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Gitlab's Guide to All-Remote

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Re: Gitlab's Guide to All-Remote

#221

Post by blaser-waffle »

tastroder wrote: post #40
tobr wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With async communication it’s hard to know if everyone got it. If you’re in some kind of synchronous meeting, everyone knows what everyone knows, and it’s usually more clear if people are confused or come from very different POVs, or don’t have the time, attention or other resources they need to get things done. Async communication often feels like shouting into a void, hoping that the right people saw it in time and…

> If you’re in some kind of synchronous meeting, everyone knows what everyone knows, I feel like while that's generally true, it depends. Not only because you might underestimate my ability to sleep with my eyes open. I've seen quite a few projects where in-person meetings were either badly planned, went overboard in terms of frequency / number of participants, or people were simply inattentive for other reasons. The…

Amen. I've had meetings where 15 people showed up, and everyone walked out with 15 different recollections as to what was done. At least one of those 15 isn't going to read the meeting notes that get emailed out after the fact, so we're going to have to rehash the same shit in a week or two.

Re: Gitlab's Guide to All-Remote

#222

Post by acd »

rdsubhas wrote: post #100

How do people whiteboard remotely? This is a big problem for many development teams. Sometimes you just want to open a blank whiteboard and scribble some boxes and brainstorm or troubleshoot some things. The whiteboard is an inseparable part of nearly every meeting. And no, remote "canvas" whiteboards don't work. They end up looking like this: https://cdn.drawception.com/images/panels/2015/3-3/jLndYAfNf... . Is there…

I use draw.io and screen share. Not exactly white board, but you can draw concepts drawings. Als you could use a Wacom tablet as others mentioned.

Re: Gitlab's Guide to All-Remote

#223

Post by znq »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #63
znq wrote: post #31

Our Company Handbook for Remote Work https://mobilejazz.com/company-handbook-pdf/ Other HN members have pointed out previously, that it looks like a landing page where you need to leave your e-mail address. You don't. You can download the PDF from here directly.

Why do you have it as a PDF hidden behind a call-to-action reminiscent of a sign-up though? Turn it into a website, that'll make it a lot more accessible - assuming getting people to read it is the goal, of course.

Simple cost/result calculation. Creating a PDF + simple web page was something our designer can do easily. Developing a whole website around would have been much more expensive.

Re: Gitlab's Guide to All-Remote

#224

Post by andycowley »

motohagiography wrote: post #212

Regarding the principles: >> 3. Writing down and recording knowledge over verbal explanations. 4. Written down processes over on-the-job training. 5. Public sharing of information over need-to-know access. 6. Opening up every document for editing by anyone over top-down control of documents. 7. Asynchronous communication over synchronous communication. These remote work principles have the direct, or side effect of b…

So much this. I left my last employer because of just this. A 'fat waist' of middle-management that delivered no value and created nothing but inertia. Major incidents were a shambles of managers demanding updates over a conference call while engineers couldn't communicate effectively. Ugh

Re: Gitlab's Guide to All-Remote

#225

Post by Joof »

Do any companies think they will keep doing remote after COVID?

I have delayed sleep phase disorder (sleep-in late; fixed by camping / sunlight) and live in a van in (roughly) CO, so the perfect job for me is working remote with a team in San Francisco. I currently work in-office with a fairly major start-up.

Re: Gitlab's Guide to All-Remote

#226

Post by techbio »

Joof wrote: post #225

Do any companies think they will keep doing remote after COVID? I have delayed sleep phase disorder (sleep-in late; fixed by camping / sunlight) and live in a van in (roughly) CO, so the perfect job for me is working remote with a team in San Francisco. I currently work in-office with a fairly major start-up.

I see so many people making the point that they have some syndrome and so they need x, y, z in a job. Valid, I'm sure, personally well-considered, true and everything, but still, indicative of a person who's problems are more important to them than the ones the company is hiring for.

Re: Gitlab's Guide to All-Remote

#227

Post by pfranz »

rdsubhas wrote: post #100

How do people whiteboard remotely? This is a big problem for many development teams. Sometimes you just want to open a blank whiteboard and scribble some boxes and brainstorm or troubleshoot some things. The whiteboard is an inseparable part of nearly every meeting. And no, remote "canvas" whiteboards don't work. They end up looking like this: https://cdn.drawception.com/images/panels/2015/3-3/jLndYAfNf... . Is there…

After watching a lot of MOOC courses, people get a lot better writing with a mouse with practice. I think a much better solution is a Wacom or a tablet. I just dusted off an old Wacom for my wife to scribble personal notes now that she's working from home. For awhile she's been using an iPad in meetings.

I've often pushed for having a personal white board just do dump out my own ideas for both personal and group settings. For lectures, we've just pointed a camera at the whiteboard. This is problematic because many whiteboards are shiny and you have to get most web cameras pretty far away to frame the whole thing. I've seen some experimental software that will detect markers and composite it over the image (for when people stand in front of the whiteboard--another common issue) or just increase the contrast of the writing.

I think it's a mix of new tools and new software instead of just new software using the same mouse+keyboard+Internet.

Re: Gitlab's Guide to All-Remote

#228

Post by pfranz »

andai wrote: post #169
hobofan wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually found remote whiteboards to work quite well when used with a proper pen tablet (like a Wacom Intous). Downside of that is of course increased cost, as equipping everyone with one of those isn't that cheap. It also takes some time to get used to using those, but for permanent remote situations this is about as close as you will get to in-person whiteboards. A less sophisticated variant that works well for a…

I got a used Wacom Bamboo (very decent) for $20. Though my handwriting makes it a lot like GP's picture :)

For line drawing, tablets seemed weird for my brain. I'd rotate the tablet to draw comfortably, but a straight line is different because my monitor didn't rotate. But if you look online, people clearly get used to things like this with enough practice.

Cintiqs, iPads, and other tablets don't require this adaptation, though. I've also been kind of amazed how well people can write using mice when forced to (from watching MOOC classes).

Re: Gitlab's Guide to All-Remote

#229

Post by Joof »

techbio wrote: post #226
Joof wrote: post #225

Do any companies think they will keep doing remote after COVID? I have delayed sleep phase disorder (sleep-in late; fixed by camping / sunlight) and live in a van in (roughly) CO, so the perfect job for me is working remote with a team in San Francisco. I currently work in-office with a fairly major start-up.

I see so many people making the point that they have some syndrome and so they need x, y, z in a job. Valid, I'm sure, personally well-considered, true and everything, but still, indicative of a person who's problems are more important to them than the ones the company is hiring for.

So, funny thing. My problems are more important to me than the ones the company is hiring for. Especially given that solving my problems makes me more productive for the company.

Seems rational unless I'm actually trying to do the 'selling myself / interview' part.

Re: Gitlab's Guide to All-Remote

#230

Post by gawin »

rdsubhas wrote: post #100

How do people whiteboard remotely? This is a big problem for many development teams. Sometimes you just want to open a blank whiteboard and scribble some boxes and brainstorm or troubleshoot some things. The whiteboard is an inseparable part of nearly every meeting. And no, remote "canvas" whiteboards don't work. They end up looking like this: https://cdn.drawception.com/images/panels/2015/3-3/jLndYAfNf... . Is there…

https://miro.com works well for our remote teams
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