4 ms·
Funny, I just got off the phone with someone I work remotely with. We communicate asynchronously regularly. And that's great. But sometimes there's no substitut
by scott_s 13y ago
Funny, I just got off the phone with someone I work remotely with. We communicate asynchronously regularly. And that's great. But sometimes there's no substitute for a 10 minute phone call to discuss a technical topic.
The amount of time it takes for two parties to draft and write responses to technical points can be quite high, and the back-and-forth required to correct misunderstandings can take several round-trips. Talking out loud, simultaneously, can allow for much higher bandwidth.
It also engenders basic empathy, which is a big deal in teams.
Our protocol is usually to ping the other person with a message to see if they can chat.
- falcolas 13y agoI personally enjoy a scheduled meeting via some video client (we use Google hangouts). That way you can be prepared to discuss topics, and it's not an interruption of anybody's work.
- scott_s 13y agoWe do both, as needed. In this instance, I sent a detailed email this morning. He sent a detailed response in the afternoon, with an invitation to ping him to chat further about one of the topics. A few hours later, I did, and five minutes after that, he called. The emails did the job of all of the background information - facts and basic interpretation, explanation of the problem and our options. The phone call was to agree on how we should proceed.
- baddox 13y agoFunny, the last time I suggested that in-person (or at least low-friction real-time audio and/or video) communication is extremely beneficial if not crucial to software teams, especially smaller startups iterating quickly, I was lambasted. One great comment I remember distinctly was that if my job required me to regularly ask another programmer something about a system they had worked on, that means the system wasn't sufficiently documented.
- scott_s 13y agoThat certainly wasn't by me. HN is legion, for it is many.
- voltagex_ 13y agoThe difficulty of this is higher if you're working across timezones. You need to plan a bit further ahead if you need a technical conversation with someone who's in say, Australia (like me). That said, I don't mind occasionally* getting up at 6am for this. *This means occasionally, not frequently.