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I was on a partially-remote team for years, with bi-weekly team conference calls - webcam was possible but we all never used it, not even the manager. Screensha

I was on a partially-remote team for years, with bi-weekly team conference calls - webcam was possible but we all never used it, not even the manager. Screenshare was used for presentations. But audio was enough. Why is everyone defaulting to video calls for things? It adds so much "noise" and cognitive load on things.

intopieces 6y ago
Some people miss seeing their colleagues' faces. I know I do.
- slimed 6y ago
  You miss them. Not their faces.
  - mixonEPA 6y ago
    I mean for some people it is just their faces... Lol
  - touktouk 6y ago
    We can only assume that if the author of previous comment actually missed them and not their faces, they would have said so.
  - asdff 6y ago
    My personal happiness plummeted, anecdotally, when my coworkers started dropping the video feed one by one. It was surprising, but noticeable and significant.
    - intopieces 6y ago
      Same for me. There's just little things about interacting with a person face to face, personality aspects like how they express themselves: posture, eye movement, facial expression even. They just add to the interestingness of the work.
r00fus 6y ago
For some it makes all the difference to see others. I play along for them. I actually dress up for meetings/work and show off the company swag. For some it also helps knowing someone sees you. I don't mind if others don't share video, I set that bar for myself.
gmtx725 6y ago
1. Body language- it's important to be able to see people's facial expressions etc to gauge their reactions to things you're saying 2. Avoiding interrupting one another- being able to see other people's faces means you can see when they're about to start speaking. That means you're less likely to talk over each other 3. Keeping focused- for me at least. If i'm on an audio only call i'm tempted to zone out or do some other work when other people are speaking and I miss stuff.
- Wowfunhappy 6y ago
  > 1. Body language- it's important to be able to see people's facial expressions etc to gauge their reactions to things you're saying > 2. Avoiding interrupting one another- being able to see other people's faces means you can see when they're about to start speaking. That means you're less likely to talk over each other Do you find this works in practice? I don't think your average video call setup is good enough for it to make a difference. There's no eye contact, video quality is usually questionable, etc. If I was a professional negotiator who knew how to read body language in an academic sense, then maybe I could get some use out of video calls. But I don't think I'm able to get the "instinctual" benefits.
rootusrootus 6y ago
We do standups on video because we have a team split between the west coast of the US and Hyderabad. We get to see teammates from the other office once every couple years maybe, so we use video to maintain a personal connection. We've found it really helps us work better as a team. So I'd say it's really situational. I'd prefer not to try and coordinate development sprints between two sub-teams offset by 12.5 hours from each other, but if I can't avoid that, then it sure helps to see faces to keep people feeling connected. Obviously everyone will have their own personal experience. This is what worked for us.

intopieces 6y ago

Some people miss seeing their colleagues' faces. I know I do.

slimed 6y ago
You miss them. Not their faces.
- mixonEPA 6y ago
  I mean for some people it is just their faces... Lol
- touktouk 6y ago
  We can only assume that if the author of previous comment actually missed them and not their faces, they would have said so.
- asdff 6y ago
  My personal happiness plummeted, anecdotally, when my coworkers started dropping the video feed one by one. It was surprising, but noticeable and significant.
  - intopieces 6y ago
    Same for me. There's just little things about interacting with a person face to face, personality aspects like how they express themselves: posture, eye movement, facial expression even. They just add to the interestingness of the work.

r00fus 6y ago

For some it makes all the difference to see others. I play along for them. I actually dress up for meetings/work and show off the company swag. For some it also helps knowing someone sees you. I don't mind if others don't share video, I set that bar for myself.

gmtx725 6y ago

1. Body language- it's important to be able to see people's facial expressions etc to gauge their reactions to things you're saying 2. Avoiding interrupting one another- being able to see other people's faces means you can see when they're about to start speaking. That means you're less likely to talk over each other 3. Keeping focused- for me at least. If i'm on an audio only call i'm tempted to zone out or do some other work when other people are speaking and I miss stuff.

Wowfunhappy 6y ago
> 1. Body language- it's important to be able to see people's facial expressions etc to gauge their reactions to things you're saying > 2. Avoiding interrupting one another- being able to see other people's faces means you can see when they're about to start speaking. That means you're less likely to talk over each other Do you find this works in practice? I don't think your average video call setup is good enough for it to make a difference. There's no eye contact, video quality is usually questionable, etc. If I was a professional negotiator who knew how to read body language in an academic sense, then maybe I could get some use out of video calls. But I don't think I'm able to get the "instinctual" benefits.

rootusrootus 6y ago

We do standups on video because we have a team split between the west coast of the US and Hyderabad. We get to see teammates from the other office once every couple years maybe, so we use video to maintain a personal connection. We've found it really helps us work better as a team. So I'd say it's really situational. I'd prefer not to try and coordinate development sprints between two sub-teams offset by 12.5 hours from each other, but if I can't avoid that, then it sure helps to see faces to keep people feeling connected. Obviously everyone will have their own personal experience. This is what worked for us.