Why aren’t more companies remote-first?
Am I the exception? I think Remote work sucks.I'd rather have proximity to co-workers so we can easily share ideas in informal ways.Sometimes you don't want to formally disperse some information but are happy to let people overhear what you think.An environment where people can find meeting rooms when they need them, can find peace and quiet when they need them but also generally have co-location means good team cohesion.If developers are remote, you will find that your code-base becomes the same. That critical FooBarAdapter becomes something that only Naimh can work on because without co-location if another developer is stuck on it, rather than grabbing her for a "Can you look at this?" over the shoulder, it gets slung over the fence in an issue or pull request.Yes, when working face to face too many (formal) meetings can be a problem, but don't abolish co-location just abolish the meetings.And don't be a cubicle farm. Yes, if you think the alternative to remote work is an anonymous grey cubicle on the 5th floor of an anonymous office block (or just as bad, the 'trendy' exposed ducts open plan office), then remote work will look like nirvana.Of course I'd also recommend being somewhere with good public transport and have flexible working hours so people aren't forced into long commutes in poluting personal transport. Also offer and allow occassional remote work to further ease that demand without losing the benefits of co-location.But whole-team remote work? No thanks!