The importance of offtopic

Summary

The importance of offtopic Apr 15, 2025 · 1200 words · 6 minute read · go back The early days 🔗I’ve been working remotely for over a decade – way before it was cool. My first big job in the industry had me as one of two people in Warsaw, with the rest of the team in Oslo. I’ve never seen any of my Norwegian co-workers at that point, but one the first pieces of direct feedback I got from my manager was: “the teammembers like you; they feel like you’re part of the team.” That was nice to hear, but not that surprising. There was an IRC channel after all, where we worked of course, but also chit-chatted about random bullshit – and where I learned enough about Star Trek to feel obliged to watch it to understand all the jokes. Opera facilitated – and encouraged – an online space where employees could just hang out, relax, and get to know each other. A place not unlike the kitchen in a physical space. A place where people came in, said “good morning” and a natural “how’s it going” and “long time no see” ensued. The now-dying concept of being online was still alive and well then, but even those with persistent sessions still adhered to the hi-bye social ritual. And so natural human interactions happened. This, for me, was the natural extension of the work I did in open-source communities. There’s an IRC channel where work happens, and one where people mingle when they’re not busy. Sometimes it’s the same channel, and social protocols ensure that no shenanigans go on while people actually need that space to work. It’s been working for years, and actually maps to physical spaces pretty well – so why should industry jobs be any different? The pandemic panic 🔗A few good years later Covid happened. I was working in a consultancy, a remote worker as usual, with the usual assortment of on- and off-topic channels (though we have switched to Matrix at some point) that ensured that I know the people I work with and I want to hang out with them. That company was all-remote, and we jok...