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Non-obvious remote work techniques

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Re: Non-obvious remote work techniques

#41

Post by spurgu »

CarbyAu wrote: post #15
robotkad wrote: post #2

Does anyone have any suggestions on a platform to facilitate Tip #4: Idling in a Videoconference Room? Zoom is the obvious choice, but wonder if anyone has built something better for this use case?

If you want to host your own, Jitsi Meet Server. It doesn't take much CPU or RAM. Bandwidth is king. Uses browser or ios/android apps for clients. I am light on with webtech and linux but I followed their "few commands and a shell script" install notes to get something working with LetsEncrypt https. If you host the video centre, and everything is https out from there, it should be somewhat secure. For business secur…

This is cool, thanks for the tip! How is performance compared to meet.jit.si?

Re: Non-obvious remote work techniques

#42

Post by hinkley »

zwieback wrote: post #14
ktal wrote: post #9

#3 - Holy hell I hate it when someone sends me a message with just "Hi". Just tell me what you want!

It's easier to reply "sorry, busy right now" in response to "hi". Once they say what they want I feel more obliged to make time for them.

There's a huge space to occupy between 'hi' and launching into your life story before you know if the other person is even reading.

Re: Non-obvious remote work techniques

#43

Post by spurgu »

ypeter wrote: post #10
ktal wrote: post #9

#3 - Holy hell I hate it when someone sends me a message with just "Hi". Just tell me what you want!

What I do is just not respond until they say what they want from me. And I also do this when someone just pastes an error message without a question.

Same. Or I reply "nohello.com".

Re: Non-obvious remote work techniques

#44

Post by cbhl »

I love the quick chat protocol. It's a concrete example of what to do, instead of just saying "please don't just say hi".

I think there is one good strong counterpoint to it -- it is if there is a chance that the words "tomato incident" will be screencast to a meeting containing execs and/or external clients. Some people operate in "hello protocol" all day, and for them, I find it easier to just let the extra round trips happen.

Similarly, if I have access to a colleague's calendar, I usually check it before I initiate a quick chat protocol message, to avoid the same failure mode.

Re: Non-obvious remote work techniques

#45

Post by techsupporter »

bsder wrote: post #27
just-juan-post wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you want them to use the chat program like e-mail?

Um, yes? Email WORKS JUST FINE . You know what else works fine? A PHONE . I know that actually calling someone on the phone seems to be traumatic for anyone under 35, but hey. If it's really important--call. If it's not that important--why am I being interrupted? Send me email. Chat--all the expressiveness of text with the interruptiveness of a phone call.

> I know that actually calling someone on the phone seems to be traumatic for anyone under 35, but hey.

First off, this is needlessly hostile and ageist. Please stop it. I am over 35 and we do not need to keep on with this "well if you're young you are too stupid to understand the One True Ways of doing things." Age discrimination is unfair regardless of direction.

> Chat--all the expressiveness of text with the interruptiveness of a phone call.

For me, chat is far less intrusive than a phone call yet still has the back-and-forth that doesn't easily happen with an e-mail. If you send me a chat message, that's more than just "hi," I can look at it and formulate a brief reply and we can keep going back and forth as needed. We may also migrate the conversation to voice (and video!) or we may drop to a rate more like e-mail.

Either way, I do not need a ringing phone 15 times per day any more than I need 300 e-mails or daily chats that start with "hi" and nothing more.

Re: Non-obvious remote work techniques

#46

Post by filleduchaos »

just-juan-post wrote: post #26
Kaze404 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article explains perfectly what the parent would want instead.

So an e-mail with the subject tomato incident and a link to a zoom? Chat is for back and forth. And to pretend that this "conversation preparation" somehow takes (and interrupts) a worthy chunk of your day is either laughable or pompous. plus, didn't we agree that chat is async and thus this "conversation setup" never happens? I am forced to respond to "how are you" in real time? async convo = UDP "convo setup" = TCP…

I think you might be missing the point that the back-and-forth is actually terrible for work communication, considering that workdays are quite limited.

Re: Non-obvious remote work techniques

#47

Post by PinkMilkshake »

> makes the mute button easier to find

It's odd this is still an issue. I'm not sure why the mute button is not featured more prominently on videochat apps. It's almost the primary feature during a call that makes things go smoothly.

Also, there's always one guy who has to say every bloody time, "are you there, have you forgot to unmute?" if you fail to unmute and start talking <100ms after your name has been mentioned.

Re: Non-obvious remote work techniques

#48

Post by bjo590 »

dahart wrote: post #37
fishtoaster wrote: post #33

I feel like "Accurate Chat Status" only works if it's automatic (as in, a calendar integration that switches your status to "in a meeting" or "it's after 6pm, probably afk.) Otherwise you get: 4pm: "Ah, bob's status says he's in a meeting. I could message him, but I'd like this to be a quick, synchronous, chat discussion." 5pm: "Guess bob's still in a meeting..." 7pm: "Let me check - yep, still 'in a meeting'" 10pm:…

For me automatic idle+meeting detection is not good enough. There are lots of times when I can't chat immediately, but I'm using my computer and not in a scheduled meeting. Pair programming, someone else at my desk (pre covid), programming in the zone, watching a presentation, currently chatting with someone else, etc. etc. I want the expectation that my Slack icon is green to mean that I'm at work and I'll reply som…

Simply don't replay immediately. You'll build the expectations as people learn to work with you. Some people on my team respond immediately 95% of the time. Some people on my team turn off all slack notifications and check it throughout the day. We all work together pretty well.

Re: Non-obvious remote work techniques

#49

Post by alonmower »

PinkMilkshake wrote: post #47

> makes the mute button easier to find It's odd this is still an issue. I'm not sure why the mute button is not featured more prominently on videochat apps. It's almost the primary feature during a call that makes things go smoothly. Also, there's always one guy who has to say every bloody time, "are you there, have you forgot to unmute?" if you fail to unmute and start talking <100ms after your name has been mention…

With Zoom (as long as Zoom has focus) you can hold down spacebar to temporarily unmute yourself. It's been a real lifesaver

Re: Non-obvious remote work techniques

#50

Post by rendaw »

vsareto wrote: post #31
dahart wrote: post #28

> Accurate Chat Status > In meatspace you don't walk up to someone's desk and just start talking. This list seems to assume or suggest that chat should only be used for synchronous conversation... Are there reasons to avoid using chat asyncronously? My assumption is that chat can be asynchronous, but I recognize many people don’t want to ask their question until I’m actively responding. I can imagine security concern…

If you're doing incident response or on-call work, I think it needs to be more synchronous and more accurate. However, chat messages are more natural to me to indicate availability than setting the availability itself. Too many people don't set accurate statuses and it can get changed by the programs own rules, so it's a noisy signal IMO.

If you're doing incident response or on-call people don't contact you based on your availability, you guarantee your availability so people can contact you.
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