Against the synchronous society, by Artjoms Iškovs

Source: Against the synchronous society, by Artjoms Iškovs

It’s alarming how often society seems to hinge on people being in the same place at the same time, doing the same things. The drawbacks of this are immense: infrastructure has to be overprovisioned for any bursty load pattern and being inside of a bursty load pattern results in higher waiting times and isn’t a pleasant experience for everyone involved. Hence it’s important to investigate why this happens and whether this is always required. … Why are people doing this to themselves?

does the weekend really have to happen at the same time for all people?

In professional services, in most cases, the client doesn’t care when the service is being performed. … Fixed work hours make no sense since it’s not time the client is buying, it’s the result. Knowledge work isn’t predicated on people having to do it at the same time or even at a given time.

Do we still need offices?

Do all meetings have to happen at the same place or at the same time?

From a cultural point of view, public holidays are amazing. From a logistical point of view, they’re a nightmare. If everybody is having a holiday, nobody is, and the fact that everyone is observing the holiday at the same time yet again creates usage peaks in all sorts of places.

There are still planes in January, but they’re… emptier. And airports aren’t such an unpleasant experience.