[Fishysoup]

I think the need for an office depends a lot on the type of work that needs to be done. If you're working in R&D or science, for example, it's really (really) hard to make much progress alone, without people bouncing ideas around, showing you how things work, whiteboards, etc.

Sure, you could do some of that on zoom, but the psychology of it is very different, and the spontaneous component of it is gone completely. It's awkward to slack someone with "hey do you want to talk about some ideas i have, using the awkward zoom annotation tool?". They'll probably say yes, but then other people who might have something interesting to contribute (or learn) will not be present. Also the feeling of interacting with people via videochat is weird, especially if you're new to the workplace.

Also, for many people it's vital to have a) a workspace that isn't your home; b) human beings around you who work on similar things; and c) a sense of community. I realize that many workplaces are toxic and don't offer any good versions of b) or c), and working remotely could be better then (though a better idea would be to find a new employer if you can). But, though many people are thriving in this new work-from-home environment, equally many or more are suffering.

Also, regarding the 4-5 hours of productivity a day: yeah! There's been a lot of studies on this, and some countries/companies have been experimenting with 4 day work-weeks or shorter workdays. There's definitely progress to be made there.

[PragmaticPulp]

> Also, for many people it's vital to have a) a workspace that isn't your home;

This is easy to forget when you don't have any children at home. Many parents with young children at home are struggling with the work from home situation.

Even among people without kids at home, having a dedicated office space can make a huge difference. When I managed remote teams, the people who carved out dedicated office spaces for themselves always seemed to do better than those who tried to work where they also played video games, for example. It's important to be able to context shift into and out of work mode.

Going into a physical office is the biggest context shift, but even at home you can create this context shift by having a dedicated work space. It doesn't have to be big or even permanent, but it's helpful to have some spacial cues that you're in work mode vs. home mode.

[minerjoe]

> context shift into and out of work mode

I find that dressing the part also helps. Something about trying to be a professional engineer in my shorts and britney spears t-shirt doesn't seem to motivate.

[neutronicus]

I emphatically do not.

Hey, my balls aren't sweating and I waste a third of the time I used to on showering! Go me!

[allenu]

You're right that the spontaneity is missing. Everything has to become formalized in some capacity to ensure everyone knows what's up as well.

Just recently I noticed that my coworkers were all jumping into a slack thread. It was a thread that was active hours earlier but that I missed out on, so I couldn't put in my input. If this was in the office, the fact that everyone was having a big conversation would be a signal to turn around and engage in it, but in the virtual world, someone has to specifically @ you to have you join, or else create a formal meeting to discuss it.

The small connections that grease the wheels of communication are gone or are more challenging when you have to do them over Slack or video call.

[sktguha]

For that maybe a setting can be there in slack that if too many people in a thread please notify me

[dasudasu]

I really don't understand this. In a cubicle farm environment, you'd walk over their desk, interrupt whatever they are doing, and ask them to follow you to a separate meeting room to use the whiteboard? And how are other people supposed to contribute if you close the door in order not to disturb anyone in the radius of this meeting room?

I found that it's much less awkward to hit them up on collaborative tools. Meetings are also much easier to spin since you don't have to herd people into a single room and convince them as hard to use their limited time on this meeting since they can just do something else in the background if they're not in another one.

[Fishysoup]

Well, in my workplace for example, there'd be spontaneous questions that would move to the whiteboard, and ideas could be fleshed out and developed there. Also, research meetings and journal clubs would be lively and full of debate. Since WFH started, none of this has been the case.

Again, i think it really depends on the people and the workplace. Some people are really content working from home, others are losing their minds.

[tomc1985]

Text chat is amazing. Maybe growing up in the heyday of chat services has made it feel natural to me, but I don't understand these complaints about how people don't feel like they can connect emotionally etc etc.

Do you need to do these interactions over Zoom? Or is it habit?

It's like, if you can connect with a book, you can connect over chat. It's just words.

[Fishysoup]

This just varies from person to person and workplace to workplace. Many people are fine without in-person interactions. Others go insane without them.