Ask HN: Did pandemic tools bridge the remote and in-person gap?

4 points·AlwaysNewb23··4 comments

What tools have had the biggest impact?

Tools are just that. Tools. They can not make up for poor management and mediocre leadership.

My experience has been (read: anecdotal), companies that had little or no pre-pandemic experience with remote workers continue to struggle with the idea. They - like this question? - assumed that Slack is some sort of panacea. These outfits have made little to no adjustment in management and leadership styles based on the switch to that tool (and little if any IRL meeting).

Remote will never be in-person, and vice versa. They each have different "features". That said, people are people. Going days, maybe even weeks, without a random ping from your manager, "Hey, let's grab a coffee and Zoom for 10 minutes" isn't Slack or Zoom's fault.

As it's said: A fool with a tool is still a fool.

Absolutely agree. Success in remote work is more about adaptable management and proactive communication, less about just having digital tools. It's a shift needing a deeper revision of traditional managerial practices. Digital communication can feel impersonal, and without meaningful interactions, a sense of detachment can creep in. It's up to the leadership to ensure tools like Slack and Zoom are used to foster connection, not just replace in-person interaction. The pandemic has truly tested adaptability for many organizations.

It depends a lot on the employees too, not just the tools and the management.

Yes. But leadership and management currate who gets hired. They also currate the culture. Tools sit on that foundation. Tools are not the foundation.

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