35 ms·
Friction and velocity is what’s important. For executive teams, in-person interactions cut down friction, and result in an order of magnitude higher velocity.
by halfcat 2y ago
Friction and velocity is what’s important.
For executive teams, in-person interactions cut down friction, and result in an order of magnitude higher velocity. Every bit of friction adds up, scheduling a Zoom meeting or waiting on 5 people to reply to an email is way slower than a 17 second walk down the hall to get a thumbs up from those same 5 people.
But for developers or anyone doing deep work, their friction is interruptions, and if they’re interrupted every 30 minutes, they never reach a high velocity. Or if you have a headache, taking a nap might actually be the fastest path to building something complex.
Then there’s the majority of workers, who aren’t interested in “working like hell”. There’s a limited supply of ambitious, talented people, and you need this group.
I sometimes wonder if that’s the whole reason some startups get acquired, just because you’re getting employees who are ambitious.
- readthenotes1 2y agoBut after the acquhire gets a bazillion dollars, suddenly their ambitions are directed differently than working for the man...
- otteromkram 2y agoIf you're bottleneck involves waiting on five people to approve something all at once, then that sounds like a project management problem. That also assumes that your 17 second hallway traversal results in all five employees being in the same ares and not off doing other projects or in meetings. > There’s a limited supply of ambitious, talented people, and you need this group. Yikes. Well, if that's the case and those people are so in-demand, guess where they'll want to work? (Hint: Wherever they wsnt.) The people bending over and coming into an office? They have no other option.
- shiroiushi 2y ago>That also assumes that your 17 second hallway traversal results in all five employees being in the same ares and not off doing other projects or in meetings. Or at the coffee machine at the other side of the building, or in the bathroom, or wandering around the building looking for an open bathroom because the one near their desk is overcrowded...
- spacemadness 2y agoI am just baffled by people that claim they do better work in the office and also think every else does too. It was such a constant stressor for me to be interrupted every five minutes by coworkers when the deadlines don’t shift to make room for social hour. Remote has accelerated my productivity 10-fold. In the end it really comes down to management and remote work seems to help expose management incompetence which management of course hates.