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I hope OP takes this as a pivot for the product. Connecting with friends is already solved, connecting with co-workers on a personal level much less so, especia

I hope OP takes this as a pivot for the product. Connecting with friends is already solved, connecting with co-workers on a personal level much less so, especially remote.

Avicebron 5y ago
Not all people want a deeply personal relationship with their co-workers, many would even find being forced to engage in that intrusive. Unfortunately once those bonds are formed between some members of a team, often the team dynamic is shifted weirdly as some people feel forced into the "buddy buddy system"...it's classic now and forcing it into remote work seems like a nightmare
- Vinnl 5y ago
  If you're at a place where this would be "forced", then I'd argue that that place is the problem, not the existence of such a product. I can imagine us setting this up as a team, bottom-up, though. (Similar to how e.g. I've been at two organisations where donut.com is available, but it being completely optional in both cases.)
  - Avicebron 5y ago
    Maybe forced isn't the right term, I'm referring to non-mandated systems that occur organically. Not that I've experienced this too much personally, but I have had co-workers who would often be deliberately left out by management or not given contracts by the project managers (it was the nature of the work that some jobs were better than others, less sketchy <biotech>) because they weren't considered "friendly" to them. Luckily I was social and often made connections with those people, but I didn't feel like it was a fair system. I think it's part of human tribalism, if some group clicks, it can cause repercussions across the whole main group/dept.
    - Vinnl 5y ago
      I think my general concern still holds then: such a place will probably be shitty regardless of whether such a tool is used or not.
  - JohnFen 5y ago
    That's not much different from being forced, really. If you dislike this sort of thing but are on a team that adopts it, it's not really optional no matter how much everyone says it is. It would be a bit like office parties in that respect -- technically optional, but bad for your career if you opt out.
    - Vinnl 5y ago
      I mean, you have a say in whether to adopt it if you're part of the team. It might be different elsewhere, but you could and people did opt-out in the teams I saw donut.com being used. Again, I think it's not the tool that's the problem, but the team, in that I don't think a team whose use of the tool is problematic wouldn't have problems if the tool didn't exist.
- mosselman 5y ago
  > Not all people want a deeply personal relationship with their co-workers I don't either per se, depends on the person more than it depends on the fact that they are my co-worker. What I think is useful is to connect, a bit, on things that aren't related to work, so that you get to know each other a bit better. 'Deeper' in this sense would be getting to know each other beyond just work things. > forcing it into remote work Bit of a straw man. I never said anything about forcing. > Unfortunately once those bonds are formed between some members of a team, often the team dynamic is shifted weirdly It seems like you are saying we have to avoid bonding with co-workers because the anti-social members of a team might be left out because people would rather work together with people they have a connection with than people they don't. If so, I'd strongly disagree with that and I don't think it is weird. We spend so much of our time on this planet working, I'd rather spend it with people I have a good relationship with than people I don't have a connection with.

I hope OP takes this as a pivot for the product. Connecting with friends is already solved, connecting with co-workers on a personal level much less so, especially remote.

Avicebron 5y ago

Not all people want a deeply personal relationship with their co-workers, many would even find being forced to engage in that intrusive. Unfortunately once those bonds are formed between some members of a team, often the team dynamic is shifted weirdly as some people feel forced into the "buddy buddy system"...it's classic now and forcing it into remote work seems like a nightmare

Vinnl 5y ago
If you're at a place where this would be "forced", then I'd argue that that place is the problem, not the existence of such a product. I can imagine us setting this up as a team, bottom-up, though. (Similar to how e.g. I've been at two organisations where donut.com is available, but it being completely optional in both cases.)
- Avicebron 5y ago
  Maybe forced isn't the right term, I'm referring to non-mandated systems that occur organically. Not that I've experienced this too much personally, but I have had co-workers who would often be deliberately left out by management or not given contracts by the project managers (it was the nature of the work that some jobs were better than others, less sketchy <biotech>) because they weren't considered "friendly" to them. Luckily I was social and often made connections with those people, but I didn't feel like it was a fair system. I think it's part of human tribalism, if some group clicks, it can cause repercussions across the whole main group/dept.
  - Vinnl 5y ago
    I think my general concern still holds then: such a place will probably be shitty regardless of whether such a tool is used or not.
- JohnFen 5y ago
  That's not much different from being forced, really. If you dislike this sort of thing but are on a team that adopts it, it's not really optional no matter how much everyone says it is. It would be a bit like office parties in that respect -- technically optional, but bad for your career if you opt out.
  - Vinnl 5y ago
    I mean, you have a say in whether to adopt it if you're part of the team. It might be different elsewhere, but you could and people did opt-out in the teams I saw donut.com being used. Again, I think it's not the tool that's the problem, but the team, in that I don't think a team whose use of the tool is problematic wouldn't have problems if the tool didn't exist.
mosselman 5y ago
> Not all people want a deeply personal relationship with their co-workers I don't either per se, depends on the person more than it depends on the fact that they are my co-worker. What I think is useful is to connect, a bit, on things that aren't related to work, so that you get to know each other a bit better. 'Deeper' in this sense would be getting to know each other beyond just work things. > forcing it into remote work Bit of a straw man. I never said anything about forcing. > Unfortunately once those bonds are formed between some members of a team, often the team dynamic is shifted weirdly It seems like you are saying we have to avoid bonding with co-workers because the anti-social members of a team might be left out because people would rather work together with people they have a connection with than people they don't. If so, I'd strongly disagree with that and I don't think it is weird. We spend so much of our time on this planet working, I'd rather spend it with people I have a good relationship with than people I don't have a connection with.