I got some kind of summer flu the other day. It always catches me by surprise that you can get "a cold" in summer.
Oh, well, I don't really mind, it is one of the few times I rest and don't keep chipping away at my todo-list.
It sucks too though, because I also had plans with friends and it's harder to make new plans since many of my friends are teachers and start working soon, around the 20th.
I don’t see why my colleagues should be my friends. Then again I live in Germany and it seems to be very much not the culture to mix those two things here
> You can create as many Slack channels as you want, but all that is worthless if you don’t build the culture where it’s okay to use them.
Well the problem with corporate offtopic spaces is obvious: It is (potential) surveillance. One of the essential properties of the coffee kitchen at the office is that only you and the person who was there know what you said.
People at work will occasionally like to talk about things their collegues or bosses don't need to hear. That doesn't even mean it needs to be badmouthing others. Let's say you're really into model trains, it is easier saying that in person to the one other guy who acts a bit nerdy, than to announce it online in front of potentially everybody.
I leave it to you how you think this could be fixed.
This is interesting because there can be a fine line between camaraderie and insularism. A feel-good atmosphere among workers is good, but if it doesn't include everyone, it can lead to favoritism towards those in the group relative to those outside, and that's not good. This can be especially important when people who aren't part of the org at all come into the equation (e.g., leading to the classic experience where a customer gets the feeling they're being a bother by expecting employees to help them rather than continue their private banter).
I think it's healthy to have these off-topic spaces, but also important to make sure that everyone in the org has some such space that meets their needs, and that everyone understands where the line is for when you have to put the fun aside and do what needs to be done.
A very common specialisation of this is drinking culture. Some guys just plain don't drink and definitely don't drink as much as the drinking culture would require, some women bluntly don't feel safe around a bunch of guys getting drunk. Managers who drink can lead to this weird thing where going out drinking feels mandatory. Shout out to my last manager who definitely did drink and didn't have a drinking culture.
> it shows an understanding that people need to unwind and interact, and work ultimately benefits. Funny how it’s such an alien concept the moment work moves online.
Offline people were in the same building under direct watch from the employer. We badged to enter and leave the building, employers surely felt fully in control.
Online that physical boundary disappearing, the pendulum swings the other way for companies that try to grasp the remaining bits of control.
That's one of the reason I prefer fully online shops, they'll usually have made peace with it and structured themselves in saner ways.
> I asked one of my teammembers – what’s up with that? “Oh, you know, there’s a release coming up soon, nobody wants to give an impression that they’re dilly-dallying around instead of working.”
This is what I’d worry about too. Apart from this, I don’t know how the chats will be used, who else might have some kind of access to those (IT, HR), etc. The pervasive monitoring of all network traffic makes it all seem like always being under the view of a panopticon.
I love working remote and don’t really want to go to the office (a tiring commute is one of the reasons; not having as much flexibility is another). But I’d be wary of off topic channels on Slack or Teams or any company owned/managed platform.
We were talking about standup last week, and someone commented that we sometimes get a bit off track / into the weeds.
My response was that I'd much prefer we did this (talk about the surprises we're facing, or some interesting thing we stumbled across) than have it degrade to a pointless "yesterday I did x, today I will do y" where there's very little substance being communicated that isn't already evident from the Jira board.
I used to work at a startup. Whenever I was bored I'd write short essays about random bullshit. Everyone enjoyed reading them. Then I moved to corporate. I immediately learned that corporate tries to, above everything else, minimize conflict. This means that anyone seen as conflict initiator will be punished heavily. This means that if my essay could be considered even remotely offensive to any of thousands employees, it will be, and I'll have problems. I learned to keep my mouth shut.
Mostly good but the webcam part is way off the mark. Humans are hardwired to look at faces and interpret micro expressions to interpret situations. Author may laugh in text emojis only but not everyone does
That said enforced webcam on is obnoxious too. Best orgs in my experience are the middle ground places - lightly encouraged - so that one can decide meeting by meeting
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[ 0.31 ms ] story [ 42.6 ms ] threadOh, well, I don't really mind, it is one of the few times I rest and don't keep chipping away at my todo-list.
It sucks too though, because I also had plans with friends and it's harder to make new plans since many of my friends are teachers and start working soon, around the 20th.
I used to not believe this before, but after COVID, I saw that this is how it is, at least for my personality
Well the problem with corporate offtopic spaces is obvious: It is (potential) surveillance. One of the essential properties of the coffee kitchen at the office is that only you and the person who was there know what you said.
People at work will occasionally like to talk about things their collegues or bosses don't need to hear. That doesn't even mean it needs to be badmouthing others. Let's say you're really into model trains, it is easier saying that in person to the one other guy who acts a bit nerdy, than to announce it online in front of potentially everybody.
I leave it to you how you think this could be fixed.
I think it's healthy to have these off-topic spaces, but also important to make sure that everyone in the org has some such space that meets their needs, and that everyone understands where the line is for when you have to put the fun aside and do what needs to be done.
Offline people were in the same building under direct watch from the employer. We badged to enter and leave the building, employers surely felt fully in control.
Online that physical boundary disappearing, the pendulum swings the other way for companies that try to grasp the remaining bits of control.
That's one of the reason I prefer fully online shops, they'll usually have made peace with it and structured themselves in saner ways.
This is what I’d worry about too. Apart from this, I don’t know how the chats will be used, who else might have some kind of access to those (IT, HR), etc. The pervasive monitoring of all network traffic makes it all seem like always being under the view of a panopticon.
I love working remote and don’t really want to go to the office (a tiring commute is one of the reasons; not having as much flexibility is another). But I’d be wary of off topic channels on Slack or Teams or any company owned/managed platform.
My response was that I'd much prefer we did this (talk about the surprises we're facing, or some interesting thing we stumbled across) than have it degrade to a pointless "yesterday I did x, today I will do y" where there's very little substance being communicated that isn't already evident from the Jira board.
That said enforced webcam on is obnoxious too. Best orgs in my experience are the middle ground places - lightly encouraged - so that one can decide meeting by meeting