Standards, controls, corporate structures, standards, and communications emerged out of novel complex commercial organisations of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, notably railroads (complex in space and time) and chemistry (complex in process and consequence). Studies of standards, communications, R&D, etc., fascinating for the sort of person fascinated by this sort of thing, focus strongly on such organisations and operations.
The thermometer-watcher, and set of practices for avoiding incidental explosions and runaway heat would be examples of this.
There's an interesting contrast, brought to mind with the focus on remote work, of autonomous working groups operating remotely an incommunicado for extended periods: merchant and military sailing ships, before the eras of radio and particularly of steam.
Ship captains were not subject to Zoom calls, Slack channels, keyboard and video monitoring, or daily virtual stand-ups, from superiors. They operated autonomously, at distance, for days, weeks, months, even years at a time. They were given mission objectives and empowered to act as agents for their merchants or militaries with remote vendors, counterparties, countries, even novel cultures.
And no, it didn't always go well. Mistakes were made, atrocities committed, misadventure encountered, fraud, abuse, and violence.
For long periods, the distinction between "merchant', "sailor", and "pirate" was at best vague:
The thermometer-watcher, and set of practices for avoiding incidental explosions and runaway heat would be examples of this.
There's an interesting contrast, brought to mind with the focus on remote work, of autonomous working groups operating remotely an incommunicado for extended periods: merchant and military sailing ships, before the eras of radio and particularly of steam.
Ship captains were not subject to Zoom calls, Slack channels, keyboard and video monitoring, or daily virtual stand-ups, from superiors. They operated autonomously, at distance, for days, weeks, months, even years at a time. They were given mission objectives and empowered to act as agents for their merchants or militaries with remote vendors, counterparties, countries, even novel cultures.
And no, it didn't always go well. Mistakes were made, atrocities committed, misadventure encountered, fraud, abuse, and violence.
For long periods, the distinction between "merchant', "sailor", and "pirate" was at best vague:
https://www.etymonline.com/word/pirate
https://www.etymonline.com/word/corsair
But it was the best option available, and worked, after a fashion, until replaced as new capabilities emerged.