What do people feel about remote work?
I got into my current work about 8 months and we all were remote working.

In 8 months, we met in person several times and worked together at one place for a week or two.

We have never overcome the feeling of a disconnect when we work remotely. There's less focus and less clarity on things to do.

Is this common? How do people be focused and productive in remote work?

Also how do people communicate effectively?

It's a skill like any other. It takes practice.

When I managed remote teams, I set up documents for each project, and the devs/etc. would record their notes and requirements there. Everyone checked these throughout their days.

For one-on-ones, async messages always work well. Just be sure to plan things around your differing schedules.

On remote teams, it's much more important to be aware of others' blockers because they're likely not going to be working when you are. Have things ready by their beginning-of-day so they can work on their projects, and hopefully finish your blockers by your next beginning-of-day.

For addressing the feeling of distance... humor and off-topic chat. Make a #watercooler channel, or a few. Laugh at random crap. Send autocorrect fails instead of fixing them. Talk about whatever. Even if it's async, you'll see conversations pop up. Competitions also help, though these vary wildly between teams. Could be work-related, could be gaming, could be anything. Don't try too hard or it'll feel forced. Just be friendly and a little silly, and find things that work for you and yours.

The best advice I can give for async communication: have something ready for your teammates to read over their morning coffee, work-related or otherwise. (And make them laugh, too.) Those are the real secrets.

@Root this is an absolutely amazing piece of advice I have come across in a long time.

Thank you so much!