[jbuss]

I joined my startup 2 years ago on-site. After my wife and I had a baby it became very difficult to live in the bay area. Housing is obviously ridiculous there and I had to live an hour away from the office. I told my manager that we would be moving and I was interviewing for remote jobs. They ended up allowing me to work remotely, and I have been for almost two months now.

The whole transition has been much smoother than I could have ever imagined. My team relies on slack so I definitely feel just as connected to everyone. We do regular video calls on Google Hangouts, and even have a robot[1] that makes daily standup fun and convenient for everyone.

I feel like I am able to focus for longer periods of time being away from the office. There are no distractions to play ping pong and interruptions are fewer and farther between. I also have much more time since I'm not commuting ~2 hours a day. I have time to spend with my wife and 1-year-old and I have time to go to the gym. I feel much more well-rounded as a result and I feel like I'm a better father and husband, and a much better employee. Overall, I think my output has gone up and my productivity has increased, though I have no data to support it.

[1] http://www.doublerobotics.com/

[aantix]

Have you tried Slack's Screenhero integration? Being able to type

/hero @username

and start pair programming in seconds (with audio!) is a huge productivity increase.

[jbuss]

We don't do a ton of pair programming at our company, but yes I have definitely used it. Very helpful!

[stuaxo]

Does this work in Linux ?

[aantix]

You still need to download the Screenhero client to work in conjunction with the Slack client. I don't think there's a Screenhero Linux client.

[kerbalspacepro]

how often do you go into the office now?

[jbuss]

The plan is to go once per quarter for a week. We try to plan it around product kickoffs or team (for fun) off-sites.