WFH/Lockdown/Future of office work

[unixman]

Great thread. There are indeed 1000 variables, but it seems there must be more WFH in future, where appropriate. It just makes sense.

In my experience, tech companies seem to be the most relaxed about WFH, whereas banks are the most paranoid.

For straightforward development. it's a no-brainer, surely? One chap said his team find it beneficial be able to look over each others shoulders. On the other hand, hasn't most of the FOSS world always been WFH? Those 15000 contributors to the Linux kernel have never met each other, right (?) unless at the occasional conference.

[Hobosapien]

I think the pandemic has just accelerated a trend for 'first world' humans to become more socially distant via technology. From kids becoming 'indoor cats' staring at screens rather than playing out with local kids, to online learning and social media, to dating apps, all allowing interaction without needing physical contact until that itself becomes a desire.

See also the decline in the traditional pub where younger generations are not using them to the same extent as the oldies, instead choosing other venues such as coffee shops or sports bars if they socialise in public at all.

So no surprise that the trend for business to incorporate WFH or remote working is driven by the younger generations running businesses and it's the old dinosaur management that try to keep hold of people in sight in open plan offices for ego as much as practical purposes.

I expect a mix of WFH and hotdesking requiring smaller offices is likely to become more popular for those where staring at a computer screen is the primary physical activity, as people get more accustomed to the flexibility that brings and gives the best of both worlds for optimum performance and best fit for individual's circumstances and preferences, driven by reduced overheads and a happer workforce for staff retention.

[password]

In my opinion it is "the future of work".

Provided that the business/management can retain productivity, there are no real downsides for a business.

With that in mind.. I have decided I will be moving out of London and purchasing a home outside of the commuter belt. I can foresee that in the next 1-3 years I will be able to find jobs where I travel to London for 2/3 days every week/two weeks.

In the longer term I suspect this could put pressure on salaries for my profession.

I am a software engineer and a lot of my work can be done remotely.

[rocktronAMP]

The Agileeesta's all say that co-location is the only way to work.

While that is the ideal and works for small companies, it just doesn't fly for big companies with out-sourced workers or global teams.

(I'm not disagreeing with the premise, just that we have to make distributed working work better.)

Also explains why the "Linux" the Open Source operating system UNIX clone (Linux - Wikipedia) could never have been built by a single corporate entity. It really depends on the "culture" of the business and, suddenly , now with COVID-19, all the playing cards have been flung in the air.

Actually, there is more to this question, regarding how people feel about town environments and city planning. In the past, the history of the industrial revolution has shown, people will flock to the [mega]cities for work, but now that perception might dramatically change, when work can partially completed from home or from a nearby shared workspace. So it is an interesting discussion on the future ways of working and home living...



PS: Has anyone here read Daniel H. Pink's book, Drive about intrinsic motivation? For IT contractor, I thought this had a lot of decent ideas...

[LondonManc]

The other thing about measuring productivity and working from home is that it happens anyway with agile. People not producing get found out at the sprint review at the latest. Virtual stand-up, talk about what you did yesterday, what you'll be doing today, etc. All fairly straightforward.

[ladymuck]

The other thing about measuring productivity and working from home is that it happens anyway with agile. People not producing get found out at the sprint review at the latest. Virtual stand-up, talk about what you did yesterday, what you'll be doing today, etc. All fairly straightforward.

Is that's what's supposed to happen

[LondonManc]

Is that's what's supposed to happen

You'd think so. We've got people on the project who don't even know what the five scrum ceremonies are. <waits for people to go and find out....>

[GhostofTarbera]

You'd think so. We've got people on the project who don't even know what the five scrum ceremonies are. <waits for people to go and find out....>

Wink circle?


Sent from my iPhone using Contractor UK Forum

[ladymuck]

You'd think so. We've got people on the project who don't even know what the five scrum ceremonies are. <waits for people to go and find out....>

I am happy to say I haven't got a scooby. Never claimed to know all the agile shizzle and am generally not interested. I get the overall gist and that's enough for me to do my job.

[BR14]

The other thing about measuring productivity and working from home is that it happens anyway with agile. People not producing get found out at the sprint review at the latest. Virtual stand-up, talk about what you did yesterday, what you'll be doing today, etc. All fairly straightforward.

aye, right.
we don't have to worry about all that sh1te in my game yet, thank feck
we just get on, and get it done, despite the powerpoint monkeys and fake rugby players.