Hacker News Reader

Comment by dmje | Hacker News Reader

My intuition is that all of the benefit you get being outside and walking is probably lost by strapping a laptop to yourself and being on calls the whole time. Call me old fashioned but I'm outside to look at the sea, hear the birds and be very definitely away from my tech.

View on HN

For the last year or so I have scheduled my two status meetings back to back in the mornings. That means I have 90 minutes of walking in the forrest in the morning (30min before the meetings and then 30min each for the two meetings).

I have two teams reporting to me, and each have a 30minute morning meeting where we decide what needs the team attention during the day. There is also room for small talk to keep it a bit social.

Those meetings do not need screensharing very often. When they do, we can manage to look briefly at a phone screen.

It has been wonderful and it is something I would miss if I ever had another job. I encourage the others in the team to do the same thing.

Walking in the forrest have two benefits; less risk of getting hit by a car, and, it’s more quiet of a background for when I unmute.

Highly recommended!

> Walking in the forrest have two benefits; it’s less chance to get hit by a car, and it’s more quiet of a background for when I unmute.

More than that, it's very cathartic and peaceful. I used to live next to a big park on the Puget Sound and I would do a similar routine, in addition to occasionally taking a stroll through the park (effectively a forest) at lunch.

It had a very calming effect, def miss that!

What about for other users of the forest? Hopefully you're able to stay well away from them so as not to disturb the peace and quiet of the forest for work.

There are not that many other people. And, it’s not like I am lecturing. I’m having conversations in meetings. I speak about 1/7 of the time. Most of the time I’m on mute.

If I run in to someone, I politely say hello, and that’s that.

Don't you feel rude to the other people trying to enjoy their time in the forest for yammering on a work call?

Not as egregious as the mountain bikers who blast music from speakers on the trails as they ride, but still.

What does this mean? Is there a list of approved conversation allowed on trails? What difference does it make if they are talking to someone virtually or physically present on the trail?

I guess it depends. When you're talking to a person directly, most likely your ears aren't blocked. So you get the feedback of your voice levels, and adjust accordingly. This is really difficult to do when you have earphones in, blocking everything. Usually people with both earphones in tend to raise their voices nearly to a shouting level. I don't know if OP does that or not though.

It's more that their full attention isn't on the meeting at hand - how can it be when they're wandering some nature trail taking it all in? If I spent a week busting my ass to get some feature shipped, and in a sprint re-cap meeting all I see is my boss wandering a forest trail going "Uh-hu, uh-hu, wow there's a red-breasted warbler..." I'd become very upset.

Exactly, I don't this gives either thing the respect it deserves. Just do both things, on their own, properly.

Are we gatekeeping walks and meetings now? You can walk and talk and not annoy other people -- if other people are even around. You can also walk and talk and give enough attention to your meeting. Use your judgement.

I was expressing an opinion. My exact words were "I don't think..." I didn't day he should or shouldn't, that would have been gatekeeping.

As if you would have the full attention of others in a physical meeting…

If someone was pacing about the room in a physical meeting it's going to be the same effect, and same disrespect.

That’s not true, you should try it. My full attention is on the call. Walking the trail, as it’s also the same trail everyday, is fully on autopilot.

Really. Your comment kind of annoys me because it seems you have no experience of this, while I have several years experience of it, yet you are sure that you know better than me what my experience of it is?

Edit: Also, my teams know about it and all agree with it, some of them do walks themselves.

I mean. This is a forrest. I barely run in to anybody. It’s not a park.

I’m on mute most of the time anyway, I speak maybe 1/7 of the time on the calls. If I meet anyone in the forrest, I politely say hello to them, and that’s that.

> I have two teams reporting to me, and each have a 30minute morning meeting where we decide what needs the team attention during the day.

Why you have to talk with your team on a daily basis? That’s too frequent and into weeds. The earliest should be weekly. Delegate and plan for long term.

> Walking in the forrest have two benefits; less risk of getting hit by a car

There’s a risk with everything. You just switch one with another.

Exactly, that picture of him in the woods with the laptop strapped to him is the image of a truly lost man in my opinion.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com