I'm an expert in remote work. And I don’t see it as the future of work.

Several years before the pandemic arrived and forced us into a remote work debate, I was working on totally remote massive global productions. I was part of remote team that was so productive it was cited in the Financial Times in 2009 as ‘the future of work.’ And I became an evangelist for the concept.

My work is in the animation and video game industries, both long-term masters of remote global pipelines. The COVID crisis was handled efficiently by every video game producer I knew. Barely a beat was missed. It was impressive. And depressing too. Because even in this field of aggressive introversion, the isolation can crush people.

Now the world is coming to terms with the endemic future of COVID. It’s not going away. Bosses are demanding people return to offices. But there’s a resistance. And a fierce debate.

What surprises me is that after working successfully from home for over 15-years, I’m pro-office. And the reason is straight-forward: Privacy.

I sometimes resent the intrusion of work into my home. I miss the rituals of preparing for a work day, leaving the home, returning and stripping off my work face and relaxing, shutting the door on tbe world. Now the world is in my home 24/7.