Where as in the office it was just walking around and seeing someone in an elevator, the hall, "hey lets catch up" or "you have a minute" or "lets get lunch"
these types of interactions just don't happen anymore
Although you're right, I did go back to the office the other day and spent a good hour talking to a co-worker about their Caribbean vacation. I hadn't had one of those in years. Not sure how that boosted innovation and productivity tho.
I think positive interactions with co workers is a productivity boost, it makes you not hate work so much.
I really don't enjoy talking about my personal life, even benign stuff, with 99.99% of coworkers, and I've found that there are plenty of ways to have positive interactions without getting into anything remotely personal.
At my company, we obviously have to chat over zoom or meet, but it doesn't have to be scheduled. The way we do it is we might be chatting on slack, spitballing ideas, doing stuff in lucidchart or some other charting software, then if it seems good we talk about it over zoom. It doesn't have to be so robotic
Pre-scheduling is ONE way of getting people in sync, but not the only way.
For me and my team, there is a LOT of ad-hoc communication, preferrably in public slack channels, which leads to extremely productive conversations.
Furthermore, these are SEARCHABLE, which is a godsend; if an issue comes up once, it's very likely to come up again.
And, of course, there are times when we just jump on a zoom call quickly to review something that may be quicker than a bunch of slack back-and-forth.
There has never been a time where I felt "damn, it would be easier if I were there in person". If anything, in-person communication has always been hampered by the very need for co-location (including arranging meeting rooms or whiteboard, etc), and it's always been difficult to view someone else's screen unless they connect to a projector or large TV, whereas zoom has made pair-and -group programming almost inevitable.
I understand the social side of people wanting to be co-located, but from a pure productivity perspective, my team has been significantly more productive since WFH.
I frequently DM people on Slack with a "How was your weekend?", "Did you see <url> on HN?" or just "We haven't chatted in a while, fancy a catchup?" That works just as well, except it's much easier for people to say they're busy when they're busy than it is face to face.
Frankly I do this even when I'm in the same office, because I can keep working while on a call.
Scheduled? Just have a group chat with the participants, if one person misses the call, no big deal. You should be syncing often enough that it shouldn't matter.
As for the informal meet-ups, if there's a need, you go chat then call. If there isn't a need, then there's no value lost.
And that's a good thing! I can't tell you how much of my day was wasted with pointless "lead in" conversation that ended up being just another business meeting. Or "lets get lunch" and it ends up being just talking about work. These are the "hello" slack messages of yesteryear. A frustrating waste of time. If you want my time schedule it, do not come up to my at my desk and ask me anything related to work. SCHEDULE IT. Otherwise once you let people into your work time they consume all of it and you end up working late every single day.
I have absolutely no interest in the personal lives of my co-workers and I strongly believe that if it can't be handled in an email, or a short meeting, then it's a problem that needs to be split up. I've carried this from junior to staff engineer and it's served me well. I zone out during long meetings and regularly work during other "important" meetings. There are very few meetings that matter to me because 99.9% of them are job justification on the part of PMs who want to hear themselves talk.
Remote has been a total life changer for me, and I've done it for the last 4 years. I am far more productive, I have a far tighter reign on my schedule, and the only thing I'm missing is those "little conversations" I couldn't care less about. I want to do my 8, clock out, and go home to do the things I actually enjoy. Remote has enabled me to do this WELL. I was miserable in the office and I enjoy life far more now. I even get the opportunity to pursue continuing education because I'm now rated based on my output rather than ass-in-seat metrics middle managers love.
