Thoughts from a Thirsty Bear

This article has been bubbling under for a while, triggered when I stumbled across this Twitter thread making some predictions about the near future of work. The ideas resonated with me, but this tweet in particular caught my eye: " what companies think hybrid work is and what workers think it is are two different things " I am already seeing evidence that this prediction is coming true. " Hybrid Working " is such a loaded term that misunderstandings are inevitable. Yet it is still being sold as the “best of both worlds” (office and remote) even though it is likely to become the worst of both unless companies handle things very carefully indeed. As the pandemic restrictions are eased, this will become more and more important. Before looking at how best to handle hybrid working patterns, what is it exactly? And what might the options be? "Hybrid" seems to be best defined as some people working in the office some of the time. This definition is fine, but i

I am sitting here, in front of my desk in my home office, nursing the effects of an ongoing coronavirus party through my system that has knocked me flat for a while. It is quite remarkable how much it affected me - a triple-vaccinated and reasonably fit individual. I can only assume that without the little bit of help from medical science I could have been in serious bother. So please get vaccinated! But I digress... The downtime has given me some time to muse upon the nature of remote work and being ill first-hand. Here are my thoughts jotted down between periods of brain fog (necessarily short - my current concentration span is still roughly... OH LOOK, A SQUIRREL!) If you don't feel well enough to go into a physical office, do not "go into work" remotely The wonderful thing about remote work is that you cannot infect coworkers with your germs. You can cough and splutter all you want over your own keyboard and screens ( ewwww! ), but it is not going to send the entire t

TL;DR Everyone brings a piece of the  online  meeting environment with them. So: Be heard. Make sure your microphone is adequate, and picking you up clearly. Don't mute unless you have to. Be seen. Use a decent camera, with good lighting, and have it on by default unless there is a reason not to. Turn off self view. Be aware of your square. Watch your background, and learn how to stay in shot. D on't be afraid to check your setup  with a colleague, and get feedback.

  “The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development  team is face-to-face conversation.” The Agile Manifesto’s 6th Principle.   Obvious, isn’t it? The fastest, easiest, best way to exchange information is to actually talk to people . From this simple premise comes the recommendation of “collocated teams” - so that people can communicate with minimal friction. I shall put my hand up and admit that I have fully supported this idea for years, and have regularly encouraged teams to adopt it, usually with fantastic results. There can be no doubt that the approach works extremely well. Not working together in the same physical space forces compromise since it  reduces collaboration unless people actively work to come together. Information flow happens more slowly, and becomes more ‘clunky’. Also people lose the subtle cues from body language, half-heard discussions, and instant team timeouts to discuss important issues or design dec