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Personally, I would never consent to be recorded at every meeting. Further, I would be mortified asking others for their consent. And how could I, as CTO, ask w

Personally, I would never consent to be recorded at every meeting. Further, I would be mortified asking others for their consent. And how could I, as CTO, ask without coercion?

sgt 3y ago
Agreed. I would probably consent now and then but largely I find it a bit inappropriate to be recorded, especially when it's a collaborative and group think meeting.
- shkurski_ 3y ago
  Could you explain what you mean by "recorded"? The distance between full recording and text-only transcription (or summary) is quite large.
  - sgt 3y ago
    In order to get a text-only transcription you need to record it somehow. I can't be sure that a backup audio file isn't stored anywhere, so I believe the same applies. It means that in theory, your conversation with someone else may be shared. I don't consent to that, normally. For presentations, talks etc it's a different matter.
    - shkurski_ 3y ago
      If you store captions produced by a party you trust (e.g., Google Meet), it could be accomplished w/o accessing audio at all. If I get it right, your concern is more about what's in the pipeline than what comes out.
      - LtWorf 3y ago
        You've ever seen how google captions youtube? It's completely inaccurate.
bcantrill 3y ago
It's a policy for us, and therefore an expectation, not a request. We also make sure that this isn't a surprise: everyone comes in knowing that we do this (and indeed, many new additions to the team have taken advantage of this by listening to past meetings to come up to speed).
- onli 3y ago
  Know that this policy would be illegal in many jurisdictions, especially in the one I live in. Setting it up disqualifies you from being a global employer - at least in theory -, and it's also really unethical. Also workers have a right to their voice and can't be recorded by default. Have a written record of the meetings outcomes, that's what is actually useful.
  - bcantrill 3y ago
    I emphatically disagree about it being "unethical" -- we view being recorded as a part of job function. I am also curious (and, frankly, skeptical) about the supposed illegality in your jurisdiction; where do you live?
    - mccrory 3y ago
      This would make call centers illegal in many many places as well as calling into those call centers wouldn’t it?
      - bcantrill 3y ago
        Yes! Anything that required recording as part of job function would be illegal, which I highly doubt is the case -- part of why I'm interested to get to specifics here...
        trogdor 3y ago
        I don’t think you’re going to get them.
LtWorf 3y ago
Once in a meeting I brought up an idea. A coworker said we could have a different meeting to discuss it but the decision was going to be no. And then I said that we should not have the meeting since the decision was taken. Said coworker went to the CTO and reported me for refusing to have meetings. Then I thought I should record the meetings. But I decided that quitting was a much better idea. I ended up having 2 weeks being paid for not working, so that was a nice extra.

Personally, I would never consent to be recorded at every meeting. Further, I would be mortified asking others for their consent. And how could I, as CTO, ask without coercion?

sgt 3y ago

Agreed. I would probably consent now and then but largely I find it a bit inappropriate to be recorded, especially when it's a collaborative and group think meeting.

shkurski_ 3y ago
Could you explain what you mean by "recorded"? The distance between full recording and text-only transcription (or summary) is quite large.
- sgt 3y ago
  In order to get a text-only transcription you need to record it somehow. I can't be sure that a backup audio file isn't stored anywhere, so I believe the same applies. It means that in theory, your conversation with someone else may be shared. I don't consent to that, normally. For presentations, talks etc it's a different matter.
  - shkurski_ 3y ago
    If you store captions produced by a party you trust (e.g., Google Meet), it could be accomplished w/o accessing audio at all. If I get it right, your concern is more about what's in the pipeline than what comes out.
    - LtWorf 3y ago
      You've ever seen how google captions youtube? It's completely inaccurate.

bcantrill 3y ago

It's a policy for us, and therefore an expectation, not a request. We also make sure that this isn't a surprise: everyone comes in knowing that we do this (and indeed, many new additions to the team have taken advantage of this by listening to past meetings to come up to speed).

onli 3y ago
Know that this policy would be illegal in many jurisdictions, especially in the one I live in. Setting it up disqualifies you from being a global employer - at least in theory -, and it's also really unethical. Also workers have a right to their voice and can't be recorded by default. Have a written record of the meetings outcomes, that's what is actually useful.
- bcantrill 3y ago
  I emphatically disagree about it being "unethical" -- we view being recorded as a part of job function. I am also curious (and, frankly, skeptical) about the supposed illegality in your jurisdiction; where do you live?
  - mccrory 3y ago
    This would make call centers illegal in many many places as well as calling into those call centers wouldn’t it?
    - bcantrill 3y ago
      Yes! Anything that required recording as part of job function would be illegal, which I highly doubt is the case -- part of why I'm interested to get to specifics here...
      - trogdor 3y ago
        I don’t think you’re going to get them.

LtWorf 3y ago

Once in a meeting I brought up an idea. A coworker said we could have a different meeting to discuss it but the decision was going to be no. And then I said that we should not have the meeting since the decision was taken. Said coworker went to the CTO and reported me for refusing to have meetings. Then I thought I should record the meetings. But I decided that quitting was a much better idea. I ended up having 2 weeks being paid for not working, so that was a nice extra.