We had all the history of working in an office… but only a few years of working remotely and at worst… it was only slightly “worse” (productivity-wise) and that’s not considering we started it all in a fucking pandemic!
Remote work is not for every type of job and not for everyone (some people did experience remote working in other settings and didn’t like it), there are valid reasons against it and moments or places where it’s not the best tool.
However, there are lots of reasons that have nothing to do with whatever anyone might say about remote working being good or bad that will be outside the scope of this article because for some reason, remote working became something controversial and for reasons unrelated to working remotely.
In any case, this article explores my journey through remote work—from the initial pandemic shift to the challenges and benefits I’ve experienced as a programmer with a business background and finally, how to make it even better.
Let's remember some things
If you're reading this anywhere near the publication date, then we probably share that we went through the pandemic. And for many, myself included, that was the first time working remotely.
Some liked it and don’t want to go back to an office, others hated it and never want to try again.
But here comes the reminder: It was not all bad or all good.
We have to remember that it was a pandemic, even though some people tried to pretend otherwise. People got separated, stressed, lonely, worried… there were a lot of emotions going on and the lockdowns didn’t help.
However, today, without a pandemic, things get a little different. You can work from home and then go outside without worries, you can work and then go see your friends and do something else later.
Remote working in today’s setting is something different than it was there. And if the worst estimates were that remote work was only slight worse… with all that that was happening, then what about nowadays when it's so much better?
Why I’m writing this?
A long time ago… or what seems so long ago… I would “just go to work” because that was just “normal” and then came the pandemic and I went full remote.
The pandemic “ended” or at least the danger of it because of vaccines, I moved cities to return to working in an office, now far away from home.
We all had to go back to the offices “forgetting” about remote work only to have this shiny new thing called “remote work” introduced, step by step, but not fully remote.
When I moved, I preferred getting a place near the office, but it didn’t support enough space to work remote. So I just continued going to the office while squeezing some walking every day.
A few months back, a family member had some health issues and would go under surgery and I went back home to help.
Finally back in the office, again.
The pandemic again?
Having to go back to remote for medical reasons… it kinda felt like the pandemic all over again.
This led me to revisit a time when remote work was all new and fresh to almost everyone.
This time, however, some things were different, more like they should and could have been if we had "reached" remote working by other means.
“Full remote”, but in a weird way.
Because of internal rules, I couldn’t actually work fully remotely for the whole month. I could, however, fill the days I should be in the office by burning my PTO and vacation days.
First and foremost, my programmer and business sides will agree that having to stop multiple times in a short period is just bad.
It’s impossible to have any kind of momentum or to have any long-term project properly done like this. This was an unfortunate effect of the rules I had to follow, and it was just plain bad.
Now we can enter a place where while internally business and programmer sides agree, other people might not.
The first pause I had to do, just before starting a new project… now, that one was good.
It was a way to “clear all the cache” from what I was doing before and reset in lieu of the new project.
It IS a problem that “agile” makes us go through a marathon of sprint after sprint. Just plain wrong, even when you try to consider what the original manifesto was about or even what Scrum and other “agile methodologies” preach.
You sprint, you review… and that means some stop has to happen. Then and only then can you have another sprint.
This part is not even about remote, but I believe those downtimes can improve quality anywhere!
The bad part of the pandemic, again.
Remember when I said that not everything was bad?
Well, some things were, and I went through that again. You might remember being stressed, tired, afraid… all that happened because the medical reasons were about surgeries and then complications for someone over 80.
There were days I could throw myself at work while other’s, work was a chore to be done with. I would leave it to your imagination, but considering we all went through a pandemic… it was kinda like that.
Something we didn’t have in the pandemic
Especially when there were lockdowns, and maybe my family did go a little too overboard on those, and afterward… But in this case, I could just go out and see friends, go to the movies, go out for a run… I wasn’t in a lockdown and could let some steam out in more ways.
This and the last point is not something that applies only to remote, but since the office is a “place for working” and culture in general, we tend to keep things to ourselves.
It’s probably obvious to point out, but some displays of emotion would probably generate a lot of problems in the office.
The weirdness of hybrid
When this new “hybrid” thing came, sometimes I would be the only one in the team in the office while everyone would be remote.
While there were always some teams on the same floor, there were days I could look left and right and see no one near.
Then, finally, I saw another side where I would be the only one remote while the others were in the office.
When I was going to the office “just because”, in Portuguese, for many of my days I would say “entrou quieto e saiu calado”, which literally translates to “came in silent, left without a word”. Not sure what kind of similar idiom there is for that, but for a long time, I was always there, but aside from some nods and “sup”/“hey”/“morning” and other non-communications caused just because crossing in the corridor or accidentally looking people in the eye… I didn’t actually have much meaningful connections there.
Because of that, I would be really surprised if anyone actually were to miss me there in the office…
Remote Work is Good
Story out of the way, where does remote work shine:
Assume Async Communication
You can just assume they aren't there and drop a message.
When they read, they will respond. Same for you! When you just want to focus on what you’re doing, you can just ignore anyone and everything else and focus.
Now… try doing that with someone looking over your shoulder!
A Better Routine
I remember something Uncle Bob said, that when estimating, you have to account for the days when everything goes wrong.
Since I walked a lot, I would often get annoyed by how carbrain the city is. This should go into the estimations, and it will bring the estimates up.
But remotely, you have a lot less “moving parts” that can break your day and throw your routine. There are, obviously, a lot more things that can go wrong, but the more we can remove, the better. (If you actually want to deliver faster.)
New Ways to Communicate
Some people like to talk and figure out their point somewhere in the middle; some thrive on that… however, putting it into text makes you think a little more.
This extra time thinking might be all some people need to solve their own problems.
Not only that, it’s easier to paste some prints that can help with whatever the communication is about.
Even in a remote meeting, flowcharts, and drawing tools are always available and can make even the most awkward person feel like participating, even without talking.
It’s Good, but it can get Better!
Async Communication is Not Mandatory
While people won’t be over your shoulder, or you over theirs… in an office environment, you can always drop by unannounced and start chatting.
Yes, in an office you would see if they were not in their seat. Online, you can just pop a call, let it ring a couple of times, and if there’s no response, then just drop a message and continue async.
I’ll assume that most meeting tools have at least “green”/“red” badges to announce people's status. If it’s green and it is something less than 5 minutes, just call. If it’s red and not that urgent, then drop a message.
On the other hand, use and abuse those statuses to tell people how they should interact with you.
Also… I’m not the fastest typist; few people are that fast, so, while async is cool and all, if you’re both having to type and then wait for the other type, both of you are there at the same time… why not upgrade the connection to a quick meeting?
Maybe it comes with being Brazilian, but I can see it getting tiring to have some pleasantries talk for a few minutes (”Good day, how are you, good, what about this and that?”), deal with what was needed really quickly, and then turn on those sitcom sketches where two lovers keep waiting for the other part to disconnect first.
And when I say quick, I mean it. No pleasantries, get on a call, start talking, solve what you need to solve, and disconnect. Simple as that!
You can always have longer meetings and save all the chit-chat for when you don’t need it to be quick.
Learn Your Tools
Depending on what you use you’ll have different features to play with. So, I can’t really help you there except with this advice:
Learn them. Use them.
It’s not all pen and paper anymore!
Remote or not, there will be features ready to be used and abused for better communication and teamwork.
Ask For Help
When we have problems we show it, be it in our faces or our sighs (or maybe throwing soft things at the screen or doing rude gestures toward it…).
In an office, you might pick that up and try to help, but remote… if you don’t tell me you have a problem, then I can’t help you.
Sometimes it will be something small or something dumb. Maybe you’ll fall into what I said above that while you write the problem you will find the solution.
We have a problem with asking for help, but you can always think of that as a way to facilitate the sharing of knowledge.
Pair Programming unleashed!
I learned about pair programming from the XP (Extreme Programming) methodology, it’s actually a nice way of working, so maybe check there why they recommend it and give it a try sometime.
But I like my personal space a bit too much to ever cogitate doing it for long stretches of time in the office.
But remote?
Each to its own IDE and weird shortcut schema (it works for me ok?) working on the same problem is more than possible with the tools for collaborative working we have online.
Then you also have mob programming, or more likely, sometimes mob programming for some learning and knowledge sharing and then mob programming for critical problem solving, as in: something extraordinary happened, and you just pop an impromptu meeting, anyone can join and try to solve the problem collectively.
You Don’t Get to Talk About Remote If You Don’t Also Do It in the Office
I stand behind what I said above that it would be weird if people were to miss me there. I can talk with the team no matter where I am and even more easily and seamlessly collaborate with people from all over the organization.
I believe this is the same for a lot of people who had to go back to the office.
If we go back to the start of the pandemic, we would see upper management asking for things they never asked before of people in the office.
There is some hardcore spyware being used by some companies to track people's mouse and keyboard, or even if they are looking at the screen with seconds precision… as if that metric actually mattered for productivity.
As people who work remotely, there’s only so much we can do. But if you are someone who has decision power, then other things are for you to do.
To sum up what I’m about to say, in the most informal and heart-to-heart way possible:
Hey, if you don’t even do this in the office, why you want this shit when remote?
If You’re Not Seen, You’ll Not Be Remembered
Some companies are announcing that remote workers will get passed over for promotions and such. However, many good workers are already passed by the “loudest” and those who “play the game”.
“Office politics” is a problem that I believe everyone already had some issue with.
People already jump jobs and departments because they are not being seen where they work, and even when they are, budgets for new hires are usually higher than the budget to keep people there...
This is an ingrained problem. Maybe knowing about it might help somewhat.
Or maybe thinking like this: if you have critical tasks to assign, who comes first to mind? Or, which kind of tasks you would assign to the person you’re evaluating? Start asking that around and you’ll find people that might be only remembered when it is to deliver.
You Can’t Network with Other Teams When Remote
Aside from being physically near some “other teams” in the office, what “networking” is there? What connections are made or collaborative problem-solving is there?
I’ll say it’s easier to gather some people from multiple teams in a remote environment than physically. Not saying gathering a bunch of people in a room doesn’t have its value, but it wouldn’t be something to do every day anyway.
Remotely, you can add and remove people as needed, and if the office is only a place for online meetings anyway… the traditional way to organize people might not even be needed (two pizzas don’t need to be a standard for a team anymore). You can have people spanning multiple teams all working on one project or objective.
In The Office, You Have No Idea What People Are Doing
From what I hear, I believe that the higher one is in the management chain, the more one might be biased toward office work.
One of the reasons is that they like to think they know what people under them are doing just because they are “seeing” them.
If you think like this, don’t kid yourself; no, you don’t. You have no idea of what people are doing most of the time. You might know what a few people are doing some of the time, maybe more like an overview… and that’s it.
Unless you’re micromanaging a team of a handful of people, maybe not even then, you wouldn’t know.
Here’s a fun experiment: take a list of people under you, and from there pick three names. What did they do the whole week last week?
Do you know? Do you actually care? Does it matter?
If it does, then go ask them! Maybe not even they will remember all that they did.
All the ways to appear busy are not what is important. If they delivered what was expected is. Because more than using the time you have in a smart way, it’s more important to look busy for the sake of not looking like you’re doing nothing. If I wanted to torture someone, mandating they do nothing in a “busy” office would be top of the list.
I think it was in the Four Hour Workweek something along the lines of “if you want to appear busy, pick some sheets of paper and start walking hastily from one place to another. The bosses will be like: now, that’s one productive employee!”
And also remember, Parkinson’s Law dictates that "Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion”.
Again, if you needed to delegate some tasks, I’m almost sure you would delegate to the same people you already delegate a lot of them. So, some people get more tasks, while others waste more time trying to look busy. All this to say: don’t assume what you think you know and use that as a metric for something else.
Conclusion
I was there and back again. Both for the remote and in the office.
Remote work is here to stay and if we believe in the “best tool for the job”, then remote working should always be considered.
Some people are choosing for themselves how they wish to work, even if it means parting ways with companies that resist flexibility.
Some companies are conflicted between the legacy way and the new ways of working.
And while there are things outside our control, some things we can certainly start doing to improve today.
We learned a lot about working in the office or remotely, and I hope my insights will push you to get better at remote working. We have been doing this for so short a period of time that it will take decades to find a point where we can say “Yep, that's about it for remote working”.
So, in this new world, there are no set paths, only opportunities. While some may erect barriers, the direction you take is entirely up to you.
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