Working from home: How are you finding Zoom, virtual business meetings, etc.?

[daft009]

My wife hasn't been to the office since March last year and doesn't intend to... Workplace policy has no issues with it and she loves it at home.

I on the other hand miss the office. The hands on brain storming and solving our engineering challenges

 

[jakeseven7]

We’ve cancelled all online (zoom/teams) learning for the rest of the year based on feedback from staff saying they will jump off a building if they have to do one more online course and feedback from management that no one is paying attention or interacting anymore in training.

 

[33kft]

I've exclusively worked from home since March last year. Consulting (in my world, anyway) is very much an individual contributor sort of role and being in the office just diverts my attention from billable work to solving salespeople's problems for free.

I do miss the travel and I think something is lost in a lack of face to face interaction with customers, but there's really no reason I couldn't work this way indefinitely.

I certainly don't wake up as early as I used to, and it hasn't affected anything as far as I can tell, so it does seem to be mostly positive.

I won't get much of any status in anything travel related if I keep this up though.

One thing I do find weird - most customers make judicious use of these technologies, but I have a couple of customers who will quite honestly jump into a teams meeting that goes for hours "just in case you need something" where they'll sit there on mute but cameras on, like some sort of dystopian office extension. I find that really weird, I hate it with a great intensity and it won't be long before I'll be charging extra for it based on how distracting and bizarre of a practice it is.

 

[exceladdict]

One thing I do find weird - most customers make judicious use of these technologies, but I have a couple of customers who will quite honestly jump into a teams meeting that goes for hours "just in case you need something" where they'll sit there on mute but cameras on, like some sort of dystopian office extension. I find that really weird, I hate it with a great intensity and it won't be long before I'll be charging extra for it based on how distracting and bizarre of a practice it is.

+1 for this being weird.

When we have had our short lockdowns in Perth I have valued start of the day stand ups more, particularly on time sensitive projects.

Am now mostly WFH with the occasional day at the office.

 

[PineappleSkip]

Apart from a 6 week stint, I have been WFH since March also. I hate it, and because my work days are so fragmented, it’s hard figuring hours. Consequently I measure conservative and only bill for maybe ½ to 2/3 what I actually do. Previously it was a month or two at a time in Central Asia or East Africa and rose smelling in between.

Did I mention I hate WFH?

cheers skip

 

[Quickstatus]

I have finally fixed the poor audio in Zoom meetings - at least from my end:

I setup the following to my computer:

Microphone (AOAO - australian owned and operated)
Microphone arm
Analog to digital audio converter (converts analog microphone signals to digital computer signal acceptable to computer. Works with MacOs or Windows - totally plug and play)
Monitoring headphones
XLR cable
Proper webcam

I look like a Podcaster in a zoom meeting but the sound is immaculate. I can hear my self properly in the headphones as well

 

[exceladdict]

I have finally fixed the poor audio in Zoom meetings - at least from my end:

I setup the following to my computer:

Microphone (AOAO - australian owned and operated)
Microphone arm
Analog to digital audio converter (converts analog microphone signals to digital computer signal acceptable to computer. Works with MacOs or Windows - totally plug and play)
Monitoring headphones
XLR cable
Proper webcam

I look like a Podcaster in a zoom meeting but the sound is immaculate. I can hear my self properly in the headphones as well

I was looking at a focusrite clarett for music reasons but good call that it could help in this part of life as well.

 

[Quickstatus]

focusrite clarett

Claret will have more preamp gain headroom than Scarlett. With Scarlett you will need to turn gain pretty much to max for mics. Which is OK for mics. Headphone gain also slightly limited but for my purposes more than adequate.

I like the LED lights around the gain knob as it will go red if clipping. Easier to leave gain at full and adjust mic distance

Would have preferred a Clarett headroom with Scarlett solo number of inputs

I like the almost Mazda red - adds a bit of colour to the table

 

[cove]

Today we have 2 zoom meetings both between Perth and Sydney because we cannot go there from Perth. We are locked out of travel to Sydney and an update is due at 9am Perth time. I believe our Premier will outline his plan for opening up WA.

 

[Flashback]

Today we have 2 zoom meetings both between Perth and Sydney because we cannot go there from Perth. We are locked out of travel to Sydney and an update is due at 9am Perth time. I believe our Premier will outline his plan for opening up WA.

I'll have a read when I wake up.

 

[Lynda2475]

Today we have 2 zoom meetings both between Perth and Sydney because we cannot go there from Perth. We are locked out of travel to Sydney and an update is due at 9am Perth time. I believe our Premier will outline his plan for opening up WA.

You are not locked out of Sydney, NSW is open to all states and fully vaccinated Australian citizens and PRs arriving from all over the world.

The restrictions are in fact on you returning to WA, they are WAs alone.

 

[jakeseven7]

I'll have a read when I wake up.

Don’t bother it will be ludicrously slow as the vaccination program has fallen over… wake up in 4 months?

 

[Flashback]

Don’t bother it will be ludicrously slow as the vaccination program has fallen over… wake up in 4 months?

Years?

 

[Spongbob]

You are not locked out of Sydney, NSW is open to all states and fully vaccinated Australian citizens and PRs arriving from all over the world.

The restrictions are in fact on you returning to WA, they are WAs alone.

I am not too sure how these remarks are relevant to the thread topic?

 

[jakeseven7]

I am not too sure how these remarks are relevant to the thread topic?

Agree - Back on topic.

We find out next week our new official work policy will be… but I do know that If people are working from home and are attending meetings with people in the office we won’t forcing everyone to use zoom in the office which is great news.

 

[Lynda2475]

I am not too sure how these remarks are relevant to the thread topic?

Perhaps you should address the person who brought it up then. I just set the facts straight.

People have been back in the office for a couple of weeks here already. Most well and truely over wfh.

 

[Virgin Bart]

Agree - Back on topic.

We find out next week our new official work policy will be… but I do know that If people are working from home and are attending meetings with people in the office we won’t forcing everyone to use zoom in the office which is great news.

How do you mean, how would you have a hybrid meeting in that case?

 

[jakeseven7]

How do you mean, how would you have a hybrid meeting in that case?

The person dialling in from home is on Zoom (obviously!)- but currently this means everyone in the office has to individual log onto Zoom in their own office to make it ‘fair’. When we go back in with more structure that person will just be on the teleconference / laptop in the bigger meeting room and if they can’t participate as easily it’s not the priority anymore to compensate.

 

[Virgin Bart]

Ahh, got you. I'm actually pushing for us to move to the "all on Teams" policy. For now we have been working from home for 18 months. I'm trying hard to convince senior management that we can make the hybrid work.

 

[jakeseven7]

Ahh, got you. I'm actually pushing for us to move to the "all on Teams" policy. For now we have been working from home for 18 months. I'm trying hard to convince senior management that we can make the hybrid work.

We will be ‘making’ hybrid work because there really is no choice anymore with the labour shortages accentuating that….

But yes the most irritating thing for people that are in the office is being forced to stay in their offices and zooming all day when most attendees are in the office with them! People are completely over zoom/teleconferencing and more so that policy that we have in place right now. So that is going for sure.