157 karma · joined November 13, 2020
1. The last few years have demonstrated that projects with teams that are primarily remote require a higher degree of project overhead staffing. I think this is most evident with very small teams. For example, it's fairly easy for a small internal tool team to coordinate their work without a project manager, design, or business analyst if they are in close phyiscal proximity. The struggle is when you distance that team from larger products/project. Even in the minimal case creating visibility for that small team into larger workstreams requires overhead itself. With the macro environment and with leaders being forced to tighten the belt, this is less and less possible. All communication has to be structured fully remotely. That structure requires management.
2. I've found about 20% of people have the ability to maintain a professional work environment at home. I'm constantly seeing in meetings where highly compensated employees are providing childcare during working hours. I'm all for flexibility, but it becomes a distraction.
3.Junior employees have little to no ability to develop skills from seniors. I have hired entire classes of employees in software engineering roles that started in a fully remote environment, realized they weren't learning anything, and then came to work in a hybrid setting.
Also Rocket recently shifted their technology strategy to build fewer point solutions in house where there was an adequate market solution available, focusing more on customer facing technology to build in house.
I find this most frustrating in work that is interrupted and explanation is sought. So for example, if I'm thinking through the most efficient way to accomplish X, taking into accounty Y and Z, and someone walks into my office and asks me what I'm working on it's frustrating stating my thought process on the spot because none of that reasoning was assembled using language.
What are others experience with this?
I want the mobility of a digital solution, so much of my documentation and task items are spread across Evernote and Trello. Except an analog solution such as a note card or post-it notes has a physical prescense that's very focused and attention grabbing.
https://www.amazon.com/Know-Debunking-Myths-about-Intelligen...
instead of IQ test -> competence signal
you have:
SAT/ACT = IQ Test -> university acceptance criteria -> degree/credentials -> competence signal
I've had to knowingly let attrition happen to prove a point.
If you can't change your company, change your company I guess.
I'm just advocating we act with more purpose and honest intention about what we're already doing.
What we're saying is that we shouldn't hold someone born without the ability to be academically successful to unreasonable standards.
This applies to everyone.