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Collaborative seating. (Basically a lunch table with a bunch of chairs in the hallway). Bring your laptop, hope you have a cord long enough to reach the outlet.

Collaborative seating. (Basically a lunch table with a bunch of chairs in the hallway). Bring your laptop, hope you have a cord long enough to reach the outlet. No partitions at all. Though globally remote is worse. You're expected to be able to jump on cam at all hours. Have your cap nearby to cover up the bedhead.

Johnny555 8y ago
Though globally remote is worse. You're expected to be able to jump on cam at all hours I think that's the price you pay for being globally remote. We have some overseas support staff, and they knew before they took the job when they'd need to be expected to dial-in for team meetings, and they all seem to be fine with it.
- cableshaft 8y ago
  You can 'dial in' without a webcam. We do it all the time at my job, which went fully remote six months ago. Half the people in our various Webex meetings use their phones to dial in, even. My boss originally wanted people to use their webcam when joining those meetings when we first went fully remote. That initiative lasted about two weeks before no one did it anymore, including him. I just wear a headset, and half the time I can leave it on mute anyway (especially if the puppy decides now is the time to chew on her squeakiest toy, or bark at some people running down the path beyond our back yard).
  - Johnny555 8y ago
    Is the video the real issue with dialing in at all-hours, or is it the "all-hours" part?
    - toomuchtodo 8y ago
      Yes.
  - learc83 8y ago
    Is the webcam a west coast thing? I work remotely for a NYC based company, and in the hundreds of meetings I've had both internally and with people from other companies, not once has someone turned on a webcam (or requested it).
    - taurath 8y ago
      It’s a tech vs non tech thing. Everyone in older companies tend to be used to communicating by phone.
    - Aeolun 8y ago
      I don’t know. Without a webcam I am missing about 100% of all your nonverbal communication. I can see why one would be handy. Is it really that hard to put on a shirt for your meetings?
      - stronglikedan 8y ago
        > missing...nonverbal communication Screen sharing?
        GrinningFool 8y ago
        I don't think that was the non-verbal communication he was referring to.
        stronglikedan 8y ago
        I was hoping it wasn't body language, because that's more of a detriment to the meeting, since it's completely subjective. We have an exec that constantly interrupts meetings to ask people about their body language, but the bad part is that he's almost always interpreted it incorrectly, and he proceeds to make mountains out of molehills and waste everyone's time (often while making people extremely uncomfortable). Unless it's a sales presentation where a professional salesperson needs to "read the room", we're better off without cams.
    - 8y ago
  - nsxwolf 8y ago
    We do cams on Thursday stand ups only, just as a team building sort of thing. Voice or Slack all other times.
  - distant_hat 8y ago
    At my company, we have global meetings daily and not once has anyone turned on the cam. We use Bluejeans and it seems to start with the cam on, but I guess everyone remembers to cut it off before joining.
    - aquaticsunset 8y ago
      IIRC, the Bluejeans app remembers your last used setting for video / mic.
  - StavrosK 8y ago
    In my remote job we do cam, but everyone wears whatever and nobody minds. Many people are in their pyjamas, I wear whatever old T-shirt I have, etc. That's one way of solving that problem. However, in my previous company every remote developer had a Polycom phone in their home office and the main office ran a PBX for them. I found that an order of magnitude better, because the phones had much much better sound quality, they were physically on the desk so there was a feeling of "this device connects me to my coworkers" associated with them, and they just lowered the barrier of calling someone by a ton. They were so good, that we'd routinely just call each other up and keep a line open while we worked, so we could chat about work, what we were doing or just generally about our lives, and we really felt like we were sitting next to each other in a way that Zoom doesn't.
    - jonaswouters 8y ago
      The physical phone thing is also my best experience while working remotely. Like you said we would call each other up and leave the line open for hours. We never used a camera, but I went to the office at least once every other week. I still miss the phone on my desk, and I've been considering to buy one for years, as a gate with an asterisk multiple choice menu in between :)
microcolonel 8y ago
I am too social for that, when I see people's faces I want to talk to them. I need to have a corner where I can put my monitor and do that part of my job. I can always do the social part of my job standing up, away from my desk; but if I have no permanent desk and corner, then I can not benefit from it.
rorykoehler 8y ago
Remote CTO here. We hardly ever use cam for calls and if we do it's 100% opt-in. We also have agreed upon business hours when people are available and generally book things in Google Calendar if there is a meeting unless it's a (rare) outage that requires immediate attention in which case pagerduty automates the process.
- andrew_ 8y ago
  Aside: My ambition is to someday rise to that role, while staying remote. I would love to read your thoughts on how one can pursue and move into a CTO role remotely.
  - rorykoehler 8y ago
    See reply to sibling comment.
- danesparza 8y ago
  Seriously: If you have a blog I can follow, or a book I can read that describes your story of becoming (and staying) a remote CTO, please share.
  - rorykoehler 8y ago
    I don't have anything published but it seems like this is something that could have an audience. I do have extensive notes which I've been collecting to put into some sort of coherent form and publish so maybe it's time to do that.
denimnerd42 8y ago
that sounds great for ergonomics..
wlll 8y ago
I've done globally remote for 10 years with 3 companies. Never been expected to jump in any call that's inconvenient for me. It would take a lot for me to give it up for an office of any kind.
lolsal 8y ago
Another anecdotal data point: I've been remote for about a decade and I've never expected to be on a call (visual or otherwise) outside business hours for my timezone (9-5). I work with folks in SF, London, Tel Aviv, Bangalaru.

Johnny555 8y ago

Though globally remote is worse. You're expected to be able to jump on cam at all hours I think that's the price you pay for being globally remote. We have some overseas support staff, and they knew before they took the job when they'd need to be expected to dial-in for team meetings, and they all seem to be fine with it.

cableshaft 8y ago
You can 'dial in' without a webcam. We do it all the time at my job, which went fully remote six months ago. Half the people in our various Webex meetings use their phones to dial in, even. My boss originally wanted people to use their webcam when joining those meetings when we first went fully remote. That initiative lasted about two weeks before no one did it anymore, including him. I just wear a headset, and half the time I can leave it on mute anyway (especially if the puppy decides now is the time to chew on her squeakiest toy, or bark at some people running down the path beyond our back yard).
- Johnny555 8y ago
  Is the video the real issue with dialing in at all-hours, or is it the "all-hours" part?
  - toomuchtodo 8y ago
    Yes.
- learc83 8y ago
  Is the webcam a west coast thing? I work remotely for a NYC based company, and in the hundreds of meetings I've had both internally and with people from other companies, not once has someone turned on a webcam (or requested it).
  - taurath 8y ago
    It’s a tech vs non tech thing. Everyone in older companies tend to be used to communicating by phone.
  - Aeolun 8y ago
    I don’t know. Without a webcam I am missing about 100% of all your nonverbal communication. I can see why one would be handy. Is it really that hard to put on a shirt for your meetings?
    - stronglikedan 8y ago
      > missing...nonverbal communication Screen sharing?
      - GrinningFool 8y ago
        I don't think that was the non-verbal communication he was referring to.
        stronglikedan 8y ago
        I was hoping it wasn't body language, because that's more of a detriment to the meeting, since it's completely subjective. We have an exec that constantly interrupts meetings to ask people about their body language, but the bad part is that he's almost always interpreted it incorrectly, and he proceeds to make mountains out of molehills and waste everyone's time (often while making people extremely uncomfortable). Unless it's a sales presentation where a professional salesperson needs to "read the room", we're better off without cams.
  - 8y ago
- nsxwolf 8y ago
  We do cams on Thursday stand ups only, just as a team building sort of thing. Voice or Slack all other times.
- distant_hat 8y ago
  At my company, we have global meetings daily and not once has anyone turned on the cam. We use Bluejeans and it seems to start with the cam on, but I guess everyone remembers to cut it off before joining.
  - aquaticsunset 8y ago
    IIRC, the Bluejeans app remembers your last used setting for video / mic.
- StavrosK 8y ago
  In my remote job we do cam, but everyone wears whatever and nobody minds. Many people are in their pyjamas, I wear whatever old T-shirt I have, etc. That's one way of solving that problem. However, in my previous company every remote developer had a Polycom phone in their home office and the main office ran a PBX for them. I found that an order of magnitude better, because the phones had much much better sound quality, they were physically on the desk so there was a feeling of "this device connects me to my coworkers" associated with them, and they just lowered the barrier of calling someone by a ton. They were so good, that we'd routinely just call each other up and keep a line open while we worked, so we could chat about work, what we were doing or just generally about our lives, and we really felt like we were sitting next to each other in a way that Zoom doesn't.
  - jonaswouters 8y ago
    The physical phone thing is also my best experience while working remotely. Like you said we would call each other up and leave the line open for hours. We never used a camera, but I went to the office at least once every other week. I still miss the phone on my desk, and I've been considering to buy one for years, as a gate with an asterisk multiple choice menu in between :)

microcolonel 8y ago

I am too social for that, when I see people's faces I want to talk to them. I need to have a corner where I can put my monitor and do that part of my job. I can always do the social part of my job standing up, away from my desk; but if I have no permanent desk and corner, then I can not benefit from it.

rorykoehler 8y ago

Remote CTO here. We hardly ever use cam for calls and if we do it's 100% opt-in. We also have agreed upon business hours when people are available and generally book things in Google Calendar if there is a meeting unless it's a (rare) outage that requires immediate attention in which case pagerduty automates the process.

andrew_ 8y ago
Aside: My ambition is to someday rise to that role, while staying remote. I would love to read your thoughts on how one can pursue and move into a CTO role remotely.
- rorykoehler 8y ago
  See reply to sibling comment.
danesparza 8y ago
Seriously: If you have a blog I can follow, or a book I can read that describes your story of becoming (and staying) a remote CTO, please share.
- rorykoehler 8y ago
  I don't have anything published but it seems like this is something that could have an audience. I do have extensive notes which I've been collecting to put into some sort of coherent form and publish so maybe it's time to do that.

denimnerd42 8y ago

that sounds great for ergonomics..

wlll 8y ago

I've done globally remote for 10 years with 3 companies. Never been expected to jump in any call that's inconvenient for me. It would take a lot for me to give it up for an office of any kind.

lolsal 8y ago

Another anecdotal data point: I've been remote for about a decade and I've never expected to be on a call (visual or otherwise) outside business hours for my timezone (9-5). I work with folks in SF, London, Tel Aviv, Bangalaru.