100% remote companies - Pitfalls of remote work?

You can sit in a cafe on the next table and do not know that you are working on the same project right now. LOL ;)

Hey, I definitely think communication can be a huge pitfall of 100% remote companies. Video call fatigue is REAL and can be such a drain on energy, creativity and concentration. We use Orbital - an audio first virtual space for remote teams. I'd love to invite all of you down to our co-working sessions on a Thursday morning. You can sign up for free here https://launch.orbital.chat?laun... I hope to see some of you there :)

Even when being fully remote, I think it's important to have some physical meetings scheduled a few times per year. It does make a difference in terms of building a cohesive team.

My full time job is as a remote engineer, and I live 5 min from my office... smh. Here is my take on remote work as an employee - Some people like it; Some people hate it; Most want a mix; - Regardless of the positive effects remote work has on morale, it will decrease efficiency. Not because people are less effective when working remote, but because communication is. - Conways Law says that the System reflects the communication of the ones who built it. - 100% Remote is going to give you a bad product in a late fashion - Go for something in between remote and in person, maybe 2 days remote and 3 days in office - If you can't do this, then you should encourage in-person meetups as frequently as you can afford - Lastly, if you can't do in-person / hybrid or regular meetups, than your product team will have to be very disciplined. Meetings will take longer, and this is okay. Developers will slack off - this means more hands on management (trust me, I am a dev). And most importantly, adjust timelines for features. Things will take longer to make, most of the time. I hope I don't seem cynical, I just don't think that in person interaction will ever be replaced by video chat or IM

First, I am a true believer of remote working. It provides a lot of flexibility (time, localization), avoid a ton of stress (heavy traffic, train schedule etc.) without losing the team productivity. However, remote companies will face two major issues in my opinion: 1) Time difference: This can be managed by using async communication and common sense. There are a ton of great article. Check out Gitlab manifesto for instance (https://about.gitlab.com/company...) 2) People engagement: This can be managed via Team events. By spending a few days with your teammates in a memorable place, sharing some time together, will make your team get stronger. For this, I would vote for "Teamout" which allows remote companies to organize their team retreats. Check them out, they are on PH (https://www.producthunt.com/post...) Hope this will help! Cheers