Last week All Things D broke the news that Yahoo's Marissa Mayers was banning remote working. The move was widely panned. Wired called it "stupid". Forbes an "epic fail."

I disagree.

Mayers has been raked over the coals with comparisons to Facebook and Google. Yet Google's CFO, Patrick Pichette, has said that working at home or teleworking is not the best environment for new ideas to grow and thrive and that very few Google employees work remotely.

I am with the search giant on this one. To me working at the office not only increases sharing, collaboration, and productivity it also leads to better personal career development.

While I believe that remote working can be effective in more mature companies and markets for those with individual contributor roles, it does not work well in fast growing technology companies. And for a big company that needs to wake up, eliminating remote working is the right move. According to a Yahoo insider remote working was a way for people to slack off and essentially work part time.

Before I am accused of being some management neanderthal I do believe in the concept of ROWE. I do believe in offering proven performers the flexibility to manage both their lives and their job responsibilities. I have let two first time mothers go from full-time employees to part-time job sharers. In the office.

When I have observed employees being given set times that they do not have to come into the office the result has also been the same. Decreased productivity. Because they are not working a hard as if they were in an office environment.

Remote working. Just say no.