Re:Basecamp doesn’t employ anyone in SF, but now we pay ever...
by Bartweiss on Tuesday January 02, 2018 @12:52PM
(#16053657)
Until the open plan office fad finally dies, I suspect some developers are more efficient working remotely.
Collaboration is great, but it's better as a purposeful thing spaced between uninterrupted work. As two-minute interruptions several times an hour, it's a serious impediment to focused work.
For me at least, my experience working remotely was that I was less integrated into the team, and struggled to contribute and keep up when planning involved ad hoc discussions. But I got more done per hour, and the conversations I did have with teammates were more structured and productive than they tend to be in person. We also had a better knowledge base and lower bus factor, because information was passed in text more than by word of mouth.
Under ideal circumstances with experienced teams, in-person work probably has an edge. After all, you can interact like it's remote work in any case where that's a better system. But in the real world, I suspect remote work has clear advantages for some tasks.
Collaboration is great, but it's better as a purposeful thing spaced between uninterrupted work. As two-minute interruptions several times an hour, it's a serious impediment to focused work.
For me at least, my experience working remotely was that I was less integrated into the team, and struggled to contribute and keep up when planning involved ad hoc discussions. But I got more done per hour, and the conversations I did have with teammates were more structured and productive than they tend to be in person. We also had a better knowledge base and lower bus factor, because information was passed in text more than by word of mouth.
Under ideal circumstances with experienced teams, in-person work probably has an edge. After all, you can interact like it's remote work in any case where that's a better system. But in the real world, I suspect remote work has clear advantages for some tasks.