
Ask HN: How remote is your job? What is missing for 100%? - pengwing
A software developer can easily perform 100% of his tasks remote. A retail employee can perform 0% remotely.<p>I am interested in the 70-99% remote spectrum. What do you need to achieve 100%?
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rkx1
1\. I find that a good office environment combined with an easy commute is way
better for my productivity and mental health than working from home.

2\. Having _some degree_ of in person communication with your team makes
everyone's work better. This isn't an argument for meetings or small talk, my
point is that _some_ meetings and conversations can only be done well in
person.

3\. I live in a big city, rent a single room and can't afford a home office -
working, relaxing, eating and sleeping in the same space isn't my ideal
lifestyle.

So to be willing to work remotely all the time, I need to have an employer who
is willing to pay for me to set up a productive home office environment -
separate room, good desk, screens etc. Only to make me 80-90% as productive as
I would be if I had a good office environment and got to meet my colleagues.

In a previous role, the office environment was great and my commute was a
20-minute walk - I never took the option to work from home even though I could
have.

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iSloth
Whiteboards - I still find that no software can beat a room of people and a
shared whiteboard for talking through certain things. It’s such a simple yet
effective tool for so many things.

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efrafa
Unpopular opinion: I think whiteboards are overrated. I have been software
engineer my whole life and never needed a whiteboard to do my job.

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recursive
That doesn't help. What do you use instead? For multiple people designing a
system with many related components at the same time, I've never encountered
something that works as well. There are probably other ways _possible_ , but I
haven't seen one as effective. I also use the to explain such systems to other
people interactively.

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dagw
I can easily do 100% if I want to (and I am at the moment), but doing so means
working at 70-80% efficiency. The difference is not a technical thing, but
purely a mindset thing. At work I have my work space with my work things and
can work distraction free. At home I'm surrounded by Not Work people and Not
Work things which are always competing for my attention.

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dbartholomae
I have never had a video call that had less friction then sitting together
with someone. In my experience this mostly comes down to UX: almost everyone
working is trained on how to behave in an on-site meeting, but not everyone
knows how to behave in a remote meeting (e. g. muting and unmuting etiquette).
In my experience there is also a bunch of jobs in the technical field that in
principal could be done remotely, but suffer due to lack of technical
knowledge of the person you are interacting with. An example I think everyone
can relate to is tech support for your parents. In my experience that is a lot
easier when standing next to them. And a lot of tech jobs are about explaining
technology to people who don't have experience with that specific tech yet.

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Spooky23
Probably better end user tools. Better software, microphones, cameras,
situational awareness.

I can do everything remote, but 30% is slower because the tools get in the
way. In my team, things are arguably better. Crossing team boundaries sucks.

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pengwing
Is this a culturual issue or a tool issue? Mic and cam can be bought in decent
quality. Shared slack (no affiliation) channels can cross team boundaries.

~~~
Spooky23
A little bit of both.

My team of 40-50 is going from a 20% occasional telecommute model to 100%. So
we’re learning and adapting.

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rubidium
I’m design equipment and automation for biology labs. Much of my work is done
at a computer and now I’m 90% WFH. Takeaways so far: \- Remote meetings are
better than 10 years ago. But still room to gain. \- remote design reviews of
physical products are lacking engagement from the team. Being in the same room
helps a ton. \- running actual chemistry needs a lab of course \- managing a
team of software engineers, hardware engineers and scientists is ok in JIRA,
but nothing beats in person discussion for a diverse team.

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caseyf7
Making sure everyone has broadband and a strong WiFi signal In the room they
are using for videoconferencing. One person dropping audio and glitching can
dramatically reduce the quality of a meeting.

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_spoonman
I can never be 100% remote in my current role. I’m a DoD contractor and
perform some of my duties on networks I can only access from secure
facilities. I can do the rest remotely.

