It's a bit of a clickbaity article, but I do agree with this part:<p>> <i>Those micro-interactions—stopping to chat in the kitchen, taking a quick walk for coffee, or eating lunch with others—are impossible to replicate when working from home. These moments, while small, feel meaningful to me.</i><p>You can schedule coffee chats, etc., but in my experience, it's nigh impossible to make room for these kinds of interactions remotely. The only time this sort of things happens is when I'm pairing with someone, and once we're done - or before we start - we just hang out and shoot the shit for awhile. But this almost exclusively happens with people I already know well; it doesn't give much room to meet new people or establish any relationship outside of your team.
These I-talk-with-people-for-a-living perspectives on return-to-office are exactly why I have never wanted to be in an office setting. I get why the author wants to be in the office; he thrives on social interaction.