Idea of needing to see you to know you’re working persists

Even remote companies are having a tough time moving past the concept of an office.

The idea of needing to see you to know you’re working persists, even virtually.

Enter the rise of browser-based and VR virtual offices, complete with features like:

🗄️ Virtual cubicles
🗣️ Virtual taps on the shoulder
🏓 Virtual ping pong & foosball tables
🧑‍💼 Managers can “walk the floor” virtually
💧 Virtual watercoolers for unexpected face time with execs

Virtual overtime and crunch, anyone?

And a VR office… who could stomach wearing a headset eight hours a day?

We’re perpetuating all the dysfunctions and distractions of the office virtually.

Let the office go.

As the fully remote 37Signals (makers of Basecamp) put it:

“Don’t emulate the office.

Work remotely, not locally apart. Don’t just have the same meetings on Zoom, have fewer meetings. Rather than discussing everything in real-time, communicate asynchronously instead. Rather than feel the need to know where everyone is, let go and trust more. Don’t try to emulate the office and everything it stands for — stand against it.”

✊ Let’s say that again -> Don’t try to emulate the office and everything it stands for — stand against it.

❓Why are we so tied to the idea of an office?