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> One of the great things about remote work is that it takes a great deal of bullshit out of the employment process; you don't have to worry about if you're mak

> One of the great things about remote work is that it takes a great deal of bullshit out of the employment process; you don't have to worry about if you're making the wrong facial contortions, if you're offending someone by slouching, if you look bored, or if you laugh hard enough at someone's bad attempt at a joke. The work is the focus. all this still happens on the phone, and in chat, and in ticket updates. little textual mannerisms, passive aggressive bullshit, inappropriate comments, inattentiveness, over-attentiveness, obsessive compulsive typing habits, deliberately ignoring stuff, the list goes on and on. and video chat is its own can of worms. but you're just better at that particular game, so you prefer it. you spent 6 paragraphs rationalizing it, but really, you just prefer one pile of shit to another. other people don't have that limitation, we can operate in person just fine.

cookiecaper 11y ago
Nah, it's a lot less intense on IRC solely because there is a lot less data to read bad information out of. Paranoid people will always find something to be paranoid about, but there's a much smaller attack surface, and "Sorry, it must have come across wrong via text" is a pretty good catch-all excuse if anything goes awry. I disagree that it's about being better at operating in one context or the other. It's about minimizing the issues. I've managed people in face-to-face work settings and over IM/email/whatever text-based. People generate far fewer petty grievances over a text-based medium, at least fewer grievances that they're willing to air, and it shouldn't be difficult to see why that's the case (there's very little non-work activity to get offended or suspicious about). It works much more smoothly in general, unless you have people that just can't read (which are plentiful).
- beachstartup 11y ago
  "nah" is a perfect example of what i'm talking about. a tiny little passive aggressive textual slight that would go unnoticed by most, but allows you to exercise a smidgeon of that petty vindictiveness you are so incapable of dealing with (or delivering correctly, i suspect...) in person.
  - cookiecaper 11y ago
    What I'm taking from this is "beachstartup aggressively reads hostile intent into text messaging, avoid textual interaction with this person". I've found that far fewer people perform this type of aggressive misreading over text than over face-to-face stuck-in-a-room-with-you-for-40-hours-a-week interaction, that's all I'm saying. I'm certainly not opposed to a video call or face-to-face meeting when it's the easiest way to clear things up. We're talking about the best mode for daily work interaction here, not the best mode for touchy-feely "make this guy like me again" interaction.

cookiecaper 11y ago

Nah, it's a lot less intense on IRC solely because there is a lot less data to read bad information out of. Paranoid people will always find something to be paranoid about, but there's a much smaller attack surface, and "Sorry, it must have come across wrong via text" is a pretty good catch-all excuse if anything goes awry. I disagree that it's about being better at operating in one context or the other. It's about minimizing the issues. I've managed people in face-to-face work settings and over IM/email/whatever text-based. People generate far fewer petty grievances over a text-based medium, at least fewer grievances that they're willing to air, and it shouldn't be difficult to see why that's the case (there's very little non-work activity to get offended or suspicious about). It works much more smoothly in general, unless you have people that just can't read (which are plentiful).

beachstartup 11y ago
"nah" is a perfect example of what i'm talking about. a tiny little passive aggressive textual slight that would go unnoticed by most, but allows you to exercise a smidgeon of that petty vindictiveness you are so incapable of dealing with (or delivering correctly, i suspect...) in person.
- cookiecaper 11y ago
  What I'm taking from this is "beachstartup aggressively reads hostile intent into text messaging, avoid textual interaction with this person". I've found that far fewer people perform this type of aggressive misreading over text than over face-to-face stuck-in-a-room-with-you-for-40-hours-a-week interaction, that's all I'm saying. I'm certainly not opposed to a video call or face-to-face meeting when it's the easiest way to clear things up. We're talking about the best mode for daily work interaction here, not the best mode for touchy-feely "make this guy like me again" interaction.