I think it's fair that being the one remote member on a team is difficult. But especially going forward I don't expect that to be the norm. And in practice I'm generally communicating with people in a lot of different locations anyway.

I didn't say it can't work, I said it was harder to be the only remote person.

I've seen all-remote, all-local, and mixed environments. I just don't have faith that mixed environments work well, but every situation is different.

The secret is not hiring fungibles and instead hiring people you can trust. But also those sorts are in demand and your overlords will probably not give you the $$$ to hire them. So we're forced to make do with fungible talent and that's where it all falls apart IMO.

Got any sage advice? That's a rare amount of time to have done WFH in 2021

Stand up for your needs. And deliver sufficiently that your manager prefers to keep you working. The one exception where I tried to work 100% in an open office led to me catching the flu and staying stick for 4 months. People complained about my coughing so they gave me a private office rather than allow me to WFH until I felt better (got to keep the private office though). I had no complaints, but just about no one is going to do that.