Modern testing for modern stacks

We have gotten into the habit of thinking deeper about one topic on a weekly basis. We pick topics based on anything interesting we read - so the topics can range from 'how to express the value of testing' to 'Dieter Rams' design principles' to 'effective remote work habits'. Employees are guided to spend no more than one hour researching the topic online. The emphasis is on coming up with their own ideas and interpretations. We then meet as a group to exchange ideas. I love this habit and consider it one of the more unique benefits you will enjoy at Qxf2.

Topic: Dangers of remote working

17-Jan-2017

We read an article that talked about the downsides of remote work. Given that we care about maintaining a remote team, we thought hard about its downsides and how we can play defense.

Our thoughts

Arun

Remote working is simply a way of working. It is not better or worse than working from an office. Too many people apply to Qxf2 thinking remote work is a fantastic perk. But really, it is just a different way of doing business and comes with its own set of trade-offs. I'll point out that having off-days is a real downside. The better the engineer you are, the less likely you will be called out about it. At Qxf2, just be open about off-days. We have enough experience to help you work through your problems instead of just preaching productivity. I also think that, in the near future, we will have many more ideas on how to tackle problems associated with remote work. The reason being, India will soon have a vibrant remote work culture and more people will be willing to share their problems and solutions. Final point - I am going to make this article mandatory reading for all future employees ... just so we set realistic expectations.

Avinash

You can refer to this link for my thoughts on this topic.

Shweta

It was a nice article where author has explained the pros and cons of the remote working. I am not much aware of the disadvantages of remote working but I agree with the author at some point like we do not get the social benefits of co-working. If we are remotely connected then we may not much socially connected with our colleagues, somewhere communication lags with our co-workers. This article is very useful for those who is going to start working, to analyze themselves and choose what kind of environment is suitable for them. It is totally depend on the person's personality that in what environment they can work. Mostly the introvert people prefer to work in peace and quite places and they can increase their productivity in this kind of environment but if people who are extrovert, they mostly prefer to work with team. So it depends on person to person.

Rohit

It is a good article, the author is talking about the good and the dark side of remote working. I have still not started experiencing those issues with remote working, but I think there are some issues I would like to point out like since we are not working with the team on the same location. We don't have more social interaction with the colleagues. Even if we are interacting virtually, its not the same as in the actual office or getting the lunch together in office. There is also a lack of routine in our lives, when we don't have specific separation of workplace and home space, it can be sometimes hard to "switch off" and stop thinking about the work we have to do. Remote working also brings a lot of distractions from personal life like family matters or the TV may beg you to watch for an hour or two. We have to completely depend upon technology, we have to make sure we are easily reachable to others. Finally it depends on the individuals, what type of work environment they prefer to work.

Annapoorani

The author mentioned, each people will have the different mindset, different environment and we should find the right environment that fits for us.Even though we are working remote, we have a proper channel to communicate and every three months we are meeting each other.We will be coming to know what kind of work all are doing in the office during the sprint.Though remote working offers a more flexible environment, it leads some healthy and safety hazards also.If we are working remote, we should need the proper time management.we should set the time strategy to start and finish our work.Though it will be productive, We should not extend our work till the task to be completed.And the author specifies about the social life also.We should go out of our work and should interact with others.The most important to come out of the remote working is to whenever we feel so stressed or could not concentrate, just leave the work go for a walk or talk to the friends and come back and start doing the work, we feel focused now.The main important in remote working ie work from home is should need effective time management, allot time for work, friends and workout.

Rajkumar

It's quit good article by the author. Like tossing up the coin it has both the consequences, positive as well as negative, To start with positive the advantages are we don't travel anywhere, so we are not making any disturbance to traffic since we can work in Remote places. We will be saving time on travel and even if we are in Remote place we will be Communicating each other through various communicating networks. We will be connected to each other where we will be knowing on what others are working. We can work with peace of mind since we will be working from our own place. Coming to negative part, We don't have more social interaction with the colleagues, even if we are interacting through various network channels, its not the same as in the actual office. Even few people cant be potential enough through this since they will have many Distractions like Family issue, commitments, TV, etc. Each people will have the different mindset, so It differs from people to people. We should find the right environment that fits for us.

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