Remote Work for Engineers in 2024
The Ongoing Confusion about Whether Remote Work Actually Works
The Executive Brief
Full time in the office, fully remote or hybrid? This question is top of mind for both executives and workers these days. The popular press and research organizations regularly pump out articles on the topic that are often contradictory.
While there is no simple answer that fits all situations, I do have the experience of speaking with many leaders from many organizations of different sizes and in different verticals on the topic.
What I found was a little surprising even to me.
First, none of them gave kneejerk reactions based on a desire to micro-manage. They gave thoughtful, well-reasoned answers all based on the same underlying motive - what is the best thing for their company.
Out of those conversations I developed a framework for deciding what works best for your organization which I discuss at length in this week’s article.
Btw, before you dive into it, here are the most interesting bits in technology from the last week.
The UN adopted a global resolution on AI to ensure "safe, secure, and trustworthy AI systems.”
While there is no enforcement mechanism, the resolution echoes the EU AI act passed last week, Biden Executive Order last October, and other pending legislation around the world. AI is going to be regulated. The question is whether it takes the restrictive route taken by the EU or the self-described "pro-innovation and pro-safety" approach taken by the UK.OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has started dropping hints about the next iteration of ChatGPT. Unnamed customers who have seen demos say it is "way better."
We can expect speculation to increase exponentially up until the actual announcement. Until then, we have a pool going in the office about potential features. The most popular one so far is “mowing the lawn” followed closely by “assembling furniture from Ikea.”Jaroslaw Sokolnicki at Microsoft published an excellent article about how CTOs of the future will need to evolve.
Whether you believe Microsoft is the best thing since sliced bread or a "wretched hive of scum and villainy", it is a good article.
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Remote Work for Engineers in 2024
Let’s cut right to the chase: remote work does work for engineers in 2024.
A lot of companies nowadays know how to set it up right. And good engineers know how to handle themselves in remote work situations.
Of course, business stakeholders still question the productivity levels of remote teams. But I consider those kinds of questions to be completely normal. It’s natural to be curious about productivity, and for non-technical stakeholders to be confused as to whether the business will still get the most out of their engineering investments or not.
Unfortunately, there are no definitive studies that prove much of anything when it comes to remote work for engineers and you’ll get arguments on both the pro-remote and anti-remote sides. Thus, the debates continue well into 2024.
More recently, however, companies across the world, are asking engineers to come back to the office.
There is rampant speculation about what’s behind these new policies. Ideas range from wanting higher productivity, to real estate valuation reasons, to these policies being a not-so-subtle way to lay people off.
Whatever the reasons may be for the back-to-the-office push, the question still remains for CTOs and technology leaders: which model works best? Remote, hybrid or onsite?
COVID changed many things about how engineers work, but I think getting to the answers about what to do with remote work are actually pretty clear in 2024.
Here’s what not to do, first. CTOs shouldn’t make the remote work decision based on:
The industry
What other companies are doing / trends
Their own popularity amongst their teams
Because they personally like one model over another
Or even company culture
This is what most experts espouse to CTOs.
How to Decide on Remote, Hybrid or Onsite
The formula is fairly simple for deciding is simple for most companies & technology teams. It boils down to 5 key questions every CTO should ask themselves before deciding on remote, hybrid or onsite.
How pressing is your need for engineering talent?
Are there foundational technical problems that you need solved, fast?
Is there a strong need for innovation (net new products / unique technologies)?
How technically senior & mature in terms of personality are your team members?
Where is your business located?
Let’s look at each of these one by one.
If your need for engineering talent is significant and you can’t find it locally you’re probably going to need to go hybrid. If your companies’ offices are in a tier 3 city and you’ve tapped out the local market for engineers, you may even need to go fully remote or at least nearly fully remote.
You might have some foundational technical challenges that need resolving in a timely manner. If contractors aren’t going to cut it for whatever reason, then this could be a compelling reason to go hybrid with FTEs. You’ll be able to find specialized talent from across the country/world that may be able to address your tech issues.
Does your business need to strongly innovate? If yes, then this might actually be a reason for your team to be onsite. I’m a believer in people coming together to drive technical innovation. It can happen remotely, but it usually lacks the same potency. Of course, the hybrid model can also achieve this but there’s magic in everyone being together (at least some of the time).
Are your people well-suited to work remotely? Are they are a young and immature team, or a very seasoned and mature team? The personalities and predilections of the actual people on your team will largely determine whether remote, hybrid or onsite will work. You’ll have to take stock of each individual, as well as the overall team dynamics.
Is your business located in a small town in the middle of the Arizona desert? If so, then you might have to go remote! Arizona is awesome (especially Tucson for off-roading). But all joking aside, companies should think long and hard about their physical location before deciding on the onsite model. It might be fine now, but will that work in the long term?
Closing Thoughts
Most companies don’t know the right questions to ask themselves when deciding between remote, hybrid and onsite. As a CTO, if you know the right questions to ask you’ll craft a proper approach for your business.
2024 will continue to see massive ups and downs with company policies on remote work. Don’t read into these trends & shifts too much. Ask yourselves the 5 key questions above and then do what’s right for your business.
Here are some other articles from Technocratic that you may enjoy as well: