I read the article and I'm sure he is tired of working from home, but I notice no mention was made of how his work environment is/was dramatically different than the tens of thousands of employees under his management.
First and foremost, Mr Nadella has an office with a door. This is a privilege he and his management staff have denied to quite a few of his employees, even after those employees repeatedly turned in surveys indicating their preference for not-that.
Distractions and being able to get away from the din of the open plan are much easier to do when you are simply not in the din of open plan.
I'm in tech but not a software developer and my team does a lot of different things at the same time, so this probably colors my view. Perhaps software devs are either more outgoing, can manage distractions easier, or have some other secret method to flourish in open plan.
This is why I've greatly enjoyed working from home. The only distractions I have are on my computer, and thus can be easily managed, or my partner and pet who live with me and neither of them come barging in with an Urgent Question Which Must Be Answered Immediately or carry on long and loud conversations about disparate topics multiple times per day.
First and foremost, Mr Nadella has an office with a door. This is a privilege he and his management staff have denied to quite a few of his employees, even after those employees repeatedly turned in surveys indicating their preference for not-that.
Distractions and being able to get away from the din of the open plan are much easier to do when you are simply not in the din of open plan.
I'm in tech but not a software developer and my team does a lot of different things at the same time, so this probably colors my view. Perhaps software devs are either more outgoing, can manage distractions easier, or have some other secret method to flourish in open plan.
This is why I've greatly enjoyed working from home. The only distractions I have are on my computer, and thus can be easily managed, or my partner and pet who live with me and neither of them come barging in with an Urgent Question Which Must Be Answered Immediately or carry on long and loud conversations about disparate topics multiple times per day.