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My problem with "everyone remote" is the following scenario.

Suppose I'm sitting at my desk, and I need Bob's approval to check in some piece of code. In the current (office) scenario, I send Bob the request. If I see him lounging back in his chair, playing some game on his phone, I can walk over to him and gently prod him to approve my request. He can't deny his game-playing, so he has no option but to act right away.

In the remote world, I have no idea what's keeping Bob busy and why he's not approving my request. He could be playing games or out for a walk with his dog... or he could be fighting a (metaphorical) fire.

What we need is some sort of a "presence" signal. Unfortunately, we can't have one without some privacy issues.



I dunno. Even in all my in-person office experience, the person I need to get an approval from is not within eyesight 99% of the time.

If it's urgent, you ping them over chat, then send them an e-mail if they don't immediately respond. If it's less urgent, just an e-mail.

It's none of my business what's keeping Bob busy. He'll see my requests soon enough. If it's incredibly urgent, I'll call. If he doesn't pick up, that's on him.




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