@th3j35t3r @estherschindler

Going to the office is a scam. I spent about five years living in hotels and airplanes, didn't affect my "productivity".

@mcfate @estherschindler

If you're hiring a people that *need* to be stuffed into a cubicle inside an office so you can 'keep an eye on them' you're absolutely hiring the wrong people.

@th3j35t3r @estherschindler

I was going to say.

There is indeed a certain fraction of people who can't be relied on to do shit without someone keeping an eye on them, and they should not be getting hired.

@th3j35t3r @mcfate @estherschindler

Exactly. I was *so* productive working from home. Not that I’m not productive now, but BSing with co-workers takes a lot more time than I had remembered.

On the plus side, I’m getting used to talking to people again 😂

@evamarie I cannot even fathom what that's like.

Zoom and Slack are great. But they're on my terms.

And I can work with a cat on my lap. @th3j35t3r @mcfate

@estherschindler @th3j35t3r @mcfate

I miss working with a dog curled up by my feet 😊

@th3j35t3r @mcfate Good, productive, innovative teams are built on trust. Attitudes like Dell's show a complete lack of trust.

https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/08/dell_return_office

@estherschindler @th3j35t3r

Isn't it some sort of a basic management principle that the best way to get the most out of your people is to treat them like they were untrustworthy toddlers?

No?

@mcfate Lots of managers believe that people wouldn't work at all unless they were supervised.

My conclusion is that it describes the manager's own values -- THEY wouldn't work without a babysitter. @th3j35t3r

@estherschindler @th3j35t3r

I had a micromanager one time. He clearly never got anything done that didn't involve pestering and wasting the time of the people reporting to him.

We did not get on well.

"What have you done this morning?"
"Typed 4,629 characters. Probably more, I erased some, too."

@mcfate We had a client who was good at "management by crisis." So he was always inventing a crisis so that he'd have something to do.

Seems germane. @th3j35t3r

OH DEAR. THIS POST WAS SET TO SELF-DETONATE 💣 💥 🔥

Ą̷͇̀l̵̩̓̕l̸̩͘ ̸̭̪̈́ť̷̝̍̆h̶̡̛̰̯̏͌a̷͕̞͋̂t̵̩͙͑̈́͝'̵̛̍́ͅͅş̴̬̱͝ ̷̗̊͠l̵͚̕͠ē̸̻͓̐͝f̷̧͙̀̑͝t̶͓̓͊̚ ̶̜̱̓͌́a̴͉͊r̶̡̩͛̀é̵̦̞͕ ̶̮̾ṫ̷̡͈̍ḧ̸̛͍́̊e̴̫̅ş̶̥̰̓e̴̟̪͌͂̇ ̷̞̅͊̚h̷̰͕͈͂e̶̡̹̜̚ŗ̸̗͈̾̇e̴̩̍͐ ̷̪͉̩̀a̵̡̱̐͑͝s̴͎͖̈́h̸͈͌́͜e̴͕̝̐̌ś̶͓̆ͅ.̵̩̉ ̵̱͊͑̀

@_Hunter Support, development assistance, mentoring- yes. Babysitting is not an option!@th3j35t3r @mcfate @estherschindler

@th3j35t3r I'll toss in that you need management that manages "stuff getting done", not fake management like hours in front of screen, or keystrokes, or response to queries in minutes 24/7.

Managing what's actually produced automagically highlights people who need to be closely monitored to deliver things, and maybe would be better off a creepy megacorp.

@mcfate @estherschindler

@th3j35t3r I've been remote for 30 years; the longest I worked in an office since 1992 was 3 months. I was writing about telecommuting skills back then!

I worked on a project a few years ago that cited a statistic: Before Covid, companies were asked how long it'd take them to gear up for a remote workforce. The consensus was 11 months. The average enterprise accomplished it in 11 days!

I wish I remembered where that stat came from; it'd be useful elsewhere too.

@estherschindler @th3j35t3r

Eleven months, that's hilarious.

:: noisy blasts of high-pressure steam ::
:: Parker pulls lever, steam stops dead ::
"How long is this gonna take?"
"At least four hours."
:: Parker pushes lever, blasts of steam resume ::
"AT LEAST TWENTY-FOUR HOURS!"
— Alien

@mcfate @estherschindler @th3j35t3r

I think once companies start to understand that the really good talent wants to work remotely, they will begin to cave.

@evamarie Oh, I think that's happening. @sjvn and I have a friend who turned down a lucrative job at AWS because of it. (And I know he linked to an article about the trend.)

IMO it's a matter of "who has the power: employers or employees." In 2021 it was the latter. The employers are trying to wrest it back.

@mcfate @th3j35t3r

@estherschindler @evamarie @sjvn @th3j35t3r

I find it both ironic and amusing that a cloud provider needs people to go to a particular building and sit at a specific desk to enable other people not to have to do any of those things.

I’ve been remote 22 years. Going into a building, being under the watchful eye of a boss, and having to actually socialize when I’d rather just get the work done is never going to happen again if have my way.

@estherschindler @th3j35t3r

@th3j35t3r @estherschindler

I spent the majority of the last 25 years working remote, the longest being 20 years for that company, HAL.

Even when I started working here, at my present company, no one cared about where you worked. You just did it.

The change to RTO is asinine and i absolutely hate it.

No, I'm not bitter.

(okay, yes I am)

@th3j35t3r Even though I'm not "remote" per say I'm pulling contracts daily usually remotely and then going to complete them. But I get to spend time with my dogs and keep up on house chores rather than be stuck at an office or B&M building for 8hours. @estherschindler

@th3j35t3r I also can go make more money in less time this way. 14x8=112 vs ??x3-4=150+ @estherschindler

@th3j35t3r @estherschindler Bingo.

Funfact - I left my previous employer bcuz they started repeating the nonsense that “everyone was going back to the office” and wanted everyone to return back.

We were a Saas software company that could 100% work remote with no issues 🤷‍♂️. We were already able to ‘work from home’ when needed and even our team had calls throughout the week. We were crazy productive but ‘the boss couldnt see us’ 🙄

@th3j35t3r @estherschindler
"Until the dragons came" ... Oh wait, I mean until I retired lol