I'd have to disagree...
...based on having spent the last eight years working from home full time, and having spent two years in a previous job doing the same full time as well. these days, we have more than enough tools to be able to work remotely 99% of the time - screen sharing, video conferencing, distributed code repositories, task management software, the works. in my experience, very occasional face-to-face meetings are all that is required if the time in them is used appropriately to plan ahead, and the necessary management mechanisms are put in place and actively utilised. if you can't write it down clearly, then that's a communication problem and face-to-face meetings are only masking that issue at best, or compounding it at worst when people feel that they have to be *seen* to understand it whether they do or not.
that said, it's not something that suits everybody (even to the point of depression in some people who need the social element that an office job can bring), and some businesses will find it difficult to make the switch either due to existing personnel or technology choices, or because the people who work there prefer a different working style, or because of the nature of the working environment (e.g. working for a university or school). there's nothing wrong with either option so long as it's an informed choice, after all. however, what's going on now isn't proper working from home because there are other people and children around in said homes, and it's still being seen as a short-term thing by most people so there hasn't been proper commitment to the necessary tools and processes to make it work in the long term by either the business or the employee. if a business commits to remote working from the off, then the office is a secondary thing that may be a useful thing to have available - and yes, some meetings might be quicker and easier face-to-face, especially when planning complicated changes. that said, a permanent office is a significant cost to a business, so unless there's a clear business cost benefit it's often cheaper to invest in better tools than to pay out for an office, especially for smaller startups.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
