[lostcolony]

You mention it, but I want to harp on it -

There is a huge, huge difference between being a remote employee on a mostly colocated team, and a fully distributed team.

I would NOT take a job that had me be remote to a colocated team, unless you have experience doing that, and the team in question has experience with remote members already.

Transitioning from an onsite to a remote role on the same team is different, as you already have carved out what expectations you have with your team, and going remote doesn't change those. But starting out like that makes it so only -you- have the communication difficulties. That conversation that changed all the priorities this sprint that happened in a hallway? You missed it. No one thought to tell you. Etc. That sort of thing -happens-, and it's very hard to solve.

A fully remote team, however, hard as it may be, at least doesn't suffer from that. Everyone -has- to be cognizant of who is involved in a conversation; every conversation requires a bit of effort, be it on Slack, email, the phone, video conferencing, etc. That little extra effort that is required for any conversation ensures all the relevant parties get looped in (unlike a conversation at someone's desk or in the hallway).

That's huge.

So, if you haven't worked remotely before, look for a fully remote team, or look to transition from a colocated job to a remote one. I would seriously consider staying clear of being a remote employee on a colocated team.

[chasd00]

"I would NOT take a job that had me be remote to a colocated team, unless you have experience doing that, and the team in question has experience with remote members already."

yes! That is very good point and can't be overstated. Being the only remote worker on an otherwise face-to-face team takes an almost peerless manager and team. Even if it starts off well i've seen it devolve to where the remote team member is left out of all discussion and becomes just a place to park tasks.

[longerthoughts]

As somebody doing this now I am absolutely out of the loop on certain discussions but while it's often challenging, it can actually be helpful in certain cases. Many of my teammates end up being roped into meetings and ad-hoc tasks as backup but ultimately provide little or no input and just waste their time. Meanwhile, I'm protected from a lot of the distracting, low-value work and am left to focus on things I'm leading and anything important enough to be communicated to the group as a broadcast or call to action. Additionally, my group has become so accustomed to working in a way that accommodates remote work that the colocated team members have started working from home more often, encouraging further adjustment to support remote work. That being said, I don't think my arrangement would have been successful without having my manager and a couple of colleagues acting as my advocates on the ground.

[paulryanrogers]

Good management will also avoid including people unnecessarily and encourage a culture where people can depart when it's obvious they're not needed. I tried making an early exit from meetings more acceptable with humor. But ultimately everyone has to buy into the idea.

[sas1ni69]

Where were you when I took my first remote job?! I had the misfortunate of working on a team that was mostly colocated ANDDDDD in a completely different time zone. 11 hours ahead.

North America vs Asia.

Talk about isolation. Don't do it folks.

[Spoom]

IMHO there needs to be at least two hours of overlap for remote teams in different time zones to be feasible. This can work if one of the teams adjusts their schedule to fit, but otherwise it leaves the remote team out in the cold.

[_ea1k]

That is all exactly right. It is really hard to overstate just how important this is.

Even just having one or two workers collocated can create strange cultural problems and weird duplications of work due to communications breakdowns.

[rwagen]

I couldn't second this statement more. I've been on both. Remote with a colocated team is a special kind of hell. You are out of the loop on so much and the isolation is overwhelming.

[timmaah]

Hell? I'm out of the loop a bit for sure, but in two hours when we do our sprint planning.. their backdrop is a tiny windowless office while mine overlooks the pacific ocean.