At apple you are not allowed to discuss anything with anyone until you've gone to one of three(!!) internal websites to see if they are "disclosed" on the thing you want to discuss with them. "Spontaneous" conversations cannot happen by definition.

I think that depends on the team. When I was there I didn't work on a lot of "classified" stuff, so spontaneous conversations weren't too uncommon, at least in the NY office.

You can have spontaneous discussions with people you know to be disclosed (three websites sucks); you don’t need to re-look them up every time. You can also talk about things that don’t require disclosure.

I grew up socializing online so I am the opposite. The office was a barrage of spontaneous interruptions, and made me look for a hole in the back of the office to hide in. It’s easier to take a brainstorming walk and ping a colleague with an idea than give them the 50th shoulder tap of the day. It’s understandable that not everyone is used to communicating in this way.

We're the IRC generation, just ping me with a silly image if you want a casual chat.

> It’s easier to take a brainstorming walk

And since your chat program of choice now shows you as inactive/away for that 20min brainstorming walk session, manager sees it as you not working or being productive. Better make that time up!

If you have abusive micromanaging management then your life will be miserable. Period. Blaming one of the five million tools or approaches they could use to achieve that goal is rather short sighted.

In this case I'm not blaming the tools, but exactly who you said. Short sighted micro management.

if my manager/employer is looking at that shit and complaining about being AFK for 20min I'll be looking for a new place to work. already dealt with that sort of BS in the past -- never again.

The change has forced many of us to seek social interactions with people we don't work with. And I feel it's been healthy.

Yup, it has been a great wake-up call for many, in that regard.

Just because something has worked one way for ages doesn't mean it can't work another way. It really is a culture thing I think. If you've been working in an office your whole life and you are used to that then I can totally see it being difficult.

If you are a digital native whose social life has taken place largely online it is likely WFH is better.

In some ways the world/technology/culture has changed so much and so frequently over the last 40-50 years that each generation's lived experience growing up is markedly different than the last. In the totality of the human experience this is pretty rare. I think work is only going to become more age segregated over time due to cultural differences.