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From my experience as an engineering manager I am fine with that as long as I can easily reach "you" with a phone call during core hours. So many people have p

From my experience as an engineering manager I am fine with that as long as I can easily reach "you" with a phone call during core hours. So many people have phone phobia in this field. I feel that if you want to work from home you need to make voice calls work for you. (It usually doesn't happen more than once a week. Being reasonably acccessible on Slack reduces the need for these calls somewhat.)

rmgraham 9y ago
As a full-time remote person (at IBM, ironically), I personally hate using the phone - however, video/voice call via Slack or similar is totally fine. As far as I'm concerned, a decent headset is the #2 requirement after a good internet connection when it comes to working remotely effectively.
- johansch 9y ago
  What's the difference? (It would typically be initiated the same way, e.g. via a Slack question if they are ok talk on the phone. If there's no reply and it's blocking other stuff; yeah I am going to place an actual 20th century phone call.)
  - dylz 9y ago
    Picking up a phone is interrupting as hell for me. Clicking the green button on Discord or a softphone is not.
    - MockObject 9y ago
      Seriously? What is the difference? Telephone handset vs headphones?
      - johansch 9y ago
        Please don't startle the millennials. They are unique snowflakes. ;)
      - dylz 9y ago
        It's just ridiculously foreign and breaks my train of thought. No idea why, just a mental thing. I have never used a physical 'telephone handset' (and don't have a desk phone)
FullMtlAlcoholc 9y ago
People text instead of calling and especially instead of leaving voicemail. Just asking one question seems rude via phone so the conversation is buffered with "hi, what's going on, how's the weather, how about them lakers, while I have you, what do you think about this, etc." Phone calls are less information dense to many developers to something like slack, especially if you need to send a link, a document, etc. Slack is also async in that I don't have to immediately answer. I can get to a nice commit point in 5 or so minutes and not have to stop in the middle of a deep thought. If it's a scheduled call once a week though, that shouldn't matter at all. Maybe they just don't like you :D j/k. A lot of devs think they communicate as well via voice
- johansch 9y ago
  I am talking about architecture design discussions that actually, really do run at 2-3x speed when done via voice as opposed to text chat. And yes, having to schedule them to slow things down in an excessive way.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]

rmgraham 9y ago

As a full-time remote person (at IBM, ironically), I personally hate using the phone - however, video/voice call via Slack or similar is totally fine. As far as I'm concerned, a decent headset is the #2 requirement after a good internet connection when it comes to working remotely effectively.

johansch 9y ago
What's the difference? (It would typically be initiated the same way, e.g. via a Slack question if they are ok talk on the phone. If there's no reply and it's blocking other stuff; yeah I am going to place an actual 20th century phone call.)
- dylz 9y ago
  Picking up a phone is interrupting as hell for me. Clicking the green button on Discord or a softphone is not.
  - MockObject 9y ago
    Seriously? What is the difference? Telephone handset vs headphones?
    - johansch 9y ago
      Please don't startle the millennials. They are unique snowflakes. ;)
    - dylz 9y ago
      It's just ridiculously foreign and breaks my train of thought. No idea why, just a mental thing. I have never used a physical 'telephone handset' (and don't have a desk phone)

FullMtlAlcoholc 9y ago

People text instead of calling and especially instead of leaving voicemail. Just asking one question seems rude via phone so the conversation is buffered with "hi, what's going on, how's the weather, how about them lakers, while I have you, what do you think about this, etc." Phone calls are less information dense to many developers to something like slack, especially if you need to send a link, a document, etc. Slack is also async in that I don't have to immediately answer. I can get to a nice commit point in 5 or so minutes and not have to stop in the middle of a deep thought. If it's a scheduled call once a week though, that shouldn't matter at all. Maybe they just don't like you :D j/k. A lot of devs think they communicate as well via voice

johansch 9y ago
I am talking about architecture design discussions that actually, really do run at 2-3x speed when done via voice as opposed to text chat. And yes, having to schedule them to slow things down in an excessive way.
deleted 9y ago
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