally, but a lot of collaboration internally. Google recognized this more quickly than Facebook, but less quickly than Apple.
- ipaddr 3y agoThis is silly when you go into work to remote into meetings with others sitting at their desk in the build across the street. Facebook, Google, Apple have been laying off people. The return to office was about real estate, local power and getting employees to move or quit.
- benatkin 3y agoThat's very much intentional, they often strongly want teams to be in the same room for a significant percent of the time, but vastly prefer internal remote to external remote. There does seem to be a gain for the company, one that very often isn't necessary but all other things equal the company will try to capture. I see the argument that remote work should be mandated as part of labor rights in many more cases than it currently is. Until it is, companies like these will continue to favor on-site work. I need to get out of the habit of calling it in-person work and instead call it on-site work in these cases. Most on-site work has a significant telework component. I should also call it telework when it's on site to avoid confusing it with true remote work. Or whatever the most clear terms are.
- madeofpalk 3y ago> That's why I say that there is no cake recipe that guarantees that remote or in-person work is better than the other. I'm not sure this is all that insightful. I don't think anyone is saying that if you force all your employees into the same physical space (or, you allow for remote work) you will instantly become infinitely successful.
- JambalayaJim 3y agoThere are lots of people online who claim remote work is an asbolutely superior model for any tech company.
- madeofpalk 3y agoThat is a different claim. Remote work can be the absolutely superior model for how/where people work for any tech company, but you still also fail for one of many other reasons companies can fail.