I did software work for most of my career and am a huge fan of remote and hybrid arrangements.

But having started a hardware robotics company… it does seem more difficult to run the team remotely. When we get together in person, everything moves faster. We have more equipment. EEs can fix things on the spot. Perception engineers can perceive their algorithm’s behavior in front of their face. We can mitigate safety concerns with proper protections.

I wish we could all be remote, but I think the team does need a component of hybrid to pool resources and move faster. I only say this as there’s a lot of “C-suite bad they just want to micromanage” and I feel like it’s not that simple for many businesses.