6 ms·

Face to face interactions are often orders of magnitude more efficient than textual interactions, which is particularly important during highly collaborative ac

Face to face interactions are often orders of magnitude more efficient than textual interactions, which is particularly important during highly collaborative activities. Really, even face-to-face is the wrong description, since it implies something like video conferencing can be used as a substitute: human-to-human interaction might be better. Body language, the ability to recognize when a conversation is not making progress or a point is generally accepted and can be set aside, trust building, humanization of The Other, etc. I say this as someone who works remotely, but who recognizes the shortcomings of it.

zzalpha 10y ago
I find it telling that you were downvoted for this comment. Anyone who would claim this isn't the case is deluding themselves. It's starting to feel a lot like the open-office trend in business: it's turned into a religious discussion, and folks who are proponents willfully ignore reasonable arguments to the contrary, as though a plea for moderation is somehow anathema.
- eeZah7Ux 10y ago
  Name 10 influential thinkers from the last 100 years. How many of them are remembered for the books and how many for their voice and body language? Talk and "body language" is cheap. Summarizing your thoughts into a meaningful article/wiki/book/email is hard and very valuable.
  - arkitaip 10y ago
    Yes but we don't communicate to colleagues using books and articles.
    - pitaj 10y ago
      The "mass communication" among many academics and researchers is almost exactly that: communicating via published works. How well this method applies to different sized groups is another question.
      - arkitaip 10y ago
        Not sure how that's relevant for this discussion where we're in the context of everyday work in a business...
    - eeZah7Ux 10y ago
      I wrote "article/wiki/book/email"...
TeMPOraL 10y ago
I agree. Getting shit done - the actual, hands in the works, not managing or brainstorming - however, is not a collaborative activity. At some point you have to sit down and focus, and other people are a menace then.
- carsongross 10y ago
  Complete agreement. It's a shame that so much thinking (and this is in general) is Either/Or.
collyw 10y ago
Sometimes face ti face can be good, but I often prefer email, for the reason that everything gets documented. A previous line manager of mine would never document anything, and his standard response was "I thought we talked about that". Sure we did, but you changed your mind then changed it again, then again after that. I can't remember what the final outcome was.
- zzalpha 10y ago
  Meeting notes are a thing for a reason. Here's a recipe for a successful meeting: 1. Start by setting the agenda, and critically, the desired outcome. "At the end of this meeting I want to have a decision on X, or a date for when we can make that decision." 2. Have your meeting. Minimize attendance. 3 is perfect. 5 is okay. 7 is pushing it. Have a very clear moderator/leader for the discussion. 2b. Moderator/leaders should be hard-asses about forcing tangential discussions offline/into a parking lot. This is probably their most important function. 3. At the end of the meeting, the leader summarizes the outcome to all participants. This is a critical step. "So, Joe, you will come back to me on Friday with a decision on X. Phil, you'll be working with Joe to pull that answer together." 4. Write the meeting notes down in a permanent place. Email is too ephemeral. A document management system of some kind with an email notification is ideal. Record actions for those who have them, with associated dates. Stakeholders should also follow-up on actions with due dates to make sure they're closed out. This can feel like nagging/cat herding, but it's vital. The reality is, many decisions/discussions are too complex to do over email, particularly if the number of stakeholders grows beyond 3. There's far too much room for confusion/ambiguity and a lack of ownership on follow-up actions. Mix in the ease with which emotional components can be lost or mis-interpreted over email, and my tendency is to push for a voice or in-person discussion the minute an email thread goes on for more than a day.
  - dkersten 10y ago
    You need a dedicated person to take meeting minutes, ideally someone who isn't otherwise part of the meeting because humans are bad at multitasking. I especially find it hard to take notes and focus on the meeting (nevermind actually contributing).
awad 10y ago
I'm really not sure why you're being downvoted here. This is absolutely spot-on and part of the reason why the whole 'teleconferencing will wipe out business travel' movement never really took off the way it was intended. There is absolutely value in meeting together in person, if nothing else other than to deepen a relationship. This is especially true in non-US cultures where a deep emphasis is placed on building trust in person before ever getting to business related matters. As a side note, I've used pretty much all of the major video conference vendors and find it extremely annoying that, even in 2017, some rather large percentage of calls will have some kind of issue during a call, if it can connect at all.
digler999 10y ago
on topic of efficiency, how efficient is it to have 20+ people all get up early, get dressed, and drive or commute on a train anywhere from 20m to 90m each way ? (time which of course is unremunerated).

zzalpha 10y ago

I find it telling that you were downvoted for this comment. Anyone who would claim this isn't the case is deluding themselves. It's starting to feel a lot like the open-office trend in business: it's turned into a religious discussion, and folks who are proponents willfully ignore reasonable arguments to the contrary, as though a plea for moderation is somehow anathema.

eeZah7Ux 10y ago
Name 10 influential thinkers from the last 100 years. How many of them are remembered for the books and how many for their voice and body language? Talk and "body language" is cheap. Summarizing your thoughts into a meaningful article/wiki/book/email is hard and very valuable.
- arkitaip 10y ago
  Yes but we don't communicate to colleagues using books and articles.
  - pitaj 10y ago
    The "mass communication" among many academics and researchers is almost exactly that: communicating via published works. How well this method applies to different sized groups is another question.
    - arkitaip 10y ago
      Not sure how that's relevant for this discussion where we're in the context of everyday work in a business...
  - eeZah7Ux 10y ago
    I wrote "article/wiki/book/email"...

TeMPOraL 10y ago

I agree. Getting shit done - the actual, hands in the works, not managing or brainstorming - however, is not a collaborative activity. At some point you have to sit down and focus, and other people are a menace then.

carsongross 10y ago
Complete agreement. It's a shame that so much thinking (and this is in general) is Either/Or.

collyw 10y ago

Sometimes face ti face can be good, but I often prefer email, for the reason that everything gets documented. A previous line manager of mine would never document anything, and his standard response was "I thought we talked about that". Sure we did, but you changed your mind then changed it again, then again after that. I can't remember what the final outcome was.

zzalpha 10y ago
Meeting notes are a thing for a reason. Here's a recipe for a successful meeting: 1. Start by setting the agenda, and critically, the desired outcome. "At the end of this meeting I want to have a decision on X, or a date for when we can make that decision." 2. Have your meeting. Minimize attendance. 3 is perfect. 5 is okay. 7 is pushing it. Have a very clear moderator/leader for the discussion. 2b. Moderator/leaders should be hard-asses about forcing tangential discussions offline/into a parking lot. This is probably their most important function. 3. At the end of the meeting, the leader summarizes the outcome to all participants. This is a critical step. "So, Joe, you will come back to me on Friday with a decision on X. Phil, you'll be working with Joe to pull that answer together." 4. Write the meeting notes down in a permanent place. Email is too ephemeral. A document management system of some kind with an email notification is ideal. Record actions for those who have them, with associated dates. Stakeholders should also follow-up on actions with due dates to make sure they're closed out. This can feel like nagging/cat herding, but it's vital. The reality is, many decisions/discussions are too complex to do over email, particularly if the number of stakeholders grows beyond 3. There's far too much room for confusion/ambiguity and a lack of ownership on follow-up actions. Mix in the ease with which emotional components can be lost or mis-interpreted over email, and my tendency is to push for a voice or in-person discussion the minute an email thread goes on for more than a day.
- dkersten 10y ago
  You need a dedicated person to take meeting minutes, ideally someone who isn't otherwise part of the meeting because humans are bad at multitasking. I especially find it hard to take notes and focus on the meeting (nevermind actually contributing).

awad 10y ago

I'm really not sure why you're being downvoted here. This is absolutely spot-on and part of the reason why the whole 'teleconferencing will wipe out business travel' movement never really took off the way it was intended. There is absolutely value in meeting together in person, if nothing else other than to deepen a relationship. This is especially true in non-US cultures where a deep emphasis is placed on building trust in person before ever getting to business related matters. As a side note, I've used pretty much all of the major video conference vendors and find it extremely annoying that, even in 2017, some rather large percentage of calls will have some kind of issue during a call, if it can connect at all.

digler999 10y ago

on topic of efficiency, how efficient is it to have 20+ people all get up early, get dressed, and drive or commute on a train anywhere from 20m to 90m each way ? (time which of course is unremunerated).