I agree, but quite a few people get lonely working remotely and not having a proper office to go into, and software won't solve that (at least not until VR presence or something of the sort is really good). I've managed great engineers who have complained about this and I haven't seen a good solution.
This is more and more of a myth, to the point where it rings outright false. Tons of people work remotely successfully and don't miss walking into an office building. Basic tooling and online presence suffice.
I'm happy with my current setup. I live about an hour away from a satellite office. I go in once or twice a week by train. It's enough to get me out of the house and keep my face fresh with my coworkers but not so much that it's a burden. I fly to HQ every month or two for similar reasons.
Sure. Have a look at Eve online as an example. You have communities of thousands of people (up to 20k). And the environment is quite close to the one of the current market for corporations. They also face spying, people not doing their fair share, etc.
They work together in a scarce and hostile environment and still build an inclusive culture that make people feel at home. To the point that your alliance is in a lot of way your family, at least as much as all these companies want.
The way they do that is through multiple channels, and the game itself helps ofc. But the main tool they use is always on vocal server. Teamspeak and Mumble are the incumbent there, with Discord being the new entrant.
The way it usually works is that people are always logged in these server the moment they are online. They stay online but go in an "AFK" channel if they went away for a break. Otherwise they will be in a shared "quiet" channel. Or in a "general" channel which is about talking with each other and having a shared space.
If you go do something, like play another game, organize a squad to do something specific, have a meeting, etc. Then you create a dedicated channel.
What happens is that you get people to share the space and feel a community mostly through the vocal channel.
You also usually have a forum for longer run things and "out of band" fun. And in general you also add a slack equivalent. Historically Jabber or Discord these days.
The only thing missing is a good whiteboarding experience, but i have high hope for VR there.
So yeah anyway, always on vocal is the thing most people miss that create that feeling of belonging.
Quite a few people hate working in traditional office environments too but remote only options are still relatively rare. There's room for both approaches and probably some hybrids too. For now it still seems to me that the demand for remote work from people who prefer it outstrips the supply of good remote friendly positions.
No no, I mean a coworking space just to get out and socialize with other knowledge workers. Doesn’t need to be geographically close to other coworkers.
