3 ms·

This is just not true. If you've ever worked remote and need to work through a problem there is nothing faster then getting on the phone and doing a screen shar

This is just not true. If you've ever worked remote and need to work through a problem there is nothing faster then getting on the phone and doing a screen share just as if you were face to face.

nitrogen 10y ago
I respectfully disagree. Nothing feels like a greater waste of time when working remotely than when someone can't be bothered to think about their problem enough to ask via text and demands a phone call. Maybe it's just the teams I've worked with, but voice calls almost invariably end up as 99% noise, taking forever for people to figure out what they actually want to ask and never getting to the point.
- toasterlovin 10y ago
  Synchronous voice communication is much higher bandwidth than text. Probably by an order of magnitude. And it allows nuance (tone, inflection, emotion) that is not possible with pure text (kind of like how emoji adds a dimension to text that isn't really possible in its absence). Surely you can imagine topics that could benefit from this increased bandwidth, no?
  - nitrogen 10y ago
    I can imagine such topics, but nearly none of them occur in a software development workplace. As I said before, it has been my experience that the extra bandwidth of a voice channel is nearly always wasted. IMO the best case for voice calls as a developer is brief daily status/standup meetings, and you've probably seen how many people around here dislike those. I think what's really going on is that people who grew up analog don't see textual decisionmaking as "real", and need a familiar voice call to make things feel "official".
sdm 10y ago
I have to disagree. I will have been working remotely for 5 years in November. Yes, there is a time and place for getting on the phone, like for last resort trouble shooting; but that is really a small part of communication in my experience. When initial trouble shooting, architecting, planning, or negotiating you need that time to investigate and consider your response. For me, my team is mostly +15 or +8 hours from me. So relying on voice is just impractical.

This is just not true. If you've ever worked remote and need to work through a problem there is nothing faster then getting on the phone and doing a screen share just as if you were face to face.

nitrogen 10y ago

I respectfully disagree. Nothing feels like a greater waste of time when working remotely than when someone can't be bothered to think about their problem enough to ask via text and demands a phone call. Maybe it's just the teams I've worked with, but voice calls almost invariably end up as 99% noise, taking forever for people to figure out what they actually want to ask and never getting to the point.

toasterlovin 10y ago
Synchronous voice communication is much higher bandwidth than text. Probably by an order of magnitude. And it allows nuance (tone, inflection, emotion) that is not possible with pure text (kind of like how emoji adds a dimension to text that isn't really possible in its absence). Surely you can imagine topics that could benefit from this increased bandwidth, no?
- nitrogen 10y ago
  I can imagine such topics, but nearly none of them occur in a software development workplace. As I said before, it has been my experience that the extra bandwidth of a voice channel is nearly always wasted. IMO the best case for voice calls as a developer is brief daily status/standup meetings, and you've probably seen how many people around here dislike those. I think what's really going on is that people who grew up analog don't see textual decisionmaking as "real", and need a familiar voice call to make things feel "official".

sdm 10y ago

I have to disagree. I will have been working remotely for 5 years in November. Yes, there is a time and place for getting on the phone, like for last resort trouble shooting; but that is really a small part of communication in my experience. When initial trouble shooting, architecting, planning, or negotiating you need that time to investigate and consider your response. For me, my team is mostly +15 or +8 hours from me. So relying on voice is just impractical.