Hacker News Reader

Comment by simonbarker87 | Hacker News Reader

I couldn’t imagine anything worse than purely async communications. Tonality of voice is so key in building rapport, even better are video calls so facial expressions and (limited) body language can be used and seen.

I understand the sentiment but a world of purely text based interactions would feel very lonely and full of miss interpretations and understandings.

A happy medium needs to be found but while the pandemic has us locked up in our homes? I’m incredibly thankful for Zoom, Hangouts, FaceTime, Teams and even Skype.

Update: I don’t begrudge people not turning on video, im more than happy to just use audio but please don’t force me to type any more than I already do if you want to discus something complicated.

Update 2: I’m a full stack developer in case you’re assuming I like to talk because I’m product/sales/marketing

View on HN

What’s your field of work? In tech, it’s often much better to resolve and discuss things in writing. It gives everyone time to think. There are technical details to work out, and getting a clear picture of things is easier when you have to write it down.

I think a combination of both is optimal. Spend too long communicating exclusively through async text, and silly misunderstandings can waste a lot of time and even grow into features that no one actually wants. Spend too long communicating exclusively through meetings etc, and you end up going round in circles without committing to anything. Alternate between the two modes, and they correct each other.

It's always easier, quicker, clearer to explain things face to face.

This does not mean working out solutions and technical details there and then.

Getting a clear picture of your recipient's understanding is much harder when you have to back-and-forth async. In discussion it's considerably easier to see when a point hasn't landed, ask questions to check for understanding, and dive more deeply into the areas of confusion. It can be a real time-saver.

I’m a full stack developer

My field is tech. Ignoring the humanity of employees does not make an excellent product.

Communicating efficiently does not mean “ignoring the humanity of employees”. These are not exclusive.

You’ll often see “big important emails” by Jobs, Zuckerberg and other figures being circled around. These use written word for a reason. It’s like the difference in podcasts vs books - would you want to study philosophy solely via podcasts? Would be extremely draining. Complex subjects require structure and slow thinking.

Interesting that the OP makes a similar point (“a world of text would feel very lonely”). Why do you feel like going to the other extreme?

I love the eventual video meeting with teammates for planning, discussing company matters or a simple coffee break. But staring at each other during a standup or trying to figure out some product specs or analytics code does nothing to “build rapport” and just wasted everybody’s time.

Complex subjects require both quiet time and noisy time.

I think the author is just referring to writing heart-felt letters or well-thought-out business correspondence. People en masse don’t know how to communicate these days because of the instant gratification of snaps and DMs and yadda-yadda.

We don’t know how to read either because we skim the internet’s garbage, sifting through ads to get to the meaning of a blog entry, only to think we understand it but… what if we skimmed over it??

Communication and social interaction have been junk-food-ized just like everything else mass produced, and supplied in abundance.

Then again, the author’s post didn’t exactly communicate that well—this is just my interpretation :)

Most neurodivergent (not just autism, attention deficit too) people really appreciate options that do not include synchronous communication, especially for a prolonged period. I'm not saying it doesn't have a place, but you need to also consider that it is a serious disadvantage for some.

I'm pretty happy we're having a shift where a lot more companies will be offering remote work too now. I don't thrive in offices. I usually try to find empty meeting rooms so I can actually get things done. Similarly, I hate meetings. Especially the kind that could've been an email or requires only minor involvement for me. I don't have enough of an attention span to keep listening to information that is not relevant to me or my job.

Having to sit in a Google Meet / Teams call for the last few months all day has not been great for my mental health either (aside from the fact that Google Meet sometimes emits random noise).

That’s fair, the linked article is somewhat opinionated and doesn’t specify the nuance you have here. Of course I am happy to make considerations where people need it but the linked article doesn’t read like that

> options that do not include synchronous communication

Given the context, it's worth pointing out that this is not the same as "options that include asynchronous communication."

Reply on news.ycombinator.com