Patrick Atwater
@patwater
"For the last 3 years, American corporations have been running a radical social experiment in the form of remote work. Like offshoring and subcontracting, remote work offers a one-time boost in economic efficiency in exchange for permanently damaging the growth and diffusion of process knowledge. Talk to workers who love remote employment, and you hear a lot of: “I’m just as productive at my [narrowly defined] job”, with scant recognition of the positive externalities their presence in the office might bring." https://www.thepsmiths.com/p/review-flying-blind-by-peter-robison
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Patrick Atwater
@patwater
"Maybe they’re right. Maybe the cafeteria conversations, the glancing over a newbies’ shoulder and gently correcting his technique, the zero-friction questions and suggestions and learning by watching others at work, maybe none of it matters. At Boeing, it took years before the invisible unraveling of their engineering community produced visible effects — cost overruns, schedule slips, design errors, manufacturing defects, and finally a deadly catastrophe. The thing about mortgaging the future for short-term benefit is that everything looks great until everything suddenly looks terrible. But maybe it’ll be fine in this case. I guess we’ll find out."
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