Hacker News Reader

Comment by drawkbox | Hacker News Reader

Google not able to get remote working working? Seems flawed that a system requires everyone to move to one location to work, and a broken system that lives on from the past (why take hours of employees days commuting?). There are times when that is needed, there are other times when that is bad and external insight is easier remotely.

Yahoo and possibly Google doing this, leading to more congestion in the Bay Area, and not spreading the innovation around to other cities. Google can do better.

Maybe their next move is a Costco sized open office where everyone can sit right next to one another, no need for Hangouts.

View on HN

The problem is not that they couldn't, but they wouldn't. Most of the large bay area companies believe that there is more value in the chit-chat and overheard conversations at the micro kitchen, than in solving the remote work problems.

Most of my work is remote and yet I agree with this. It's part of the reason I visit the office at least once a week, despite a 2-hour commute. There is value in casual conversation. Work topics can be raised in informal ways. People share more of their personal lives and come to know each other better, fostering understanding and relieving some of the tension that can arise from misunderstood or poorly-worded emails.

Working remotely requires a lot of attention to relationships in ways and over channels that most people aren't accustomed to. It can be difficult even for people who are very good at it. I enjoy working remotely but I value the personal face-to-face time I get with co-workers very highly.

Google has no problems recruiting. They will have 100 resumes to fill his shoes in hours. So they get to set the rules still.

It won't always be like this for them but it is right now.

So within a day, they'll have 100 resumes of people as qualified as Tim Bray? That seems sort of like a stretch. At that level, those people can work where they want to, no?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com