
Three Dev Leaders Open Up About Remote Software Development - davetwichell
https://linearb.io/blog/3-dev-leaders-open-up-about-remote-software-development/
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cachestash
Strange that they see a clear marked improvement in productivity, developers
prefer it as they can find life balance and lose less time commuting, yet even
with all that evidence they are now working on how to get everyone to return
to the office and lessen the given productivity impact.

This is as ironic as companies complaining about skills shortage while
limiting the hiring of developers down to the small pool that can reach the
location of their offfice.

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ilaksh
I think they were also trying to say in an indirect way that they would have
to try to sell the idea of continuing the remote work to the executives.

And then the assumption is that a lot of them are not going to go for it.

Part of the equation for the executives should be that there is a strong
chance that some developers resign if they are forced to resume commuting.

Actually, I suggest that all those who like working at home and are in a
position to go without work for a period if necessary, do please tell your
bosses that you will resign if you are required to become onsite again.

Personally, I believe that this is an ethical issue. The real history of work
goes back to actual slavery. The strong push to keep workers onsite for close
monitoring is a reminder that the concept of employment is a restriction of
freedom and compulsory labor.

Another very significant aspect of this is sustainability. Reducing
unnecessary commutes is one of the biggest ways to reduce fossil fuel and
overall energy usage.

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netjiro
I've run distributed projects for a long time. Distributed is significantly
more efficient for most situations. The main benefits can be gained in an on
site environment as well, but is culturally difficult to implement since on
site organisations are already encumbered by ancient hierarchies, egos,
communication and decision patterns, etc.

In my experience it's easy to convince top management or company
owners/investors, but difficult to get middle management on board. Especially
since the requirement for middle management in a distributed project is near
zero.

When moving to wfh:

\- move to asynchronous, shared, transparent communication. Don't use email.

\- trust your people to know what to do, give them more autonomy and
responsibility.

\- stay in touch, but make sure it's on dev-schedule not management-schedule.

\- help your people to eliminate all annoying friction wherever possible. Good
audio, soundproofing, temporary walls for their house, good desk, chair, etc.
Grocery delivery, child care, errands, and so on. This stuff is cheap compared
to lack of time and focus for your devs.

~~~
riskymagemerge
You mentioned middle management do not normally add value to remote
development. How would you fix this? Besides removing the layer :-) is there
any model where they could add value?

~~~
netjiro
Traditionally middle managers are added to facilitate coordination. Today we
can expect more of our people, and we have great tools. When moving towards
higher autonomy and transparent shared communication most of the coordination
and communication traditionally done by middle management is no longer
required, and will instead run p2p between the devs while being shared and
documented on the asynchronous shared communications platform (not email!).

Many middle managers have been moved into that layer from technical roles.
They are often happy to return to more technical work.

In my projects I don't use a middle layer. I have the technical people who
have the core scientific/development/production skills and I have a final
decision layer of those who by reality have the final say over how money is
spent and which goals to prioritise.

This has worked very well up to about 50ppl with exceptionally low overhead.
That said, would not try this with people I can't trust. But I would never
hire people I can't trust.

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whowhatwhy
why does your website pop up a message and flash the title? instant tab close

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riskymagemerge
Panda Zoom background... all time.

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davetwichell
Love the coffee talk zoom meeting

