For some it also helps knowing someone sees you. I don't mind if others don't share video, I set that bar for myself.
So I'd say it's really situational. I'd prefer not to try and coordinate development sprints between two sub-teams offset by 12.5 hours from each other, but if I can't avoid that, then it sure helps to see faces to keep people feeling connected.
Obviously everyone will have their own personal experience. This is what worked for us.
2. Avoiding interrupting one another- being able to see other people's faces means you can see when they're about to start speaking. That means you're less likely to talk over each other
3. Keeping focused- for me at least. If i'm on an audio only call i'm tempted to zone out or do some other work when other people are speaking and I miss stuff.
> 2. Avoiding interrupting one another- being able to see other people's faces means you can see when they're about to start speaking. That means you're less likely to talk over each other
Do you find this works in practice?
I don't think your average video call setup is good enough for it to make a difference. There's no eye contact, video quality is usually questionable, etc.
If I was a professional negotiator who knew how to read body language in an academic sense, then maybe I could get some use out of video calls. But I don't think I'm able to get the "instinctual" benefits.