Ask HN: What do you use as a whiteboard replacement for distributed developers? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What do you use as a whiteboard replacement for distributed developers?

11 pointsrbranson6 comments

What are you using in lieu of a whiteboard for developers collaborating in a distributed setting that you find works well?

The ideal solution for us would have a short learning curve (less than 5 minutes), be almost as time efficient as a whiteboard (minimal fiddling), and not require any special equipment.

Standard equipment in this case would be a touch screen phone and a laptop with a touchpad (no touch screen) and a camera. While it would be nice if the results were pretty enough to keep around, if trade-offs must be made, we have a strong preference for ephemeral use cases. SaaS is the ideal delivery model.

I know I'm asking for a lot, but we're ultimately going to have to come up with something that works for us very soon, so hearing about any setup you're proud of is helpful, even if it isn't quite the (impossible?) "ideal solution" above.

I'm sure there are a few other teams struggling with this as they ramp up distributed collaboration in light of the COVID-19 outbreak, so I figure I'd ask here!

We use the whiteboard feature on Zoom. I prefer a wacom tablet and others prefer an ipad with a stylus. Not sure if both of those violate your goal. The thing is: it is hard to draw with a touch pad, it is hard to draw with a mouse, it is hard to draw with limited surface real estate.

Pretty much anything that you can get a shared "doodle" board will work. There are online cooperative doodling programs that can be leveraged. Just remember to do screen grabs before you toss what y'all drew :)

Although we have plenty of whiteboards around my workplace, we almost never use them. We've found that (for us), they are more of a hindrance than help.

Instead, we use desktop sharing combined with a text editor and/or a graphics program to do what we used to do on whiteboards. It's just easier for us, and makes it easy to send everyone copies of what was written.

If my employer starts enforcing a work-at-home rule (right now, such a thing isn't in the cards), our workflow on this wouldn't change at all.

We have a whiteboard at the office. I have a whiteboard at home, too. No learning curve, literally as time efficient as a whiteboard since it's a whiteboard, and doesn't require any special equipment.

It's 2 metres x 1 metre. I took an ugly frame off the wall and put it in its place. Installation time: 30 seconds. Cost: 35 euros. Not a SaaS, but keeping the same "stack".

This thread may be of some usefulness

https://twitter.com/jeff_weinstein/status/123474490458191052...

Room.sh might be what you are looking for. It does a lot more than whiteboarding and is very easy to use.

Miro works really well.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com