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Remote work and the importance of writing

「The written word will flourish in the post-pandemic workplace」

The pandemic「has given a big shove」 to all forms of digital communication. Video-conferencing platforms have become verbs. Venture capitalists make their bets after watching virtual pitches. Products like Loom and mmhmm help workers send pre-recorded video messages to their colleagues. More than a third of Slack users each week are now 「“huddling”」—using the product’s new audio feature to talk to each other. And all this is before the metaverse turns everyone into an avatar.

这场疫情给所有形式的数字通信「带来了巨大的推动力」。视频会议平台已经成为动词。风险资本家们在观看了虚拟演讲后下了赌注。像Loom和mmhmm这样的产品帮助员工向他们的同事发送预先录制好的视频信息。每周有超过三分之一的Slack用户现在在 「"抱团"」——使用该产品的新音频功能相互交谈。而这一切都发生在元空间将每个人变成化身之前。

A workplace dominated by time on screens may 「seem bound to」 favour newer, faster and more visual ways of transmitting information. But an old form of communication—writing—is also flourishing. And not just dashed-off emails and entries on virtual whiteboards, but slow, time-intensive writing. The strengths of the written word have not been diminished by the pandemic era. In some ways they 「are ideally suited to」 it.

一个由屏幕上的时间主导的工作场所似乎必然「倾向于」更新、更快、更直观的信息传输方式。但一种古老的沟通方式——写作——也在蓬勃发展。不仅仅是在虚拟白板上写下的电子邮件和条目，而是缓慢、耗时的写作。书面文字的优势并没有因为大流行时代而减弱。在某些方面，它们是「最适合的。」

The value of writing is 「a staple in」 management thinking. “The discipline of writing something down is the first step toward making it happen,” reckoned Lee Iacocca, a quotable titan of the American car industry. Jeff Bezos banned slide decks from meetings of senior Amazon executives back in 2004, in favour of well-structured memos. “PowerPoint-style presentations somehow give permission to gloss over ideas,” he wrote.

写作的价值是管理思想中的「一个主要内容」。美国汽车业的巨头李-艾柯卡（Lee Iacocca）认为："把事情写下来的纪律是实现它的第一步"。杰夫-贝索斯（Jeff Bezos）早在2004年就禁止在亚马逊高级管理人员的会议上使用幻灯片，而倾向于使用结构良好的备忘录。"他写道："PowerPoint式的演讲在某种程度上允许掩盖观点。

Some executives write for themselves. Andrew Bosworth, a bigwig at Meta (formerly Facebook), has a blog in which he muses interestingly on many topics, including on writing itself: “In my experience, discussion expands the space of possibilities while writing reduces it to its most essential components.” Others do so to reach an audience. Shareholder letters from Larry Fink and Warren Buffett are the corporate equivalent of a blockbuster book launch.

一些高管为自己写作。安德鲁-博斯沃思是Meta公司（前身为Facebook）的大人物，他有一个博客，其中他对许多话题进行了有趣的思考，包括写作本身。"根据我的经验，讨论扩大了可能性的空间，而写作则将其减少到最基本的组成部分"。其他人这样做是为了接触受众。拉里-芬克和沃伦-巴菲特的股东信就相当于公司的大片新书发布会。

But the move to remote working has enhanced the value of writing to the entire organisation, not just the corner office. When tasks 「are being handed off」 to colleagues in other locations, or people are working on a project “asynchronously”, meaning at a time of their choosing, comprehensive documentation is crucial. When new employees start work on something, they want the back story. When veterans depart an organisation, they should leave knowledge behind. Writing everything down sounds like 「an almighty pain」. But so is turning up to a meeting and not having the foggiest what was decided last time out.

但是，向远程工作的转变提高了写作对整个组织的价值，而不仅仅是角落里的办公室。当任务「被移交给」其他地方的同事，或者人们在一个项目上 "异步 "工作，即在他们选择的时间，全面的文件是至关重要的。当新员工开始工作的时候，他们希望了解背景故事。当老员工离开一个组织时，他们应该留下知识。把所有的东西都写下来，听起来是「一个巨大的痛苦」。但是，去参加一个会议，却对上次的决定一无所知，也是如此。

Software developers have already worked out the value of the written word. A research programme from Google into the ingredients of successful technology projects found that teams with high-quality documentation deliver software faster and more reliably. Gitlab, a code-hosting platform whose workforce is wholly remote, frames the secret of successful asynchronous working thus: “How would I deliver this message, present this work, or move this project forward right now if no one else on my team (or in my company) were awake?” Gitlab’s answer is “textual communication”.** Its gospel** is a handbook that is publicly available, stretches to more than 3,000 pages and lays out all of its internal processes.

软件开发人员已经发现了书面文字的价值。谷歌对成功技术项目的要素进行的一项研究发现，拥有高质量文档的团队能更快、更可靠地交付软件。Gitlab是一个代码托管平台，它的员工完全是远程的，它将成功的异步工作的秘密归纳为以下几点。"如果我的团队（或我的公司）中没有其他人醒着，我将如何传递这个信息，展示这项工作，或者现在就推进这个项目？" Gitlab的答案是 "文本交流"。「它的福音」是一本公开的手册，长达3,000多页，列出了所有的内部流程。

The deliberation and discipline required by writing is helpful in other contexts, too. “Brainwriting” is a brainstorming technique, used by Slack among others, in which participants are given time to put down their ideas before discussion begins. Lists of corporate values can make greeting cards seem 「hard-hitting」. But thoughtful codification of a firm’s culture makes more sense in hybrid and remote workplaces, where new joiners have less chance to meet and observe colleagues.

写作所需的深思熟虑和纪律性在其他情况下也很有帮助。"Brainwriting "是一种头脑风暴技术，由Slack等公司使用，在讨论开始之前，参与者有时间把他们的想法写下来。企业价值观的清单可以使贺卡看起来很有「冲击力」。但是，在混合和远程工作场所，对公司文化进行深思熟虑的编纂更有意义，因为在这些地方，新加入的人没有机会接触和观察同事。

Purists will sniff that none of this counts as writing. But good prose and useful prose share the same essential qualities: brevity, structure, a clear theme. Cormac McCarthy, a prize-winning novelist, copy-edits scientific papers for fun. Ted Chiang says that his science-fiction short stories and his technical writing both draw on a desire to explain an idea clearly.

纯粹主义者会认为这些都不能算作是写作。但好的散文和有用的散文有相同的基本品质：简洁、结构、明确的主题。科马克-麦卡锡（Cormac McCarthy）是一位获奖的小说家，他以编辑科学论文为乐。特德-蒋说，他的科幻短篇小说和他的技巧写作都是基于他想要清楚地解释一个想法。

Writing is not always the best way to communicate in the workplace. Video is more 「memorable」; a phone call is quicker; even PowerPoint has its place. But for the structured thought it demands, and the ease with which it can be shared and edited, the written word is made for remote work.

写作并不总是工作场所中的最佳沟通方式。视频更「令人难忘」；电话更快捷；甚至PowerPoint也有它的位置。但是，由于它所要求的结构化思考，以及它可以被分享和编辑的便利性，书面文字是为远程工作而生的。