Being Geek by Michael Lopp

Author:Michael Lopp [Michael Lopp]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: COMPUTERS / Social Aspects / General
ISBN: 9781449394035
Publisher: O'Reilly Media
Published: 2010-07-20T16:00:00+00:00

Other than the job, how are you encouraging other random interactions between local and remote folks?

How often are you seeing these remote folks face-to-face? My vote is at least monthly.

Friction Detection

Remote friction is going to crop up. Just like interpersonal tensions randomly appear in the building, so does friction around remote employees. What are you doing not only to detect these, but also fix them?

An example: I hate meetings, but the brilliant thing about a meeting is that it's full of people, and in a room full of people you never quite know what the hell is going to happen. The knee-jerk reaction to bridging this meeting gap when there are remote workers is always, "We need good videoconferencing software."

After 10 years of hearing this argument, I'm calling fail. Videoconferencing works when you need to talk to your kids during that trip to Chicago. It fills that visual gap, but all of the videoconferencing solutions I've been a part of relative to a meeting create friction rather than remove it.

Yes, I can see Anne on the screen, but she's flat. She's also got this 1/10th of a second lag on the conversation, which doesn't sound like a lot until you're in the middle of that strategic rant about design and Anne chimes in, mid-sentence, with a bright thought that completely disturbs the creative cadence of your rant. That 1/10th of a second. Her inability to inject her essential thought at precisely the right moment. These micro-disturbances of the Force are a constant reminder that Anne's not there. She's being projected on the conference room wall like a well-intentioned screensaver. This isn't just hurting the tempo of the meeting, it's eroding her credibility.

In this case, surprisingly, less technology, rather than more, is better. Skype's proximity to my computer and the usual lack of lag is far superior to videoconferencing for 1:1s, and spending a little money on a quality Polycom is a fine solution for the staff meeting, but technology is a tool and never the answer.

Friction detection is paying attention to all the ways a remote employee interacts with the group and constantly asking, "Is this working?"

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