Working remotely - the good, the bad and the ugly

By now, we all have our opinions on working remotely, and quite frankly, the opinions seems to be drifting further apart into two very distinct camps (Sound familiar ?).

I won't cover the familiar arguments, but I will say this ...... while I love waking up later and not having to listen to a full podcast episode in the traffic, I'm starting to believe that there are certain things that can only really be done in person.

One of the nice things about being in a customer facing role , before lockdown, was visiting different offices, meeting new people everyday , and also hosting both customers and partners at our offices.

In fact, some of our partners have mastered the fine art of camping in our cafeteria, waiting for you to come down and grab a coffee where they can intercept you with an idea they have had bubbling for a while ( you know who you are ). Now, while I've also mastered highly specialized avoidance techniques that I can call upon, the fact is...... those impromptu meetings often lead to new ideas, business leads, unblocking of blockers on projects and all sorts of other things.

The same would be true when people like myself travel to a customers office - you always bump into people in corridors, have an impromptu coffee and sometimes, if urgency is needed, a proper meeting soon afterwards.

These "corridor" conversations and impromptu coffees aren't happening during this lockdown, and I'm starting to wonder what the business impact is....

....for example, its not the same doing a technical whiteboard session covering a complex topic remotely

Of course, we are very fortunate if this is the most of our worries, there are people who either have to work in person and put themself at risk, people who have lost jobs, and also people who are being affected negatively by being in lockdown. Here's a quick clip I found that touches on this.

Another point I will make, on human interaction , is that meetings are taking place only with immediate team members or people working with you on specific projects. That means that there's a whole building full of people interaction that isn't happening, whether at lunch time or just walking to another meeting. Of course, this is important , think of all the people NOT in your immediate work circle that you haven't interacted with in months. You may not realize it but that interaction is probably important to destress you between meetings etc.

I'll conclude by saying this - there are some days where remote work is great, and if we ever get back to normal, I would like the option of doing it more. I certainly don't hate it , and some jobs are suited to being remote perhaps even 100% of the time.

But....human interaction is important. I think that you'll find that I'm not the only one driving to the office when it opens up ,traffic or no traffic.

My dog wanted you to know that he gets more walks since I'm working remotely.....

The Good : No traffic , flexibility, dog is happier

The Bad : Above

The Ugly : When the camera should not have been switched on......