I've been working mostly remotely for my clients (in office part of 1 day every 2 weeks; I do charge my billing rate for commute), and I enjoy remote work tremendously. I wake up at 11AM (without an alarm), and all I need to "get to the office" is go downstairs to my work desk (I don't do work anywhere else as a way of enforcing the separation and creating the routine).
"Can you look at this" at random points in time would ruin my productivity.
Open plans ruin my productivity.
Constant bullshitting at the office that has nothing to do with work ruins my productivity.
Not being able to do my work between 7PM and 2AM (when I'm the most productive) ruins my productivity.
Commute for 1.5 hours a day ruins my productivity, too.
I actually have my own company now, and while it's just me so far, when it's time to hire people I will structure it such that it's remote-first, and I will hire from all over the US, and possibly all over the globe when the company size allows.
You don't need an office for team cohesion. You don't need a bunch of meetings for that either. You just need reasonably clear goals and responsibilities (this is the hard part, but only when you have no clue what to do), the rest can be handled pretty easily via email and GitHub. Have a weekly Zoom meeting you want, to sync up.
"Can you look at this" at random points in time would ruin my productivity.
Open plans ruin my productivity.
Constant bullshitting at the office that has nothing to do with work ruins my productivity.
Not being able to do my work between 7PM and 2AM (when I'm the most productive) ruins my productivity.
Commute for 1.5 hours a day ruins my productivity, too.
I actually have my own company now, and while it's just me so far, when it's time to hire people I will structure it such that it's remote-first, and I will hire from all over the US, and possibly all over the globe when the company size allows.
You don't need an office for team cohesion. You don't need a bunch of meetings for that either. You just need reasonably clear goals and responsibilities (this is the hard part, but only when you have no clue what to do), the rest can be handled pretty easily via email and GitHub. Have a weekly Zoom meeting you want, to sync up.