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I really wish we could use Surface Hubs or this new whiteboard product at my company. We're a huge global enterprise and many development teams are split across

by DIVx0 8y ago

I really wish we could use Surface Hubs or this new whiteboard product at my company. We're a huge global enterprise and many development teams are split across boarders. It is very difficult to convey complicated technical work over a conference call or to whip out a visio type diagram on the fly. We're heavy cisco users and are using Webex Teams (formally cisco spark) along with Cisco Spark boards. It's cool that it can work on any number of devices but the UX is far inferior to MS Surface Hub. Even with the bad UX these tools have been helpful. These tools are expensive but they have paid for themselves many times over on time/travel savings.

DoofusOfDeath 8y ago
I share your frustration. In my team, I estimate the cost of these boards are equivalent to the cost of about 3 face-to-face meetings of my team. I think there's also a productivity / opportunity cost from only being able to share a whiteboard (real or virtual) during these occasional f2f meetings. So it drives me a little nuts that management doesn't invest in this more, and treat team communications in general as a first-order problem. I've been around long enough to know there can be factors I'm unaware of that management must consider, so I'm not assuming they're being irrational. I just don't know either way. (I know there are other pros and cons for f2f meetings, making a purely monetary comparison incomplete.)
- IanMikutel 8y ago
  Ian from Microsoft Whiteboard here. I've heard first-hand stories from some early Whiteboard Preview folks at enterprises that used our product to cut down on travel & accommodation expenses, while maintaining the same level of fidelity/interaction that f2f meetings gave them, when doing things like technical sales meetings. We're seeing many enterprises starting to see the benefits & the economics just simply make sense with the decreasing cost curves of large panel displays, and the increasing quality of interactive touch/ink panels.
  - DoofusOfDeath 8y ago
    Thanks for the data point. One of the challenges at my workplace is that these devices are currently so large and expensive that it's only practical to install them in some of our meeting rooms. But with heavy competition for meeting rooms, depending on these boards for routine meetings (e.g. daily standups) gets dicey. So for us, they might become practical only when the price comes down enough for them to be ubiquitous, readily available, and (hopefully) on mobile stands. In the meantime, we're looking into alternatives involving devices small enough that every developer can have them on his/her desktop, and put them away when not in use. Microsoft seems to have some nice offerings in both form factors, but as a mixed Mac/Windows shop, MS-only solutions won't work. We need something that can be entirely hosted behind our firewall and has good clients for Mac, Windows, and (ideally) Linux.

by DIVx0 8y ago

DoofusOfDeath 8y ago

I share your frustration. In my team, I estimate the cost of these boards are equivalent to the cost of about 3 face-to-face meetings of my team. I think there's also a productivity / opportunity cost from only being able to share a whiteboard (real or virtual) during these occasional f2f meetings. So it drives me a little nuts that management doesn't invest in this more, and treat team communications in general as a first-order problem. I've been around long enough to know there can be factors I'm unaware of that management must consider, so I'm not assuming they're being irrational. I just don't know either way. (I know there are other pros and cons for f2f meetings, making a purely monetary comparison incomplete.)

IanMikutel 8y ago
Ian from Microsoft Whiteboard here. I've heard first-hand stories from some early Whiteboard Preview folks at enterprises that used our product to cut down on travel & accommodation expenses, while maintaining the same level of fidelity/interaction that f2f meetings gave them, when doing things like technical sales meetings. We're seeing many enterprises starting to see the benefits & the economics just simply make sense with the decreasing cost curves of large panel displays, and the increasing quality of interactive touch/ink panels.
- DoofusOfDeath 8y ago
  Thanks for the data point. One of the challenges at my workplace is that these devices are currently so large and expensive that it's only practical to install them in some of our meeting rooms. But with heavy competition for meeting rooms, depending on these boards for routine meetings (e.g. daily standups) gets dicey. So for us, they might become practical only when the price comes down enough for them to be ubiquitous, readily available, and (hopefully) on mobile stands. In the meantime, we're looking into alternatives involving devices small enough that every developer can have them on his/her desktop, and put them away when not in use. Microsoft seems to have some nice offerings in both form factors, but as a mixed Mac/Windows shop, MS-only solutions won't work. We need something that can be entirely hosted behind our firewall and has good clients for Mac, Windows, and (ideally) Linux.