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Ask HN: Do you have inspiring spontaneous conversations while remote working?

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Re: Ask HN: Do you have inspiring spontaneous conversations while remote working?

#91

Post by andrei_says_ »

echelon wrote: post #35
mathieuh wrote: post #28

No. We tried having daily "tea break" calls and weekly "Friday drinks" calls, but attendance was so low that we just cancelled them. Amongst people who were already friendly we still have private group chats in our work Slack, but the number of conversations is obviously far lower than when you're all in the kitchen making breakfast or tea in the morning. We had a conversation about why the daily and weekly open conv…

Same. I've worked at my current company over five years and have been a really strong IC. I used to talk to lots of people in the office from many various teams and backgrounds. Now I only talk to my lead and a handful of others. Work drags on every day and feels inhuman. It never "ends" now. I don't find any joy or satisfaction in it. I hate this, and I don't know how much longer I can put up with it. I don't even u…

What is a strong IC? What does the abbreviation stand for?

Also I feel compassion for your situation. Isolation is a serious issue and could contribute to symptoms of depression.

In my case, WFH is godsend... I have multiple zoom conversations with colleagues every day and always find time for less formal, human exchanges which contribute to the sense of connection.

Re: Ask HN: Do you have inspiring spontaneous conversations while remote working?

#92

Post by chwolfe »

andrei_says_ wrote: post #91
echelon wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same. I've worked at my current company over five years and have been a really strong IC. I used to talk to lots of people in the office from many various teams and backgrounds. Now I only talk to my lead and a handful of others. Work drags on every day and feels inhuman. It never "ends" now. I don't find any joy or satisfaction in it. I hate this, and I don't know how much longer I can put up with it. I don't even u…

What is a strong IC? What does the abbreviation stand for? Also I feel compassion for your situation. Isolation is a serious issue and could contribute to symptoms of depression. In my case, WFH is godsend... I have multiple zoom conversations with colleagues every day and always find time for less formal, human exchanges which contribute to the sense of connection.

Individual Contributor

Re: Ask HN: Do you have inspiring spontaneous conversations while remote working?

#93

Post by austinjp »

foxbarrington wrote: post #61
austinjp wrote: post #37

I've not been having these conversations since covid, and yes I miss them a lot. I prefer to flesh out ideas by kicking them around with others, and this is has suffered significantly. I've noticed a real lack of engagement in online communication at work, by others and by me. Personally, I'm bored of online communication having used email since the 90s and seeing it degrade into an ad-hoc workflow mismanagement tool…

You might like https://rambly.app - it’s voice only and spatial; so it’s optimized for natural (concurrent) conversations. The only downside is that it pretty much requires headphones.

Thanks for this. I've noticed a few similar apps/sites mentioned on HN recently that do similar. Time I checked them out.

Re: Ask HN: Do you have inspiring spontaneous conversations while remote working?

#95

Post by fsnowdin »

PostPlummer wrote: post #54
fsnowdin wrote: post #14

I do remote gamedev with an artist friend. This type of conversation really only happens during long calls. Usually I'd call to discuss a problem and when that's done, we usually stick around some more to chat about random stuff, bounce jokes around until we somehow stumble upon cool ideas. I think what makes it work is that since we just finished straining our brains to solve a problem, the relaxed post-discussion t…

Exactly this. You can not "force" these sessions, they happen to happen, or not. It takes (a lot of open mic) time to get these things rolling. It is a number game: more contact, more bouncing. For about 5 years I ran a worldwide (FPS) tournament with a couple of friends. We never met AFK. It had to work online, or it would not work at all. This is one reason I always ask potential employees if they encage in online…

Do you have any nuggets of wisdom on coordinating large projects entirely online? Me and my friend still struggles to make significant progress all too often as life stuff comes in once in a while which leads to months-long pauses.

Re: Ask HN: Do you have inspiring spontaneous conversations while remote working?

#96

Post by probinso »

I used to hold office hours. these were calendars scheduled times where anybody could bother me, I would continue working if nobody was in. I encouraged people to just swing in and chat about problems, or to use it for tea. teams does not support this as a scheduled feature, to have a meeting that everybody is invited to but is not constantly notified about. I no longer hold office hours

Re: Ask HN: Do you have inspiring spontaneous conversations while remote working?

#97

Post by PostPlummer »

fsnowdin wrote: post #95
PostPlummer wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly this. You can not "force" these sessions, they happen to happen, or not. It takes (a lot of open mic) time to get these things rolling. It is a number game: more contact, more bouncing. For about 5 years I ran a worldwide (FPS) tournament with a couple of friends. We never met AFK. It had to work online, or it would not work at all. This is one reason I always ask potential employees if they encage in online…

Do you have any nuggets of wisdom on coordinating large projects entirely online? Me and my friend still struggles to make significant progress all too often as life stuff comes in once in a while which leads to months-long pauses.

Clear goals, period.

This could be: We like to work on this and there is no deadline.

Or: Forget the details of this exquisite item, but focus on getting it working on date X.

I would not mind the perceived lack of progress in your case but see the journey as the goal. Spending quality time with a friend is about as good as it gets (until there are bills to pay, then make sure you can pay the bills first).

Re: Ask HN: Do you have inspiring spontaneous conversations while remote working?

#98

Post by postalrat »

nottorp wrote: post #53
odshoifsdhfs wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have been a professional developer for 20 years, 10 of those remote. He is right. If people learn how to work and communicate through async text, you can come up with ideas, exchange thoughts quite easily. Problem is, most people love to hear themselves talk so dismiss ways where they aren't the 'center of attention'. I would say in 20 years, less than 5% of the 'meetings' or 'coffee chats' couldn't have been done…

Async is the keyword here. Have several text channels, some with a specific topic, some more random. Get people used to posting in them and reading them once in a while. Get people used to move to one on ones and/or ad hoc small group chats when they have something to say. Yeah, just like irc. What do you think Slack is modeled on? And just to make myself more hated, cut the scheduled meetings down. If everyone is sp…

Maybe that works when you have thousands of users like here in hn. I don't see much value in it with a team of 6 people.
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