"Innovation" does tend to be the reason higher-ups want face-to-face to happen, though. The reason, I believe, is the Building 20 story - an environment where people could mix their time between isolation and spontaneous meetings, and where they were uniquely empowered to change the physical infrastructure at will, seemed to lead to a remarkable number of radical innovations. Part of that story is about how innovation happens: it seemed to show that you couldn't get it from people beavering away in isolation, nor could you get it from group brainstorms all the time, you needed a mix so people could switch between deep focus on hard problems, with the occasional serendipitous ping that unlocks something.
I was hoping this article would delve into why (if) this story is not true, but it's too light.
I was hoping this article would delve into why (if) this story is not true, but it's too light.