A Year of Working Remotely
First, let’s dispense with the easy part: despite what you may read on Twitter, remote work is neither the greatest thing in the world nor the worst. We are not moving to a world where offices go completely away, nor are we going through some sort of phase where remote work will eventually prove to be a giant waste of time. In other words, it’s complicated.
The way to look at remote work is that it’s a series of tradeoffs. You enjoy benefits in exchange for disadvantages. The uptake of remote work over the next decade will depend most on the minimization of those disadvantages rather than the maximization of the benefits. Reason being, the benefits are already substantial while many of the disadvantages will be lessened over time with technology and process improvements.
Via Mike Rundle:
I’ve been working remotely for ~6 years now and love it, so here are a few more tidbits I’d like to offer.
That chatter that happens in office can sometimes bear fruit. Since these serendipitous interactions will no longer happen you have to create those interactions through deliberate action. Over communicate with your team about what you’re doing, what your ideas are, etc.
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Meetings do not have to be terrible. There are some simple rules that I like to follow that help them suck less. Namely; Be certain you need an actual meeting, rather than an email or chat. Always give people enough time in advance to prepare. Always have an agenda. Always have action items. Follow up on those action items weekly or as appropriate.
Update (2019-08-13): Matej Bukovinski:
I’ve now been working remotely for more than 10 years and have faced many of these challenges myself, so in this post, I’ll be sharing some of my experiences and tips for making the most of remote work.
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The company needs to be fundamentally set up for remote work, and it has to be the right fit for you personally. If either of those is not the case, you’ll have a miserable time.
4 Comments RSS · Twitter
I've been working remote for several years now. No way I'd want to work in an office again.
I think remote work should be the default when possible. In fact, if healthcare was less of a concern (say, everyone had the same access and being employed by specific companies with excellent health benefits was no longer preferred), we could have a highly trained, highly motivated, mobile work force. I see less downsides with this route as opposed to crippling gridlock we experience now.
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Apple's VR/AR glasses product should have as a significant feature at launch the AR meeting functionality from the Kingsmen films. Sit down at a table, put the glasses on, and you see the other people in the meeting sitting around the table.