What is the biggest downside of working remotely?
Tadej Jevševar
27 replies
I really enjoy the ability to work from home or anywhere else, but the spontaneous in-office collaboration is missing. What is the biggest downside of working remotely for you? How did you solve it?
Replies
Philipp Berner@philippberner
Secret Photo Vault
I miss going to coffee with colleagues. On the other hand I love that I can work from anywhere and that I can design my office the way I want it.
I believe that every company does well in improving written communication and remote work is a forcing function for this. At the same time, quick interaction across the table with the people you work with closely is missing.
Also the after work beer by your self doesn't feel the same and it doesn't work over video either.
This probably leads to stronger separation of your work and home friends, which might be a net positive as there is the tendency of migrating your live all the way to work. Space, tie and friends.
Share
@philippberner That is super interesting. And why do you think that is the case? Plus, work and life balance to me is a bit strange. We spend 8-9 hrs a day working, thats a big part of our lives, how can we separate it? Do you think maybe most of people want to separate those two because they dont really love what they do?
Birthday Cleaner
I really like the deep focus that remote work enables .. but I really miss quick spontaneous interactions, water-cooling and non-verbal communication which are only possible if you are in close contact - in the same room.
Being the one who creates content from the scratch and gets the whole team to assemble and stick on the same page is a big deal for me. Imagine working with a designer by not by your side. That's pain.
We share the screen. But that's not of big use. Yet takes away half of the pain.
@senthil_nathan9 I feel you. Why do you think that is the case? P.S.: If you are using Figma, did you try their new feature where you can also have an Audio convo in Figma while working on a design?
@tadej_jevsevar, that sounds like a good idea. Will definitely try that. :)
Side Project OS
Work remotely in my job as a consultant and also with my co-founder building Product HQ.
I love it. The initial challenge/downside was that I couldn't lean over the desk and ask someone for help with something. Quickly overcame that by creating an environment in our team where we jump into a zoom on a moments notice for a 30sec call to sort something. Works well for us!
@hugh_dawkins Hugh, that's great idea and sounds like a good solution. I would be curious what you and your team would say about the project I am working on. Would you be interested to hear/read more about it? (Don't want to "spam" here, because this is not the intention of this discussion).
Side Project OS
@tadej_jevsevar For sure! Send me a msg on twitter :)
I think the subtle elements of workplace culture are missed out on. I know that in working in an office environment there are small conversations between meetings, before and after work, or even at lunch, where you get to know the people you work with. I know that companies are trying to work around this with happy hours and activities, but its hard to replicate the naturally occurring connection that builds in a physical working space
@mitchell_orme How are you and your team solving this?
@tadej_jevsevar We've definitely really invested time into getting to know each other. Whether that be messages through slack, or pre-ambles in meetings. We make sure that we acknowledge that we're all individuals that are coming together to form a team. The Friday games we often play at around 4:15pm really help in letting go of work and enjoying each others company. You get out what you put in with your time and interactions with your fellow team members.
Flipner AI
For me, it's sometimes too hard to separate my work and life and their balance is broken. So time management is one of the most important parts of working remotely, I think.
Side Project OS
@julia_demyanchuk Totally agree! I find create a 'space/environment' that is just for working helps a lot
@julia_demyanchuk Yeah, especially if you are part of a startup :) Curious what tools are you using for communication/collaboration at LeaksID?
@tadej_jevsevar A lot more time on the phone, not Zoom... Not ideal but it makes you realise when you don't have the non-verbal 80% it needs to be substituted. Also I'm talking about creative topics, technical topics are more easily managed remotely.
I worked from home for 1,5 years. I got a lot of benefits when I didn’t have to go to the office. No traffic jam, no pollution,…I even combined working to travelling.
However, I missed chill activities and hangout with collegues in the office. Sometime, conversations were lag when the internet got poor connection. I couldn’t separate my work and life.
For missing in collaboration, yes, that’s a big problem. I just wanna share how my old company solves this one.
- Cross team collaboration: My company allows members join different teams to work in short time. For ex, members in marketing team can collaborate with members in product team. Besides cross-team project will involve members from different teams.
Our company tried to have a bot in Slack and randomly create virtual room as well as invite 2-3 people to join and talk freely. However it failed because everyone don’t know what to say.
- For Internal collaboration, we have daily meeting, sprint review, sprint planning.
However, i still got stuck in working and life balance and social enagagement. I decided to be back to the office.
Decidable
I find it's the fact you just don't have those chance conversation starters like you do when you are together as a group, Craig
@craig_smith3 Why do you think that's the case?
Decidable
@tadej_jevsevar I just feel ( based upon my 25 year career ) that there is something unique that comes from building one to one relationships in person that is impossible to replicate digitally. A hybrid version is perfect, Craig
For me... its like really missing on the million dollar opportunities which used to be discussed in between running for meetings, breaks and other such...
By all means, while the virtualization has evolved significantly, it still lacks that physical proximity factor, which ensures we remain human
@yuvrajmathur I miss that too!
I miss the real community with personal conversations. Remote work can be more effective and focused but a little bit soulless
@klajko_dora I feel you! Would you be interested to hear more about the project I am working on that is trying to solve this problem?