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I don't miss it, but I've been working remotely for a long time. I recommend scheduling meetings a bit long on either end to facilitate chit-chat. An always-on voice channel is kind of nice sometimes as well (something like Mumble or Discord). Also, scheduling regular social hours with coworkers is pretty nice -- it can be as simple as playing a video game or a virtual happy hour.

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I’ve never felt so close to hanging out with people online as when I frequented voice chat channels. In high school, my friends and I had one that we’d spend time in, doing homework, video games, w/e. If you needed to go heads-down on something, you just went into the AFK channel where everyone was force-muted.

I’d love to try it out at work, but I feel like there’s a lack of understanding culturally how voice chat is supposed to work and what a good setup looks like. People I’ve talked to about using it at work are (rightly) worried about interruptions to flow.

Thanks for the tips! I've heard a few of these methods being tried out these days, especially the games & socials helping out.

Just curious, do you find people joining those always on voice channels like Discord often? And are these set up for the team, or some larger group?

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