I wanted this title to be slightly more provocative. I don’t really think that remote work is all bad. But, I have strong opinions about building great companies, with great culture, and letting people grow (professionally, and personally), without allowing them to interact in a way that even modern technology does not currently allow us to.

The Interactions

Interactions through any collaboration tool will be inherently slower, because it is hindered by the very technology that lets it exist. Internet connections are slow, they drop out, computers crash. Granted, even people have problems interacting in the real world, but they are solved much more efficiently.

What sort of interactions are we talking about? Well, interactions can be personal, like discussions about one’s personal problems, challenges, paths, etc. I find that the best teams I’ve had the chance to work with had one thing in common — interaction. We had/have morning coffee rituals, we go to lunches together, etc. We talk shop, personal things, everything… I’ve worked with remote teams, and I never had that same connection with them. Not until we spent time in the same office again. But then, it started falling again… Rinse, repeat. I’d argue that remote teams work great, if you keep physical contact as regular as possible.

The Challenges

When you run into a problem, the best way to solve it is to get help. The problem with remote work is that you need to actively seek help. It can’t just be a serendipity. What I’ve learned so far is that it takes a lot of experience and self-growth to be able to do that.

Asking for help does not come natural to most people.

Our natural reaction to a problem is to start seeking for a solution. For developers, this means we usually go into overtime. We start looking on forums, or things like Stack Overflow. But often, we don’t find a solution to the problem, so we continue to solve it, and work on it. This in turn leads to constantly working and working. Developers often call this “learning something new”, and it often is, but often, it’s just a farce. The sad reality is that people end up working non-stop. They loose touch with their families, or friends, or girlfriends. Trust me, I’ve been there.

If, however, you have normal, physical interaction, you can casually curse at the computer, and people will nudge you into asking a question. I think that is impossible (or really hard) to achieve without sharing an office.

In my personal, biased opinion, that means that experienced developers will generally have less problems working in a team, whereas juniors will have a much harder time.

Jason made a terrific comment. Putting together the best team, no matter where, sounds great. But the problem is, does that mean letting everyone work from their home office? Do you honestly believe that team work will thrive when that happens? I don’t.

The Disconnect

I also feel that people who aren’t constantly in the same office will have a different view/opinion of things. Which is great, to some point. We’re all allowed to have opinions, even if they are wrong, right? But what happens if that means we have different views on how to run a company, or how to lead employees, or how to build a product? Well, guess what happens — people quit. Nothing unusual, but, I tend to want to avoid it happening.

So what now?

Well, I believe that remote work is possible. And it’s not all bad. But I believe that nothing will ever be as powerful as 1:1 discussions, morning coffee breaks, lunches, etc. After all, do you know of any successful company that is fully distributed? I don’t. They all have offices, with a bazillion perks, like free lunch, free food, game rooms, etc. Would you like to guess why?

You can argue all you want, but … when your remote work takes place in a coffee shop, ask yourself, why?