I'm talking about conversations that might take all day, or days. Breaking down enormous problems. Deep collaborative work.

Can you do this in a virtual room? Yes. Will you achieve the same outcome? Early results (in my case) seem to indicate the answer is "no".

I want the ability to pace around the room at times. Look my collaborators in the eye. Pick up on non-verbal cues that are often impossible to see remotely. Step away as a group to share a much needed lunch break.

And when passionate people are involved, and many viewpoints are present, the ability to all argue/debate a topic vigorously - even show frustration at the right moments - and then all share a beer at the end of the day, is critical. Having that same vigorous debate on Zoom and then dropping off to our individual lives doesn't leave room for reconnecting with each other as humans - something that is critical for maintaining relationships.

Not every project requires this kind of interaction. But for things that do, the remote format just doesn't work well for everyone.

What you are describing is what we did with a half remote team at least once a quarter. Fly everyone in, have collaborative meetings during the day, team bonding at night.

I do think one of the core issues with the current Covid situation is that companies which are now completely remote can't do the normal bonding things that remote companies used to do.

Given the ability to do so, I do wonder how much of the concerns around remote work could be resolved.

Yeah, though even simple efforts yield big dividends. We schedule about 20 minutes after our company all hands to 'zingle', which sometimes includes breakout rooms to just hangout with a dozen people in an unstructured way. We do weekly "pub trivia" and other social activities. I've gotten in the habit of booking social lunches with coworkers, where we just hop on a zoom and catch up over lunch.

I won't say it's a perfect substitute, but not doing those things would be a disaster.