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If you're remote, ramble

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Re: If you're remote, ramble

#471

Post by jodrellblank »

dragonwriter wrote: post #450
jodrellblank wrote: post #448

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"My scrum update is: I spent all day in meetings" can be both true and performative. We don't care what your meetings were about, so you're performing the "meetings are a waste of my time" geek trope. For comparison you wouldn't say "I spent all day at a desk" you'd say "I fixed a race condition" or "I designed the Foo service". You might say "I spent all day driving" and not "I drove 50 miles on I40 and waited 20 mi…

> Why wouldn't you say what the meetings were about? In a scrum update? Usually because the meetings in question have no bearing on tasks in the sprint, and daily scrum isn't a generic rambling all-topics team chat session it is a very short timeboxed focused update on sprint tasks and the only reason to mention meetings not directly related to sprint tasks is to provide context for the absence of progress on sprint…

The performance isn't there, it's here. Why is that person telling HN "my update is: I spent all day in meetings"? What value or contribution or discussion does it serve on HN in a topic about rambling while being remote?

If they were genuinely in meetings, and respect that as real work, and that's the right thing to say in the scrum update, then ... why is it noteworthy enough to comment here, and what do they "really mean it"?

Re: If you're remote, ramble

#472

Post by count »

jama211 wrote: post #319
count wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We schedule a 2x a week 15-30 minute no-project-talk socialization meeting for our fully distributed team. It helps a LOT. We also have dedicated rambling channels in slack, active much of the day.

I would honestly hate that so much. A meeting at the wrong time throws out half the day’s momentum and work is hard to get done. A _socially draining_ meeting? Forget it. If you did this at my company, I would turn up with a smile every time, and then get hours less practical work done that day, because I would be drained and also because I know I would be shut down if I tried to say that these social meetings don’t…

You know, it is possible that other folks feel the same way, and that can be taken into consideration. The meeting we hold is scheduled at the very end of the work day. It's a fun way to decompress and chat about stuff with the team that isn't project related (there is a strict 'no project talk' rule - we have other times/meetings/mechanisms for that). It's wild that you automatically assume the worst.

Re: If you're remote, ramble

#473

Post by jama211 »

count wrote: post #472
jama211 wrote: post #319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would honestly hate that so much. A meeting at the wrong time throws out half the day’s momentum and work is hard to get done. A _socially draining_ meeting? Forget it. If you did this at my company, I would turn up with a smile every time, and then get hours less practical work done that day, because I would be drained and also because I know I would be shut down if I tried to say that these social meetings don’t…

You know, it is possible that other folks feel the same way, and that can be taken into consideration. The meeting we hold is scheduled at the very end of the work day. It's a fun way to decompress and chat about stuff with the team that isn't project related (there is a strict 'no project talk' rule - we have other times/meetings/mechanisms for that). It's wild that you automatically assume the worst.

Where did I assume the worst? Also personally the hours between 3pm and 6pm tend to be my absolutely most productive, so if you wanted to take away a half hour of that then yeah go ahead I suppose

Re: If you're remote, ramble

#474

Post by jama211 »

goalieca wrote: post #115
siva7 wrote: post #10

> We have no scheduled meetings, so ramblings are our equivalent of water cooler talk. This is the difference. Most teams have scheduled daily (!) meetings, so such rambling channels often times feel more like another chore and therefore fail because they haven't emerged of a natural need from the team.

> Most teams have scheduled daily (!) meetings, .. And because we spend 30-50% of our day in meetings, some person is always saying "take this offline" or "we'll circle back later".

I wish they said that in my meetings. Instead I sit there for an hour whilst other people argue through minutia that doesn’t concern me.

Re: If you're remote, ramble

#475

Post by jama211 »

hopelite wrote: post #434
jama211 wrote: post #317

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Especially as it’s obviously not a lie. A lie would be like, their 7th grandma to die or something. Saying you just feel under the weather is… exactly what someone who was just feeling under the weather and didn’t want to lie about it would say.

It’s that kind of controlling and judgmental mentality of that makes corporate employment so toxic, you are constantly in an adversarial environment where someone believes they have some cause to judge others. He says “I’m suspicious of anyone who says I’m under the weather” as if he had any ethical or moral cause to be so, a right to be controlling over others’ lives. It is that kind of mentality that unfortunately…

Couldn’t have said it better myself. Also it’s crazy how people will say things that out them as being super controlling and judgemental of others and it doesn’t even seem to phase them for a second how bad that is.

Re: If you're remote, ramble

#476

Post by jama211 »

kiitos wrote: post #341
jama211 wrote: post #314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They say something about posting 3 times a week. Even if it’s not a formal obligation, it’ll certainly feel like one if they notice you never post whilst other people do.

it's pretty interesting to see this discrepancy in response to this idea some folks -- i guess like you? -- read this and think, "oh, great. a mandate that fixes a problem i don't have, and now might be something i'm forced to participate in against my will" and other folks -- definitely me, and i believe the OP as well -- read this and think, "oh, great! an idea that might help me with a problem that i have, and mig…

The difference is for me, that problem is already solved naturally. If you have the right work environment and culture, you’ll already have a bunch of fun and interesting work chats going on. If you need to force it, something else is wrong.

Re: If you're remote, ramble

#477

Post by jama211 »

marcosdumay wrote: post #376
jama211 wrote: post #313

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lol yep. Our company decided “sprints” were now to last 4 weeks, but there’s also no task scheduling, no retro, no sprint planning… just tasks get given whenever they come up based on what they feel like. So… what’s the point of a “sprint”? We don’t even do monthly releases. It’s hilarious. I suspect we do “agile” in name only so they can pretend to the board that there is a system at all.

You already got to oppose of the manifesto in the "Our company decided" part...

lol yep

Re: If you're remote, ramble

#478

Post by bagacrap »

xandrius wrote: post #169
bagacrap wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do tend to be a bit suspicious of the one-day "under the weather" events. However I do think we need to make extra room for parents (I am not one, yet). I'm going to need a doctor who's younger than me when I'm 80+ Folks could always just disappear instead of announcing these things, but is that better? And as a senior on my team, I over announce certain stuff to let the other team members know that WLB is ok.

Re-reading your own message should definitely be a bell for you to notice either your lack of trust in others and/or your twisted perspective that work is the goal of life. Unless you are the one paying for that person and they are not performing as by contract, even if someone needs an extra day off to chill, you should be happy they do take it as it creates an environment where you also could take it off if you so…

found the guy who's sick every other Monday ^
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