
The sad, sick life of the business traveller - tosh
https://www.economist.com/gulliver/2015/08/17/the-sad-sick-life-of-the-business-traveller
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llamataboot
I am always shocked at the amount of travel that companies assume needs to
happen. (Hell, I'm still shocked that the majority of job posts of HN are for
local employees only, often in the most expensive city in the United States).

Async communication has its problems, and it's nice to be in the same room now
and then, but good video conferencing software/hardware is a hell of a lot
cheaper than flying people all over the world for one or two day meetings all
the time.

~~~
BostonEnginerd
Unfortunately I've found that there is no remote replacement for real face to
face interaction. Once people have good relationships, remote communication
via video conference works well. Until these relationships exist, a few hours
face to face can save weeks of email.

Edit: Remote working _can_ work well - provided that there are regular face to
face discussions.

~~~
llamataboot
Agree with using synchronous communication with video to solve things in 10
minutes instead of 2 hours of Slac back and forth, as an example, but not
convinced about the utility of in-person meetings as a regular matter of
course.

Even if you want to start things off with some face to face meeting time, I
know a bunch of people who essentially fly across the country and back every
week to sit down at a conference room table for a few hours with the same
people - some of them love the frequent flyer miles and the nights in a hotel
away from family pressure, some hate the constant airport drudgery, but none
of them think it's useful. Just what management wants them to do.

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neonate
[https://outline.com/Nhzvnu](https://outline.com/Nhzvnu)

