Jason Fried has a contrarian view on remote work and shared culture:

Om M. On the other hand, there is something to be said about spontaneity of working together and bouncing ideas off each other.

Jason F. We use Campfire for this. We’re in it all day long. And if I don’t want to pay attention I can put the window away. Unlike when you are in person with a bunch of people – you will be bothered whether you like it or not.

Om M. I am new to the whole virtual start-up thing, and I find myself getting the cabin fever, and missing the company of colleagues.

Jason F. When you are in a chat all day long with the people you work with you feel the culture. It’s better than the real thing. Campfire is our secret to success.

I worked remotely from my company for two and a half months recently, in a very different time zone. At the same time I was in a co-working space with other people working remotely, that in time formed its own culture. The culture switch was slightly disconcerting the first week back with my team. I wonder what it’d have been like if I had worked both remotely and alone.