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It is hard to quantify, but having done the remote working thing for a while myself, there is a lot of communication that one misses. Skype, Facetime, G+ Hango

It is hard to quantify, but having done the remote working thing for a while myself, there is a lot of communication that one misses. Skype, Facetime, G+ Hangouts etc all help, but there is still a significant qualitative difference to being in the same physical room as a bunch of smart people - both in terms of coming up with better ideas and solutions, and of avoiding miscommunication and misunderstandings. No doubt as our comms tech gets better that gap will decrease (it's a lot narrower than ten years ago), but it's definitely there.

calinet6 14y ago
You have to resolve to work at communicating at or approaching the level you would in a real office. It takes more effort, but I think it can be effectively balanced against the other advantages of working remotely.
- jfb 14y ago
  Fundamentally, all the remote technologies in the world put together don't even approach the bandwidth of in-person communication. You're right, it can work -- but you have to be constantly vigilant.
  - calinet6 14y ago
    Yep, absolutely. We're experimenting with Minecraft. Improvements in culture and productivity are yet to be analyzed...
- silverbax88 14y ago
  I've worked for companies that did remote well and I've worked for many that did remote poorly. It really has to be an understanding of how people communicate. Theoretically, it should not matter if I'm one desk away from someone or 1,000 miles away, since most people sit at their desks or in their office and communicate over IM or email. But, oh, it does matter. Some companies are just NOT set up to handle remote work, even if they have the technology to do so.
- frossie 14y ago
  It takes more effort, but I think it can be effectively balanced against the other advantages of working remotely. Yes, that is the trade-off the remote worker makes. However it is important to understand that the folks on the employer's side also have to make that extra effort to manage communication effectively with remote workers, and they don't get the advantages of working remotely. That is not to say that it should never be done (doing a project with remote workers is indeed advantageous in certain scenarios), but the balance of the advantages in remote working (barring financial overhead issues like providing an office) are with the worker. So one should not be surprised that companies want you to relocate before they know about you. Now for certain individuals, it is to the benefit of the company to support the remote working agreement because of the value they get from working with that particular individual. Which is why there is a huge selection effect when people blog "hey, I telecommute and don't lack in work". It's similar to a famous actor saying "hey, I don't do anything special and I don't lack in dates". The people who couldn't find work that way? They relocated and aren't blogging about remote working. But absolutely - if you can make it work for yourself, go for it - no argument that it improves your quality of life.
rudasn 14y ago
> there is a lot of communication that one misses. That's not necessarily a bad thing considering that most communication within most office environments, like it or not, is not "productive communication". When you have many people together in the same environment with a low communication cost it is inevitable that interactions will not always be productive (in the sense, "do we really need to talk about this, right now?"). To some extend the notion of community and belonging is lost when working remotely - as someone else mentioned, is like reading a book vs an e-book. However, if you manage to get past the feeling of not "being real" or not "feeling it" you realise that the function (working) is quite distinct from the form (sharing an office). Sometimes when I talk with my workmates over skype and listen about time lost on discussions over office politics and needless meetings I feel great, because I'm glad I missing that kind of communication. At the same time, it is difficult to understand the context of a discussion without each party knowing the environment within which the other party is communicating from. From my experience the downsides of working remotely are far less than the upsides. In addition to that, most downsides can be easily overcome (company or team-wide retreats, better culture management, etc). The upsides on the other hand, for both parties, are unique in working remotely and cannot be reproduced or copied whilst working on location. Personally, I enjoy my work the most when I work in two markets: education and music. The country I live in has exactly zero potential for me in those two markets with the skills I have. So working remotely is my only viable option (aside from migrating). Likewise, my employer has a highly skilled individual, who cares deeply about the product he's building, working for him - the type of individual he wasn't able to find locally. It really is a win-win situation but at the same time, like everything else in life, you win some you lose some.
- bennyg 14y ago
  Don't undervalue the effect of "unproductive" communication. It's usually what drives creativity.
  - mstefanko 14y ago
    I agree, there is definitely something to be said for "unproductive" communication. But I would change that to: It can potentially drive creativity. I've been in plenty of office environments where it was far more just a distraction.
aantix 14y ago
Have you tried a remote agile tool like Sococo? The "instant on" communication being able to "walk up" to anyone in the virtual office, share your screen looks intriguing. I don't work for them or even subscribe to the service. I've just seen enough people outwardly complain about the differences between being remote and on-site and wondered why this tool doesn't get mentioned in the conversation more.. Maybe it just doesn't work.. http://agilescout.com/an-agile-virtual-office-beam-me-up-brody-sococo-virtual-collaboration/ http://agilescout.com/an-agile-virtual-office-beam-me-up-bro...

calinet6 14y ago

You have to resolve to work at communicating at or approaching the level you would in a real office. It takes more effort, but I think it can be effectively balanced against the other advantages of working remotely.

jfb 14y ago
Fundamentally, all the remote technologies in the world put together don't even approach the bandwidth of in-person communication. You're right, it can work -- but you have to be constantly vigilant.
- calinet6 14y ago
  Yep, absolutely. We're experimenting with Minecraft. Improvements in culture and productivity are yet to be analyzed...
silverbax88 14y ago
I've worked for companies that did remote well and I've worked for many that did remote poorly. It really has to be an understanding of how people communicate. Theoretically, it should not matter if I'm one desk away from someone or 1,000 miles away, since most people sit at their desks or in their office and communicate over IM or email. But, oh, it does matter. Some companies are just NOT set up to handle remote work, even if they have the technology to do so.
frossie 14y ago
It takes more effort, but I think it can be effectively balanced against the other advantages of working remotely. Yes, that is the trade-off the remote worker makes. However it is important to understand that the folks on the employer's side also have to make that extra effort to manage communication effectively with remote workers, and they don't get the advantages of working remotely. That is not to say that it should never be done (doing a project with remote workers is indeed advantageous in certain scenarios), but the balance of the advantages in remote working (barring financial overhead issues like providing an office) are with the worker. So one should not be surprised that companies want you to relocate before they know about you. Now for certain individuals, it is to the benefit of the company to support the remote working agreement because of the value they get from working with that particular individual. Which is why there is a huge selection effect when people blog "hey, I telecommute and don't lack in work". It's similar to a famous actor saying "hey, I don't do anything special and I don't lack in dates". The people who couldn't find work that way? They relocated and aren't blogging about remote working. But absolutely - if you can make it work for yourself, go for it - no argument that it improves your quality of life.

rudasn 14y ago

> there is a lot of communication that one misses. That's not necessarily a bad thing considering that most communication within most office environments, like it or not, is not "productive communication". When you have many people together in the same environment with a low communication cost it is inevitable that interactions will not always be productive (in the sense, "do we really need to talk about this, right now?"). To some extend the notion of community and belonging is lost when working remotely - as someone else mentioned, is like reading a book vs an e-book. However, if you manage to get past the feeling of not "being real" or not "feeling it" you realise that the function (working) is quite distinct from the form (sharing an office). Sometimes when I talk with my workmates over skype and listen about time lost on discussions over office politics and needless meetings I feel great, because I'm glad I missing that kind of communication. At the same time, it is difficult to understand the context of a discussion without each party knowing the environment within which the other party is communicating from. From my experience the downsides of working remotely are far less than the upsides. In addition to that, most downsides can be easily overcome (company or team-wide retreats, better culture management, etc). The upsides on the other hand, for both parties, are unique in working remotely and cannot be reproduced or copied whilst working on location. Personally, I enjoy my work the most when I work in two markets: education and music. The country I live in has exactly zero potential for me in those two markets with the skills I have. So working remotely is my only viable option (aside from migrating). Likewise, my employer has a highly skilled individual, who cares deeply about the product he's building, working for him - the type of individual he wasn't able to find locally. It really is a win-win situation but at the same time, like everything else in life, you win some you lose some.

bennyg 14y ago
Don't undervalue the effect of "unproductive" communication. It's usually what drives creativity.
- mstefanko 14y ago
  I agree, there is definitely something to be said for "unproductive" communication. But I would change that to: It can potentially drive creativity. I've been in plenty of office environments where it was far more just a distraction.

aantix 14y ago

Have you tried a remote agile tool like Sococo? The "instant on" communication being able to "walk up" to anyone in the virtual office, share your screen looks intriguing. I don't work for them or even subscribe to the service. I've just seen enough people outwardly complain about the differences between being remote and on-site and wondered why this tool doesn't get mentioned in the conversation more.. Maybe it just doesn't work.. http://agilescout.com/an-agile-virtual-office-beam-me-up-brody-sococo-virtual-collaboration/ http://agilescout.com/an-agile-virtual-office-beam-me-up-bro...