11 ms·

Not entirely the same, but since the pandemic and WFH, I've started doing a lot of my 1:1s while walking, voice only. I'd be really interested to know if anyone

by feral 4y ago

Not entirely the same, but since the pandemic and WFH, I've started doing a lot of my 1:1s while walking, voice only. I'd be really interested to know if anyone else has started doing this? Typically, both people walk, using good Bluetooth headphones. I was finding the combination of staring at the screen while coding, and then also during meetings, to be very straining. Something about having to focus intently on the screen during a 1:1 was particularly tiring. Maybe because it's socially rude to look away while the other person is talking, so you end up really staring at the screen? Now, instead, during a walking meeting, I exercise and get to look into the distance. The most surprising thing for me was the ability to have technical conversations like this. I expected we'd really suffer without a whiteboard. Sometimes this is true, but I find we can have a lot of very technical conversations with voice only, and actually it's often easier than with video chat - because with voice only, I can focus more on the technical issues being discussed. Finally, there are some days where I have a couple of hours walking meetings scattered throughout the day, and this is a lot of extra movement, which has to be good. I wish there were more employers experimenting with different communication modalities like this; I feel the pandemic for all it's costs, has shown there are some great opportunities for other ways of working which have been underexplored.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
FrojoS 4y ago
Same here. Back to the 80s! I was born in the mid 80s but I once heard that the economy of the 80s was basically “people talking to other people on the phone.”
coding123 4y ago
Not myself but our tech VP does this all the time. It's kinda funny when he runs into neighbors or sees a weird reptile (he's in Florida)
Swizec 4y ago
> I'd be really interested to know if anyone else has started doing this? We used to do this at the office and it was great. For private meetings between 2 people, go for a walk! It has worked great for mastermind calls also. But now at a new job that’s fully wfh it somehow didn’t stick. I tried a few times but I’m asked to participate too actively and people get frustrated with background noise because they aren’t using headphones at home. Laptop speakers are just not high quality enough to make it work even with voice isolation. Plus I have too many back-to-backs nowadays and walking outside creates too much overhead. Kept missing things.
- SoftTalker 4y ago
  I did the "walking 1:1 meetings" at a former job. Hated it. Useless for any topic where you might want to take or refer to notes, or other reference material, which IMO is basically a given for any meeting worth having.
13of40 4y ago
I actually do this quite a bit, and I've found that getting a kit of USB-C-chargeable devices (phone, headset, and laptop) plus a battery pack and an effectively unlimited tethered 5G data plan means I can work from anywhere I please. The down side of it is I find myself in these epic places staring down three hours of back-to-back meetings when I just want to lean back and look at a tree.
doktorhladnjak 4y ago
I've tried this a few times with another coworker. I don't know. It just didn't quite work for either of us. The connection didn't seem as stable. There's more noise even if neither of us was walking in a particularly noisy place. Voice only without video changes the dynamic. It's not possible to write down notes or look something up relevant to the conversation. When we're in the same physical location, we do walking 1:1s and they work great. I'm not quite sure what exactly is different about them over Zoom or the phone.
- bobthepanda 4y ago
  Probably body language. We are able to subconsciously read and give many clues, which helps fill in for the other missing stuff.
  - Fnoord 4y ago
    Yep, body language, but since I am autistic I have trouble reading it, and the more people in the video call the more I get overwhelmed. An audio call is less overwhelming, and just walking while discussing (IRL or on audio call) is inspiring. It allows for the diffused mode of the brain to take control.
neilv 4y ago
I'm a big believer in walking, but not been doing meetings that way. It's great that works for you, and I'll just mention some thoughts for other people to consider as they experiment with it. My current startup hasn't had good luck with WHF and cross-site meetings using smartphones when someone is outdoors. Even just within the US, when someone is on their smartphone, MS Teams (mandated) or their network connectivity means their audio often gets choppy, they don't seem to be as engaged, etc. It's not as reliable audio as, say, a landline conference call from decades ago. I think the missing whiteboard or shared screen would also be a problem in practice for me. The last 1:1 that I was in, Fri, for example, I did an impromptu screenshare of a visual that was important to what we were discussing, and that's very common. Also, in that same example meeting, I took notes, and then afterwards updated a few Jira Tasks based the new information. My memory is fine, and I probably didn't need the notes that time, but I don't always know at the start of a meeting whether I'll need to take notes, nor how big the notes will be, nor whether the notes will be useful, nor whether it'll be worth spending time after distilling useful info into Jira/docs/comms, or just (I do this sometimes) copy&pasting the semi-useful raw notes directly into a Jira comment and moving on.
SoftTalker 4y ago
Sort of. I just use a still photo of myself rather than live video. Nothing is really gained by the other party seing my lips move. I don't have to worry about whether I've shaved, or my hair is mussed up, or if I'm dressed in work attire, or if I'm looking at the screen. It's much easier to focus on the content of the call without all those distractions.
- rubidium 4y ago
  “ Nothing is really gained by the other party seing my lips move.“ Eh, maybe for you. Hard of hearing folks and more extroverted folks will disagree. Depends on your team.
  - hamlsandwich 4y ago
    Agree 100%. There's _so_ much additional information that human faces provide outside of the spoken language. It's often hard to interpret, especially over a video call, but turning that channel off completely is definitely a loss of signal. I'd much rather develop my use and interpretation of facial expressions than ignore them.
j45 4y ago
I do something similar and log into most meetings from multiple devices for meeting flexibility (and stability). 1) Laptop undocked / docked to monitors. For watching, screen share and often webcam. Sometimes take screenshots and notes if needed. 2) I tried an iPad Mini 5 after a recommendation and don't know how I lived without one for calls. - It has become my primary meeting communication device. - It provides most stable Zoom/Teams experience I've ever had - and the load doesn't impact my work machine. - This device is all about maximising weight and size/volume. Small enough to carry, throw it in a sling for a walk and be able to pull it out if needed. great to carry a meeting or a call with me and be more useful than a phone.. Going for a walk, stretching out your legs, visiting the kitchen, and yes, sometimes even transferring the call to your car for audio while driving is smooth and generally seamless. - I more easily see things on the meeting, interact, run a whiteboard, and contribute at a moment's notice if needed. Don't have to explain that I'm dialling by phone in or why. Being able to kick over to a whiteboard to doodle is handy compared to a powerpoint to get ideas across anyways. - In Person - I almost always take the mini to meetings. The mini is not as distracting as a laptop keyboard or typing on a phone. Easy to bring up something to share and hand it over too. - Great battery life, everything stays fast and doesn't need rebooting. - I have muted nearly every notification on the iPad and it makes it even better to only work for me and not fight for my attention. - Bluetooth works great, and the speaker/microphones are very decent. Bluetooth Headphones: - One tricky part of bluetooth headsets is noise cancelling might only be for what you hear, but te other party doesn't get noise cancelling from your mic and hear all your background. - Currently I mostly use two pairs of Jabra 85t's that I alternate and charge since they only last 5h each. Only caveat of these is you can't use both the right earbud independently and not the left. Very decent noise cancelling for outdoors and indoors. I avoided the AirPods or others because I wasn't sure how good their noise cancelling was for the speaker (me) on a call. - My interest is in that noise cancel on the mic for the other party. I'd love to hear what's working for you as there seem to be too many to keep up with. Heard good thigns about the Jabra 75e as well primarily for meetings and voice.
DangitBobby 4y ago
A big drawback to this of course is that it's very difficult to take notes or jot something down while walking around.
moomoo11 4y ago
How do you take notes or otherwise record key points or concerns when you’re walking? Or are you physically close to your computer? I’ve had managers who would do stuff like this, not in front of a computer. As you might imagine the experience working with them was not great and led me to change managers because they’d never recall what we talked about because they were distracted.
- rustybelt 4y ago
  I can’t take detailed notes but will punch key ideas and follow ups into my phone.
  - feral 4y ago
    This is what I do, too. I'm not a big believer in making detailed notes during a 1:1 When necessary, I capture key points and action items in my phone while walking.
    - gz5 4y ago
      same, and i do many walking meetings as well. i would however like to tap some_number to add the last x seconds of the conversation into a note - either as audio or transcribed. of course requires pre-recording consent. i could then annotate those notes later, which is helpful to me regardless (e.g. even in sitting meets, i will often take notes with a pen, and then later re-type key points (digitally) into a more focused version). finally, any tips on microphones which filter out surrounding noise well (so the people on the call aren't bothered by my background noise)? plantronics voyager 6200 is the best i have used so far, and most reviews focus on your listening experience, rather than the listening experience of the other parties...
      - Tommienbp 4y ago
        Hi, maybe try www.feeting.app. They do transcription and manual note-taking very smooth "Hey Feeting...". You also get all the meeting highlights like hot topics, questions, actions, follow-ups, feeting sentiment and speaking times afterwards. They're doing an awesome job with background noise cancellation and the spatial audio is superb (if your headphones and phone support it). It gives the feeling to be with the other people "in the same room".
urthor 4y ago
"The West Wing"
- slyall 4y ago
  I'll raise you Brazil: https://youtu.be/LFlFIG22Y9E?t=139 https://youtu.be/LFlFIG22Y9E?t=139
nonrandomstring 4y ago
> since the pandemic and WFH, I've started doing a lot of my 1:1s while walking, voice only. I'd be really interested to know if anyone else has started doing this? Yes, +1 for this. The pandemic made me unfit and put on weight. When I teach I pace about, gesticulate, use the whiteboard lots and generally burn a ton of calories. I really missed that. Desk-based admin or videoconf meetings are down my can-do list now. Trying to reserve chair time for coding. I see other comments on "how do you take notes or send messages?" Mobile speech-to-text and text-to-speech are on my radar, but far from perfect results. I enjoyed the thread last week on throat mics and bone conduction headphones, possibly very useful tech to use for walking and working.
- kubik369 4y ago
  Maybe this will help you (and maybe I will just sound like a jerk shrugs), but the pandemic didn't make you unfit and put on weight, you and your diet did. I have been struggling with this for the last few years and while pacing about (or any movement really) certainly helps, you can veeery easily outeat whatever you burned; our bodies are freakishly efficient. I would recommend trying to take a look at whether your diet changed while working from home and if not, trying to change it up so that it corresponds to your current activity levels. ... or if you don't care, then don't, it would have just helped me if someone pointed this out to me earlier in my life, so I try to do it for other people.
  - nonrandomstring 4y ago
    Your absolutely right mate, and thanks for taking a punt on "seeming a jerk" and saying the honest truth. My diet definitely changed for the worse during that time. Bulking up is a comfort/stress behaviour for sure. And boredom. How those hours indoors seemed to linger if I'm not lost in code or creativity. But now it's under control again I need to find tricks to keep both the munching and the burn working together. Part of the walking benefit isn't just calorie output, it's the positive mental state that comes with the deal, that makes me not think about food for 8 hours at a time. respects.
s0rce 4y ago
I did this often for some meetings, mostly just to discuss problems where we didn't need to take notes. Double purpose was taking the dog for a walk as well as myself.
besus 4y ago
Two companies ago I had a wonderful koi pond outside the office around which my 1:1 and I would walk around and enjoy the tranquility. It was great and I very much miss it.
ehnto 4y ago
There's a performance that's happening during a meeting with cameras that I find really draining and unnatural. I go into high alert for how I am presenting on camera. As the number of participants increases it gets worse.
wintermutestwin 4y ago
I spent 17 years as a WFH product manager and, by far, my most performant meeting mode was on audio only conferences where I could free roam around my large house. Walking really makes a difference in my ability to think and communicate through complex problems. The shift to video and its static position was a huge backslide in my ability to do my job well.
baxuz 4y ago
Just to put it out there, there is no such thing as good Bluetooth headphones. The audio quality is horrible due to the protocol, and earbuds just make the problem even worse.
- oblio 4y ago
  Bluetooth LE?
- morjom 4y ago
  There's plenty good sounding Bluetooth headphones though.
  - baxuz 4y ago
    Even the airpods max sound worse to your listeners compared to any wired or built-in mic.
- throwawaycuriou 4y ago
  The greater issue for this use case is latency. Bluetooth + cellular delay is not a kind thing to impose on your teammates.
cehrlich 4y ago
I take basically all calls and remote meetings while walking when possible (ie I don't need to refer to stuff on the computer). Sometimes it's outside, others I'm just pacing back and forth in my apartment. I find my performance is much better this way, and also I just feel better. I've taken this so far now that I bought a lavalier mic + wind guard to use with my phone, so that others don't have to suffer the audio quality of the AirPods mic. If I need to take notes, I type them into the iPhone Notes app. Transferring them to the 'source of truth' on the computer (Workflowy for me, probably Notion etc for many others) also has the benefit of reviewing everything.
throwawaycuriou 4y ago
If you do this, please use a cabled headset. Bluetooth headsets inevitably add latency, particularly off WiFi. Latency makes meetings more fatiguing.
soco 4y ago
I also try this (and was always doing it) but often others would complain about extra ambient noises - steps, wind, whatnot. So I can't do it as often as I'd like...

by feral 4y ago

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

FrojoS 4y ago

Same here. Back to the 80s! I was born in the mid 80s but I once heard that the economy of the 80s was basically “people talking to other people on the phone.”

coding123 4y ago

Not myself but our tech VP does this all the time. It's kinda funny when he runs into neighbors or sees a weird reptile (he's in Florida)

Swizec 4y ago

> I'd be really interested to know if anyone else has started doing this? We used to do this at the office and it was great. For private meetings between 2 people, go for a walk! It has worked great for mastermind calls also. But now at a new job that’s fully wfh it somehow didn’t stick. I tried a few times but I’m asked to participate too actively and people get frustrated with background noise because they aren’t using headphones at home. Laptop speakers are just not high quality enough to make it work even with voice isolation. Plus I have too many back-to-backs nowadays and walking outside creates too much overhead. Kept missing things.

SoftTalker 4y ago
I did the "walking 1:1 meetings" at a former job. Hated it. Useless for any topic where you might want to take or refer to notes, or other reference material, which IMO is basically a given for any meeting worth having.

13of40 4y ago

I actually do this quite a bit, and I've found that getting a kit of USB-C-chargeable devices (phone, headset, and laptop) plus a battery pack and an effectively unlimited tethered 5G data plan means I can work from anywhere I please. The down side of it is I find myself in these epic places staring down three hours of back-to-back meetings when I just want to lean back and look at a tree.

doktorhladnjak 4y ago

I've tried this a few times with another coworker. I don't know. It just didn't quite work for either of us. The connection didn't seem as stable. There's more noise even if neither of us was walking in a particularly noisy place. Voice only without video changes the dynamic. It's not possible to write down notes or look something up relevant to the conversation. When we're in the same physical location, we do walking 1:1s and they work great. I'm not quite sure what exactly is different about them over Zoom or the phone.

bobthepanda 4y ago
Probably body language. We are able to subconsciously read and give many clues, which helps fill in for the other missing stuff.
- Fnoord 4y ago
  Yep, body language, but since I am autistic I have trouble reading it, and the more people in the video call the more I get overwhelmed. An audio call is less overwhelming, and just walking while discussing (IRL or on audio call) is inspiring. It allows for the diffused mode of the brain to take control.

neilv 4y ago

I'm a big believer in walking, but not been doing meetings that way. It's great that works for you, and I'll just mention some thoughts for other people to consider as they experiment with it. My current startup hasn't had good luck with WHF and cross-site meetings using smartphones when someone is outdoors. Even just within the US, when someone is on their smartphone, MS Teams (mandated) or their network connectivity means their audio often gets choppy, they don't seem to be as engaged, etc. It's not as reliable audio as, say, a landline conference call from decades ago. I think the missing whiteboard or shared screen would also be a problem in practice for me. The last 1:1 that I was in, Fri, for example, I did an impromptu screenshare of a visual that was important to what we were discussing, and that's very common. Also, in that same example meeting, I took notes, and then afterwards updated a few Jira Tasks based the new information. My memory is fine, and I probably didn't need the notes that time, but I don't always know at the start of a meeting whether I'll need to take notes, nor how big the notes will be, nor whether the notes will be useful, nor whether it'll be worth spending time after distilling useful info into Jira/docs/comms, or just (I do this sometimes) copy&pasting the semi-useful raw notes directly into a Jira comment and moving on.

SoftTalker 4y ago

Sort of. I just use a still photo of myself rather than live video. Nothing is really gained by the other party seing my lips move. I don't have to worry about whether I've shaved, or my hair is mussed up, or if I'm dressed in work attire, or if I'm looking at the screen. It's much easier to focus on the content of the call without all those distractions.

rubidium 4y ago
“ Nothing is really gained by the other party seing my lips move.“ Eh, maybe for you. Hard of hearing folks and more extroverted folks will disagree. Depends on your team.
- hamlsandwich 4y ago
  Agree 100%. There's _so_ much additional information that human faces provide outside of the spoken language. It's often hard to interpret, especially over a video call, but turning that channel off completely is definitely a loss of signal. I'd much rather develop my use and interpretation of facial expressions than ignore them.

j45 4y ago

I do something similar and log into most meetings from multiple devices for meeting flexibility (and stability). 1) Laptop undocked / docked to monitors. For watching, screen share and often webcam. Sometimes take screenshots and notes if needed. 2) I tried an iPad Mini 5 after a recommendation and don't know how I lived without one for calls. - It has become my primary meeting communication device. - It provides most stable Zoom/Teams experience I've ever had - and the load doesn't impact my work machine. - This device is all about maximising weight and size/volume. Small enough to carry, throw it in a sling for a walk and be able to pull it out if needed. great to carry a meeting or a call with me and be more useful than a phone.. Going for a walk, stretching out your legs, visiting the kitchen, and yes, sometimes even transferring the call to your car for audio while driving is smooth and generally seamless. - I more easily see things on the meeting, interact, run a whiteboard, and contribute at a moment's notice if needed. Don't have to explain that I'm dialling by phone in or why. Being able to kick over to a whiteboard to doodle is handy compared to a powerpoint to get ideas across anyways. - In Person - I almost always take the mini to meetings. The mini is not as distracting as a laptop keyboard or typing on a phone. Easy to bring up something to share and hand it over too. - Great battery life, everything stays fast and doesn't need rebooting. - I have muted nearly every notification on the iPad and it makes it even better to only work for me and not fight for my attention. - Bluetooth works great, and the speaker/microphones are very decent. Bluetooth Headphones: - One tricky part of bluetooth headsets is noise cancelling might only be for what you hear, but te other party doesn't get noise cancelling from your mic and hear all your background. - Currently I mostly use two pairs of Jabra 85t's that I alternate and charge since they only last 5h each. Only caveat of these is you can't use both the right earbud independently and not the left. Very decent noise cancelling for outdoors and indoors. I avoided the AirPods or others because I wasn't sure how good their noise cancelling was for the speaker (me) on a call. - My interest is in that noise cancel on the mic for the other party. I'd love to hear what's working for you as there seem to be too many to keep up with. Heard good thigns about the Jabra 75e as well primarily for meetings and voice.

DangitBobby 4y ago

A big drawback to this of course is that it's very difficult to take notes or jot something down while walking around.

moomoo11 4y ago

How do you take notes or otherwise record key points or concerns when you’re walking? Or are you physically close to your computer? I’ve had managers who would do stuff like this, not in front of a computer. As you might imagine the experience working with them was not great and led me to change managers because they’d never recall what we talked about because they were distracted.

rustybelt 4y ago
I can’t take detailed notes but will punch key ideas and follow ups into my phone.
- feral 4y ago
  This is what I do, too. I'm not a big believer in making detailed notes during a 1:1 When necessary, I capture key points and action items in my phone while walking.
  - gz5 4y ago
    same, and i do many walking meetings as well. i would however like to tap some_number to add the last x seconds of the conversation into a note - either as audio or transcribed. of course requires pre-recording consent. i could then annotate those notes later, which is helpful to me regardless (e.g. even in sitting meets, i will often take notes with a pen, and then later re-type key points (digitally) into a more focused version). finally, any tips on microphones which filter out surrounding noise well (so the people on the call aren't bothered by my background noise)? plantronics voyager 6200 is the best i have used so far, and most reviews focus on your listening experience, rather than the listening experience of the other parties...
    - Tommienbp 4y ago
      Hi, maybe try www.feeting.app. They do transcription and manual note-taking very smooth "Hey Feeting...". You also get all the meeting highlights like hot topics, questions, actions, follow-ups, feeting sentiment and speaking times afterwards. They're doing an awesome job with background noise cancellation and the spatial audio is superb (if your headphones and phone support it). It gives the feeling to be with the other people "in the same room".

urthor 4y ago

"The West Wing"

slyall 4y ago
I'll raise you Brazil: https://youtu.be/LFlFIG22Y9E?t=139 https://youtu.be/LFlFIG22Y9E?t=139

nonrandomstring 4y ago

> since the pandemic and WFH, I've started doing a lot of my 1:1s while walking, voice only. I'd be really interested to know if anyone else has started doing this? Yes, +1 for this. The pandemic made me unfit and put on weight. When I teach I pace about, gesticulate, use the whiteboard lots and generally burn a ton of calories. I really missed that. Desk-based admin or videoconf meetings are down my can-do list now. Trying to reserve chair time for coding. I see other comments on "how do you take notes or send messages?" Mobile speech-to-text and text-to-speech are on my radar, but far from perfect results. I enjoyed the thread last week on throat mics and bone conduction headphones, possibly very useful tech to use for walking and working.

kubik369 4y ago
Maybe this will help you (and maybe I will just sound like a jerk shrugs), but the pandemic didn't make you unfit and put on weight, you and your diet did. I have been struggling with this for the last few years and while pacing about (or any movement really) certainly helps, you can veeery easily outeat whatever you burned; our bodies are freakishly efficient. I would recommend trying to take a look at whether your diet changed while working from home and if not, trying to change it up so that it corresponds to your current activity levels. ... or if you don't care, then don't, it would have just helped me if someone pointed this out to me earlier in my life, so I try to do it for other people.
- nonrandomstring 4y ago
  Your absolutely right mate, and thanks for taking a punt on "seeming a jerk" and saying the honest truth. My diet definitely changed for the worse during that time. Bulking up is a comfort/stress behaviour for sure. And boredom. How those hours indoors seemed to linger if I'm not lost in code or creativity. But now it's under control again I need to find tricks to keep both the munching and the burn working together. Part of the walking benefit isn't just calorie output, it's the positive mental state that comes with the deal, that makes me not think about food for 8 hours at a time. respects.

s0rce 4y ago

I did this often for some meetings, mostly just to discuss problems where we didn't need to take notes. Double purpose was taking the dog for a walk as well as myself.

besus 4y ago

Two companies ago I had a wonderful koi pond outside the office around which my 1:1 and I would walk around and enjoy the tranquility. It was great and I very much miss it.

ehnto 4y ago

There's a performance that's happening during a meeting with cameras that I find really draining and unnatural. I go into high alert for how I am presenting on camera. As the number of participants increases it gets worse.

wintermutestwin 4y ago

I spent 17 years as a WFH product manager and, by far, my most performant meeting mode was on audio only conferences where I could free roam around my large house. Walking really makes a difference in my ability to think and communicate through complex problems. The shift to video and its static position was a huge backslide in my ability to do my job well.

baxuz 4y ago

Just to put it out there, there is no such thing as good Bluetooth headphones. The audio quality is horrible due to the protocol, and earbuds just make the problem even worse.

oblio 4y ago
Bluetooth LE?
morjom 4y ago
There's plenty good sounding Bluetooth headphones though.
- baxuz 4y ago
  Even the airpods max sound worse to your listeners compared to any wired or built-in mic.
throwawaycuriou 4y ago
The greater issue for this use case is latency. Bluetooth + cellular delay is not a kind thing to impose on your teammates.

cehrlich 4y ago

I take basically all calls and remote meetings while walking when possible (ie I don't need to refer to stuff on the computer). Sometimes it's outside, others I'm just pacing back and forth in my apartment. I find my performance is much better this way, and also I just feel better. I've taken this so far now that I bought a lavalier mic + wind guard to use with my phone, so that others don't have to suffer the audio quality of the AirPods mic. If I need to take notes, I type them into the iPhone Notes app. Transferring them to the 'source of truth' on the computer (Workflowy for me, probably Notion etc for many others) also has the benefit of reviewing everything.

throwawaycuriou 4y ago

If you do this, please use a cabled headset. Bluetooth headsets inevitably add latency, particularly off WiFi. Latency makes meetings more fatiguing.

soco 4y ago

I also try this (and was always doing it) but often others would complain about extra ambient noises - steps, wind, whatnot. So I can't do it as often as I'd like...