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If you're remote, ramble

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Re: If you're remote, ramble

#321

Post by widforss »

scarface_74 wrote: post #180
parpfish wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even worse is the situation our hybrid half-remote/half-inperson company runs into during meetings: The in-person group will go into the conference room and naturally start multiple rambling side conversations. But the remote people just have to sit there and watch. Usually they can’t really hear each of these conversations and you can’t casually join a room-based side conversation from the remote because any audio t…

There are two rules about any job I take these days. 1. I will not work at in office job. 2. I won’t work for a company that is not “remote only”.

Sp you want to be the special remote guy?

Re: If you're remote, ramble

#323

Post by paradox460 »

9dev wrote: post #6

The cynic in me says this ends up as yet another list of channels that I need to scan for anything interesting, and interact with to keep up an appearance of engagement. I appreciate any effort to increase social cohesion in remote teams, but intermingling it with one of the main stressors of my work environment—keeping up with team communication—isn’t the right way IMHO.

I love using the unreads thing in slack while I'm brushing my teeth or waiting for my tea maker to finish. Tinder for work spam. Everything is processed as quickly as possible, into either "to-do" or "done/ignore"

Re: If you're remote, ramble

#324

Post by p1necone »

throwanem wrote: post #308
twic wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Other way round, i think. The original form had a lot of weird practices which actually worked. The form most common today is just lip service.

The weird practices worked as reported, but as an accident of the context where they arose. Outside that, they're about as robust as really rare orchids, which I think to their credit the authors realized, hence all the "don't take our word for it!" with which they hedged around their wildly bestselling school of management consultancy.

I like to say that the outwardly visible practices and processes of highly effective teams are mostly symptoms, not causes of their success. You can't invert the causal relationship.

Re: If you're remote, ramble

#325

Post by [deleted] »

ronbenton wrote: post #159
codingdave wrote: post #143

I'm with the other commenters who agree in spirit, but would hate the details in the post. Assigned channels where you are expected to post your random thoughts feels utterly dystopian to me. In my experience, "rambling" channels build up organically... as you have a thought, you share it with someone relevant, not just drop it into a channel and see who reads it. Over time, small group chats evolve naturally, and as…

“I see you’ve only had 15 rambles this week” “Isn’t 15 the minimum?” “Well, yeah, if you just want to do the bare minimum. But look at Todd over there - he has 37 rambles” “Well if you wanted people to have 37 rambles why wouldn’t you make that the minimum”

[deleted]

Re: If you're remote, ramble

#326

Post by paradox460 »

ipdashc wrote: post #151
layer8 wrote: post #77

> Common topics include: > - ideas related to current projects > - musings about blog posts, articles, user feedback > - “what if” suggestions > - photos from recent trips or hobbies > - rubber ducking a problem Work-related and private topics should be separated, IMO. Some might be interested in the former but not the latter, and also might be interested in them at different times (of the day/week). There’s also the…

> Work-related and private topics should be separated, IMO. Why does it feel like people take this (reasonable) idea too far so often these days (and always on the Internet - I've never seen anyone in real life act like that). Like, yes, don't treat your job like a family or spend your whole day talking about your personal drama. Be careful or avoid dating coworkers. Etc. But this stuff is, as the author said, the eq…

Agreed. Some of the solutions I've seen and even experienced seem like something right out of severance

Please engage in the mandatory socialization experience

Re: If you're remote, ramble

#327

Post by daxfohl »

Aurornis wrote: post #155
codingdave wrote: post #143

I'm with the other commenters who agree in spirit, but would hate the details in the post. Assigned channels where you are expected to post your random thoughts feels utterly dystopian to me. In my experience, "rambling" channels build up organically... as you have a thought, you share it with someone relevant, not just drop it into a channel and see who reads it. Over time, small group chats evolve naturally, and as…

> I'm with the other commenters who agree in spirit, but would hate the details in the post This seems to happen a lot: Someone writes some highly exaggerated career advice that has good intent at the core but turns into overly weird suggestions by the end. They might be trying to be memorable or to make an impact by exaggerating the advice. Then some people, often juniors, take it literally and start practicing it.…

"When a metric becomes a target, it ceases to be a useful metric"

Re: If you're remote, ramble

#328

Post by ogou »

ryandrake wrote: post #256
ogou wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those distinctions evaporated in 2020 and never returned.

Must depend on the company/office. My team (200+ people) has a "offtopic/socialize" chat channel set up for this kind of rando chit chat, and it has never, not once in many years, even had a hint of divisiveness or politics. Yes, you do need to be working with grownups who can behave and leave that shit at home.

Basecamp is a well-known example. I saw it personally at 3 different companies, including one in Germany. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27032627

Re: If you're remote, ramble

#329

Post by paradox460 »

codesnik wrote: post #40

I've tried to create or revive a watercooler channel in every remote company I've worked in last 10 years. For some reason it usually doesn't work. Some people don't needed it, some people just call each other and vent out privately. I miss watercooler talk.

Venting privately is usually a symptom of bad management. Employees feel that they can't discuss any grievance publicly, for whatever reason, and so choose more careful means of communication
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