4 ms·

Nonverbal and unstructured, unplanned communication don't really translate well to the digital world (yet)

xwdv 3y ago
So the secret to working effectively is passive aggressive nonverbal cues and interrupting people frequently who may be busy doing something else and weren’t expecting an impromptu meeting? Has the physical world discovered how to replay past conversations where important decisions were made? Has it become socially acceptable to have long silences of 5-10 minutes while people formulate thoughtful replies in a conversation?
- airstrike 3y ago
  > Has the physical world discovered how to replay past conversations where important decisions were made? Yes, they're called "minutes", memos or simply taking notes in meetings. > Has it become socially acceptable to have long silences of 5-10 minutes while people formulate thoughtful replies in a conversation? Yes, you can always say "let me think about that for a minute"
  - erik_seaberg 3y ago
    I’ve literally never seen a meeting grind to a halt like that. Instead, meetings are full of half-baked ideas, and I sometimes notice show-stoppers hours later when it’s quiet.
    - sahila 3y ago
      Maybe not in the middle of a meeting but Amazon commonly has the first half of a meeting (I've experienced as long as 20 mins) to read a document by the host altogether silently before starting. People commonly would add comments during this time. At google, doc reading is done before the meeting along with comments/replies, but during a design review, the host will go through each comment and then open a live discussion if needed. Both of these formats allow for productive meetings but it does require a culture to support it and people to write down their thoughts ahead of the meeting and share it around.
cpursley 3y ago
Let me introduce you to Slack and cell phone calls.
- airstrike 3y ago
  those don't convey nonverbal communication, and they are so unstructured that they interrupt too frequently there's something positive about setting time on the calendar and then sitting down with someone (or a group of people) to talk about a specific subject that we've all prepared for. yes, you can do that with Zoom, but then you miss the ability to speak simultaneously and the body language / nonverbal. not everything should be a meeting, but not everything should be IM / phone calls either. being able to mix and match is what makes in-person somewhat positive (even if I personally prefer a hybrid model)
- RestlessMind 3y ago
  Let me introduce you to body language, tone, facial expressions and personal energy, which are simply not captured in slack or zoom or phone calls.

xwdv 3y ago

So the secret to working effectively is passive aggressive nonverbal cues and interrupting people frequently who may be busy doing something else and weren’t expecting an impromptu meeting? Has the physical world discovered how to replay past conversations where important decisions were made? Has it become socially acceptable to have long silences of 5-10 minutes while people formulate thoughtful replies in a conversation?

airstrike 3y ago
> Has the physical world discovered how to replay past conversations where important decisions were made? Yes, they're called "minutes", memos or simply taking notes in meetings. > Has it become socially acceptable to have long silences of 5-10 minutes while people formulate thoughtful replies in a conversation? Yes, you can always say "let me think about that for a minute"
- erik_seaberg 3y ago
  I’ve literally never seen a meeting grind to a halt like that. Instead, meetings are full of half-baked ideas, and I sometimes notice show-stoppers hours later when it’s quiet.
  - sahila 3y ago
    Maybe not in the middle of a meeting but Amazon commonly has the first half of a meeting (I've experienced as long as 20 mins) to read a document by the host altogether silently before starting. People commonly would add comments during this time. At google, doc reading is done before the meeting along with comments/replies, but during a design review, the host will go through each comment and then open a live discussion if needed. Both of these formats allow for productive meetings but it does require a culture to support it and people to write down their thoughts ahead of the meeting and share it around.

cpursley 3y ago

Let me introduce you to Slack and cell phone calls.

airstrike 3y ago
those don't convey nonverbal communication, and they are so unstructured that they interrupt too frequently there's something positive about setting time on the calendar and then sitting down with someone (or a group of people) to talk about a specific subject that we've all prepared for. yes, you can do that with Zoom, but then you miss the ability to speak simultaneously and the body language / nonverbal. not everything should be a meeting, but not everything should be IM / phone calls either. being able to mix and match is what makes in-person somewhat positive (even if I personally prefer a hybrid model)
RestlessMind 3y ago
Let me introduce you to body language, tone, facial expressions and personal energy, which are simply not captured in slack or zoom or phone calls.