The Daily Commute
tl;dr: a rumination on behaviors that remain or go post-Covid.
Fred Wilson had a post the other day called “The Covid Rotation” which followed Pfizer’s vaccine-related announcement.
He began to speculate as to what new behaviors would remain in a “post-Covid” world and what behaviors would revert.
There are so many behaviors we have adopted…social distancing, no handshakes, masks, working from home, etc. and I am very curious to see which one stick.
But the one I am perhaps most curious about is the idea of the “office” and the associated “daily commute.”
When my kids went back to school in person in mid-October, they were thrilled, mostly to see their friends. Literally, they were excited to go to school.
For them, the commute didn’t matter so much.
But I wonder if the same will hold true in the workplace and, if it does, for what kind of workplaces?
I’ve been working from home for more than 15 years now and, pre-Covid, any time I had to be part of rush hour activities, driving or public transit, I just hated it.
Now that so many people have gotten 60-180 minutes per day of their lives back, I wonder what kind of role the office will play in the future.
I don’t get a lot of the social interaction that comes from an office, but I don’t mind. However, I do need to work harder to make in-person interactions happen.
Obviously, what works for me, doesnt’t work for everyone and I’d bet that the answer will be “it depends.” That’s fine, but the macro view as in “architects go to the office, but accountants work from home” or “people in NYC go to the office and people in St. Louis mostly stay home”. It’ll be venn diagrams upon venn diagrams..
The point is…now that we have a whiff of a post-Covid world, whether it’s 3, 6, or 24 months away, it’s interesting to think about.
But, as elections have taught us recently…it’s one thing to state your intention, but how you actually vote may be very different.
Designing for Digital Healthcare. Views are my own.
4 年To be fair, you have the advantage of being socially gregarious and a natural networker, which (has and) will help you create a social structure for yourself. Personally, I've always thought commuting -- including the outrageous expenses and necessary lifestyle choices that came with it -- were the dumbest thing ever. Offices are terrible and impersonal, and hoteling will only make that feel worse. I'll be glad to dispense with it. I don't make widgets on an assembly line. I shouldn't have to work that way. What I actually miss is the freedom of movement and seeing people I want to see -- not the office itself or even the city, really. I can go there whenever I want, for things I want to do. What I've also realized/recognized is that while I like my coworkers just fine, and some of them have become my closest friends, they are not my chosen/built community. I need to create the community structure I need, and it doesn't have to come from "work." Nor should it.