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Manager's Handbook (2020)

themanagershandbook.com

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Re: Manager's Handbook (2020)

#71

Post by stult »

osigurdson wrote: post #69
rebeccaskinner wrote: post #37

I really dislike the idea that people should be required to have their cameras on for all meetings. I think for people who rarely see one another in person, it can be good to try to encourage people to be on video occasionally, but when and how often should really be left up to the individual. As a manager, I make it a point to try to turn my own video on most of the time, but I'd never ask someone to turn their came…

Humans communicate via audio. Actually seeing a person's face doesn't seem to add much to comprehension in my opinion. As an absurd example to illustrate this point, consider a cameras on, mics off meeting to get a sense of what proportion of information is communicated by audio vs video. As a second example, consider a meeting with cameras and audio but with a 1 second delay in audio - this would almost be as bad as…

Faces are helpful for communicating around emotionally nuanced issues, which is usually not part of routine communications. So if it's a potentially emotionally charged conversation, maybe that should be the signal it's time to require cameras on.

Re: Manager's Handbook (2020)

#72

Post by grzm »

osigurdson wrote: post #69
rebeccaskinner wrote: post #37

I really dislike the idea that people should be required to have their cameras on for all meetings. I think for people who rarely see one another in person, it can be good to try to encourage people to be on video occasionally, but when and how often should really be left up to the individual. As a manager, I make it a point to try to turn my own video on most of the time, but I'd never ask someone to turn their came…

Humans communicate via audio. Actually seeing a person's face doesn't seem to add much to comprehension in my opinion. As an absurd example to illustrate this point, consider a cameras on, mics off meeting to get a sense of what proportion of information is communicated by audio vs video. As a second example, consider a meeting with cameras and audio but with a 1 second delay in audio - this would almost be as bad as…

High definition audio is great. That said, upwards of 90% of human communication is non-verbal, including body language and facial expressions. One benefit of high-quality audio vs text is that we include intonation. But it doesn't encapsulate everything.

This isn't to say we've cracked that nut with the current state of internet-transmitted video. A blanket "humans communicate via audio neglects these other channels of communication.

Re: Manager's Handbook (2020)

#73

Post by melvinmelih »

ms4720 wrote: post #4

I get an unexpected error, seems about right

Let's point it out to them immediately. If they apologize, we respond that apologies are not needed, and all that is required is that they only make sites that they can keep up and that they meet all the agreements they make. If the website admin continues to fail at these, there is only one consequence that makes sense: they can no longer be part of the company.

Re: Manager's Handbook (2020)

#74

Post by thesumofall »

rebeccaskinner wrote: post #37

I really dislike the idea that people should be required to have their cameras on for all meetings. I think for people who rarely see one another in person, it can be good to try to encourage people to be on video occasionally, but when and how often should really be left up to the individual. As a manager, I make it a point to try to turn my own video on most of the time, but I'd never ask someone to turn their came…

I must admit I’m one of those always-on people and everyone in our team does so. For those speaking I feel it is quite rude to not give them any visual cue on how they are doing: I’m I understood? Are my points appreciated? Do I bore people? Are people even listening?

Personally, I think the only good reasons to turn off a camera are either technical issues or if you indeed briefly want to send the message “I am distracted for a short while, but will be back with full focus in a while”

To your other points:

- Don’t like your own image: turn self-view off

- Messy background: enable blurring (or an alternative background)

Re: Manager's Handbook (2020)

#75

Post by thesumofall »

osigurdson wrote: post #69
rebeccaskinner wrote: post #37

I really dislike the idea that people should be required to have their cameras on for all meetings. I think for people who rarely see one another in person, it can be good to try to encourage people to be on video occasionally, but when and how often should really be left up to the individual. As a manager, I make it a point to try to turn my own video on most of the time, but I'd never ask someone to turn their came…

Humans communicate via audio. Actually seeing a person's face doesn't seem to add much to comprehension in my opinion. As an absurd example to illustrate this point, consider a cameras on, mics off meeting to get a sense of what proportion of information is communicated by audio vs video. As a second example, consider a meeting with cameras and audio but with a 1 second delay in audio - this would almost be as bad as…

The studies I have seen say the exact opposite. Non-verbal cues make up most of the info flow: https://online.utpb.edu/about-us/articles/communication/how-...

If you feel your meetings don’t benefit from non-verbal cues, consider if you really need these meetings? Maybe it’s just a status call that could have also been solved via an online status tracker?

Re: Manager's Handbook (2020)

#76

Post by osigurdson »

grzm wrote: post #72
osigurdson wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Humans communicate via audio. Actually seeing a person's face doesn't seem to add much to comprehension in my opinion. As an absurd example to illustrate this point, consider a cameras on, mics off meeting to get a sense of what proportion of information is communicated by audio vs video. As a second example, consider a meeting with cameras and audio but with a 1 second delay in audio - this would almost be as bad as…

High definition audio is great. That said, upwards of 90% of human communication is non-verbal, including body language and facial expressions. One benefit of high-quality audio vs text is that we include intonation. But it doesn't encapsulate everything. This isn't to say we've cracked that nut with the current state of internet-transmitted video. A blanket "humans communicate via audio neglects these other channels…

> 90% of human communication is non-verbal,

If true you should be able to communicate effectively without audio. Clearly this is not the case.

Re: Manager's Handbook (2020)

#77

Post by aldebran »

rebeccaskinner wrote: post #37

I really dislike the idea that people should be required to have their cameras on for all meetings. I think for people who rarely see one another in person, it can be good to try to encourage people to be on video occasionally, but when and how often should really be left up to the individual. As a manager, I make it a point to try to turn my own video on most of the time, but I'd never ask someone to turn their came…

I was this way. Then I realized it’s a work culture thing. Is the team culture accepting of each other the way they look and the surroundings they are in? I’ve been part of 2 teams since the start of the pandemic and I’ve experienced both sides.

1- where my manager would visibly get annoyed at the slightest auditory or visual disturbance. He wouldn’t say anything but it was clear he was displeased to see kids in the background.

2- we all accepted each other (except this one person who didn’t understand that people with kids have different issues to deal with). My kids would barge in through the door and my team mates would wave to them, smile and continue our conversation. We’d all joke about how our shower times are all messed up so we don’t look “presentable” and yet we’d turn on our cameras because we liked seeing each other.

My current perspective is that the team culture has a big bearing of comfort level on videos.

Re: Manager's Handbook (2020)

#78

Post by grzm »

osigurdson wrote: post #76
grzm wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

High definition audio is great. That said, upwards of 90% of human communication is non-verbal, including body language and facial expressions. One benefit of high-quality audio vs text is that we include intonation. But it doesn't encapsulate everything. This isn't to say we've cracked that nut with the current state of internet-transmitted video. A blanket "humans communicate via audio neglects these other channels…

> 90% of human communication is non-verbal, If true you should be able to communicate effectively without audio. Clearly this is not the case.

raises eyebrows

Re: Manager's Handbook (2020)

#79

Post by ttmb »

andrei_says_ wrote: post #68
civilized wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A decent, humane manager. At my company, all the ICs I respect have camera off meetings. Only managers, obnoxious ladder climbers, and outside consultants are constantly pushing face time.

Yeah where did phone calls go? Just a couple of years ago the standard medium for a meeting was a conference phone call. Just because it’s easy to always have a videoconference doesn’t mean that we should.

YMMV, apparently.

For me, the standard medium for a meeting for decades been face to face, with videoconference in second, long before covid changed everything.

I have always hated phone calls, and conference calls specifically are one of the circles of hell.

Re: Manager's Handbook (2020)

#80

Post by osigurdson »

thesumofall wrote: post #75
osigurdson wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Humans communicate via audio. Actually seeing a person's face doesn't seem to add much to comprehension in my opinion. As an absurd example to illustrate this point, consider a cameras on, mics off meeting to get a sense of what proportion of information is communicated by audio vs video. As a second example, consider a meeting with cameras and audio but with a 1 second delay in audio - this would almost be as bad as…

The studies I have seen say the exact opposite. Non-verbal cues make up most of the info flow: https://online.utpb.edu/about-us/articles/communication/how-... If you feel your meetings don’t benefit from non-verbal cues, consider if you really need these meetings? Maybe it’s just a status call that could have also been solved via an online status tracker?

The idea that we are communicating largely via body language and facial expressions is so absurd I had to look it up.

The person who this is attributed to is Albert Mehrabian. According to wikipedia it is more related to the "liking" of the person who puts forth the same message delivered with various vocal tones with photographs of various facial expressions, etc.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Mehrabian

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