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I've been working remotely since 2002. Fortunately I've been married that whole time, so I see my wife a lot, which is great. At my previous job I was a manage

I've been working remotely since 2002. Fortunately I've been married that whole time, so I see my wife a lot, which is great. At my previous job I was a manager so I talked to other people _a lot_ at work, what with all the meetings, 1:1's, etc. When I started my new job as an IC I realized that I didn't interact with my coworkers nearly as much. So I scheduled a monthly 30 minute 1:1 with each of my teammates that specifically has no agenda and is there to talk about whatever. Sometimes we talk about tech stuff or work stuff, and sometimes we just talk about random things like travel plans or events we've been to, etc. Obviously, this is a lot less social interaction than I would have if we were all in the same office, but I do think it's helpful to remind all of us that the person on the webcam is another human, and I enjoy these 1:1's.

jedberg 4y ago
> and I enjoy these 1:1's. Just make sure the person on the other end does too, and isn't doing it out of some sense of obligation to show up to meetings they were invited to. Watch out for signs of them being uncomfortable, like trying to always bring the conversation back to work stuff. Some people don't want to talk about their personal life with co-workers, they just feel obligated to fill the time with it.
- autarch 4y ago
  I asked each person via DM advance if they were okay with me scheduling these meetings, and people sometimes reschedule or cancel if they're busy that month. I also try not to pry into their personal life too much if they're not volunteering that information. Like I said, sometimes we just talk about things we've been working on or general tech chat.
  - jemmyw 4y ago
    I personally find scheduled meetings really annoying. I'm just not a schedule kind of person. Imo you've done a good thing but I'd hate it. However, a small tweak would make me like it: schedule it in your calendar to ask me, then ask me when your see me online. It would feel adhoc to me and scheduled to you.
    - autarch 4y ago
      It's not like this is the only meeting on anyone's calendar. We all have various standups, ticket review, etc. meetings already. If we were a _no-meeting_ company (does that exist?) I would've gone about this differently.
      - jemmyw 4y ago
        Well yes, my company also has plenty of scheduled meetings. But I still don't want a scheduled 1:1 with my colleagues, and we do the adhoc meetings all the time. For all I know, they have a calendar entry "meet with jemmyw today" as long as I don't need to commit to a specific time with them it's all good. Seems like a small thing, but if I see it coming up in the schedule then I don't want to do it.

jedberg 4y ago

> and I enjoy these 1:1's. Just make sure the person on the other end does too, and isn't doing it out of some sense of obligation to show up to meetings they were invited to. Watch out for signs of them being uncomfortable, like trying to always bring the conversation back to work stuff. Some people don't want to talk about their personal life with co-workers, they just feel obligated to fill the time with it.

autarch 4y ago
I asked each person via DM advance if they were okay with me scheduling these meetings, and people sometimes reschedule or cancel if they're busy that month. I also try not to pry into their personal life too much if they're not volunteering that information. Like I said, sometimes we just talk about things we've been working on or general tech chat.
- jemmyw 4y ago
  I personally find scheduled meetings really annoying. I'm just not a schedule kind of person. Imo you've done a good thing but I'd hate it. However, a small tweak would make me like it: schedule it in your calendar to ask me, then ask me when your see me online. It would feel adhoc to me and scheduled to you.
  - autarch 4y ago
    It's not like this is the only meeting on anyone's calendar. We all have various standups, ticket review, etc. meetings already. If we were a _no-meeting_ company (does that exist?) I would've gone about this differently.
    - jemmyw 4y ago
      Well yes, my company also has plenty of scheduled meetings. But I still don't want a scheduled 1:1 with my colleagues, and we do the adhoc meetings all the time. For all I know, they have a calendar entry "meet with jemmyw today" as long as I don't need to commit to a specific time with them it's all good. Seems like a small thing, but if I see it coming up in the schedule then I don't want to do it.