I just sounds like the commenter doesn't have a good concept of "why". They are going through the motions, booking meetings etc. but are not really leading anything, just doing stuff.
How are you getting that? Where did they say it wasn't effective project management? They just said it was harder.
And it is harder. For example, it's way easier to see when a junior dev is lost when you can see pain in there face from across the office instead of hoping it shows in one of the check-in meetings.
asking simple, low effort questions -- "hey how do I log into [this new system]"
-- is as simple as leaning into a room or over a cube, but with remote you have to poke someone.
in person you just drag a laptop over but remote you have a call, share a screen, carve out time. not necessarily more disruptive, but sure feels like more effort, and now involves multiple apps sucking up bandwidth and potentially logging everything you say.
Gosh, dragging a laptop over seems way harder than starting a screen share. No need to carve out time. Companies should be explicit about whether or not they log every conversation. Creepy companies that like to spy might already have cameras and microphones all over the place - not a good look.
"...but with remote you have to poke someone"
This example does not make sense because in both scenarios, in person or remote, you're 'poking' someone (aka disrupting someone) to ask a question.
Also physically schlepping a laptop around to show someone is way more work than a simple screen share....and in either scenario here you're needing to 'carve out time'.
