Re:Ask HN: How do you deal with the isolation of telecommuting?
by pasbesoin on Monday December 05, 2011 @01:19PM
(#3315701)
Quality over quantity. In some of my past work, my team was rather "remote"; various members located elsewhere and/or working significant portions of their schedule from home.
I really liked many of them, and catching up for a few minutes on the phone far surpassed most of the semi-random office socializing that took place on-site. And at times, we'd work for a while together wearing headsets and sharing network resources. I found that every bit as good as physically sitting next to them. Actually, it was less distracting, not having someone physically a foot away from you, staring at your screen.
Make sure your voice communication is uncapped, and feel free to use it. (I'm not one for web cams; most of the time, there's no real point to having an image of the other duffer sitting at their keyboard.) And focus on those people you enjoy talking with. Take time to get to know their personality; you'll end up sharing the same humor and small asides that you would in-person.
(One fellow I got along well with and worked with frequently, I never -- over the course of a few years -- ended up meeting in person. Nonetheless, I feel that I got to know him fairly well, in the friendly co-worker sense.)
I'll add: Establish trust. Do what you say you will, and expect the same from the other person. Don't let physical separation be an excuse for not following through. This is more important than physical presence. And, if you are using physical presence to, um, "influence" (coerce?) people into getting things done, you already have a problem that is not really a matter of physical presence (or lack thereof).
The real world isn't perfect in this regard, but over time, you can emphasize the people you can trust and de-emphasize those you can't. It's a useful aspect in making career decisions.
I really liked many of them, and catching up for a few minutes on the phone far surpassed most of the semi-random office socializing that took place on-site. And at times, we'd work for a while together wearing headsets and sharing network resources. I found that every bit as good as physically sitting next to them. Actually, it was less distracting, not having someone physically a foot away from you, staring at your screen.
Make sure your voice communication is uncapped, and feel free to use it. (I'm not one for web cams; most of the time, there's no real point to having an image of the other duffer sitting at their keyboard.) And focus on those people you enjoy talking with. Take time to get to know their personality; you'll end up sharing the same humor and small asides that you would in-person.
(One fellow I got along well with and worked with frequently, I never -- over the course of a few years -- ended up meeting in person. Nonetheless, I feel that I got to know him fairly well, in the friendly co-worker sense.)
I'll add: Establish trust. Do what you say you will, and expect the same from the other person. Don't let physical separation be an excuse for not following through. This is more important than physical presence. And, if you are using physical presence to, um, "influence" (coerce?) people into getting things done, you already have a problem that is not really a matter of physical presence (or lack thereof).
The real world isn't perfect in this regard, but over time, you can emphasize the people you can trust and de-emphasize those you can't. It's a useful aspect in making career decisions.