OK, so I'm exaggerating, because corporate travel has already been back for awhile, but it just seems really back because I did two trips three months apart. Last (last) year I went for the first time in August, then last year I met my team in real life in October. This time it was to get all of the leaders from all areas together, some 300+ people converging in Denver. It was cool to meet some of the execs in real life.
It got me to thinking, as a remote worker, we went quite a long time with this not being a normal thing. I don't have any strong opinions about what the right amount of in-person stuff is, but it's nice to have it at all. I strongly believe in the efficiency, productivity and flexibility of remote work, but it's also different to have conversations with folks face to face. I think it helps ground people a bit and makes those professional relationships more real.
As I said before, there is definitely a cognitive cost for me, since these things usually involve all-day interaction. It's a lot of time to be plugged in, for 12 hours at a time, several days in a row. It's also hard to make it work when you have a kid and a full-time working partner. Hopefully these are more limited to being six months apart.
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