Andrew - why I don't like phones

Elsewhere, Andrew Rawnsley said:

It is also easy to forget that a lot of us work best on phonecalls.

If you’re reading, and not tearing your hair out over discussion in other threads, please take a moment to look at this: https://introvertdear.com/news/introverts-loathe-phone/

It says it better (and more succinctly) then I could.

Thanks, Rick – very useful link! The contained link about the hopelessness of Zoom calls and the like is good, too. This one: https://introvertdear.com/news/why-zoom-calls-are-draining-for-introverts/

Zoom: “Stuart, can you turn your video on?” “No, I’m sat at my desktop.” Deliberately.

Yup. That’s me too. I have a monitor and speakers, but I do not have a camera or microphone. Awful sorry, if you can’t read what I type then that’s your problem… 8~)

Awful sorry, if you can’t read what I type then that’s your problem…

News sites – full of headlines over a f’n video link.
Probably want to use the spoken word and vaguely related moving images because the “correspondent” has difficulties stringing together more than a couple of lines of text without abuse of the language.
I came across “should of” in an article the other day, so my claim to “want to just read the news” is taking a battering. :(

Teams calls: Video off. I can turn it on if they want, but there’s a bit of black plastic over the lens :)

Teams calls: Video off.

My computer doesn’t have a mike or a camera, and while I do have such things that I could plug in (for other purposes), they’re mine and it’s up to me whether I use them or not. Not available for teams calls. It’s typing or nuffink.

But any such question is in the dim and distant past now anyway. I retired 14 years and 3 days ago.

So this is where the Luddites have been hiding?

When I had to use flaky Teams video at McLaren, I hated it, and I don’t find tiny Zoom boxes much better either. However, our own Pexip system is nicer to use for reasons I can’t fully explain. We’ve all got either dedicated video conferencing hardware or spare screens with decent cameras, and quite often leave our calls up after the morning meeting, making a virtual office for a bit of company. People can chat, come and go as they please, sometimes even some work gets done.

Went in to the office for the first time on Wednesday (first time with this company, and first time since February last year in an office), nice to meet everyone in person, and all of dev had a great meal afterwards. Currently my desk at the office has got nowhere near as much equipment as at home (first thing I did was VPN back to home), so wont be going in regularly until some more stuff has been ordered.

Luddites? No, just more selective than some about what technologies to embrace… 8~)

Went in to the office for the first time on Wednesday (first time with this company, and first time since February list year in an office)

I had a work colleague who started while I was off on sick leave in 2020(April-Sept) and left end of July 2021.¹
Seemed like a nice bloke. Never met him.

Teams? Someone (DoH level) threw a bundle of O365 licences our way, which makes Teams a winner on cost grounds

¹ IBM pay more than NHS, who knew?

In my case my hearing isn’t what it was, and I find Zoom meetings to be an improvement on in-person ones. It only takes two people to talk at once in a room and I can’t make out what either is saying. With Zoom I can set the volume to a level that works for me.

And heavy beards hide lips, as do masks, so another cue is lost.

Over-the-ear NHS hearing aids lose the directional cues that the shape of the ear provides, so sounds from behind are especially intrusive.

So this is where the Luddites have been hiding?

Nah, you don’t get to call me a Luddite. My phone does just about everything except make phone calls.

Plus, my reaction if you turned up unannounced in person is not likely to be that much different to an unannounced phone call.

However, our own Pexip system is nicer to use for reasons I can’t fully explain.

Company prefers their own product! News at ten!

making a virtual office for a bit of company.

Oh, god, that sounds like one of Dante’s rings of hell.

Thankfully I’ve carved out a little niche where I do my work quietly by myself alone. [yes!]

Thankfully I’m far enough down the pile that I don’t have to do the whole “meetings” crap. I swear manglement people participate in so many damn meetings that it’s a wonder anything gets done. Well, they’ll call the meetings work, of course. But talking is only really a job if you’re a DJ or used car salesman.

and all of dev had a great meal afterwards.

Outdoors, I hope!

You wouldn’t get me into a fetid plague box for any longer than it takes to make an order and GTFO. Sit down and eat? Nope, not happening. It’s bad enough having to sit with manglement at work ¹ and there’s 5-10 of them depending on who takes break when.

¹ I work daytime hours, so our breaks coincide. I did used to take break later, but the current schedule makes that difficult, and since I had a tendency to do all of the work and take my break at the end, my boss freaked out. Apparently you’re not supposed to work more than five hours in a stretch. Clearly a rule devised by somebody who never did any physical work in their life. I’d much rather get it all done than stop in the middle, because I’m stiff and sore at the restart.

I swear manglement people participate in so many damn meetings that it’s a wonder anything gets done.

The old meme was that they had meetings to fill the day, avoid loneliness, and get to meet like-minded individuals. :)

Remote working and Teams/Zoom/whatever meetings mean that you can work while you’re “in” the meeting without someone asking what you’re doing that has taken part of your attention away from their super-important-event.

As opposed to the physical attendance meetings where we needed to be at the same end of the table so the “others” couldn’t see that the keyboard activity wasn’t note-taking.

couldn’t see that the keyboard activity wasn’t note-taking.

The same four keys over and over?

The same four keys over and over?

More along the lines of

sh ip int brie | inc 1/0/23

conf t
int gi1/0/23
…
…
^Z

sh ip dhcp snoop bind | inc 1/0/23

Remote working and Teams/Zoom/whatever meetings mean that you can work while you’re “in” the meeting without someone asking what you’re doing that has taken part of your attention away from their super-important-event.

We all do that, it’s why I treated myself to the almost silent MX Keys (and MX Master 3)

Although I used to bring the laptop in to physical meetings and do stuff at the last place, it was the only way to keep awake given the hours.

We all do that,

When you say “we” I presume you mean techies, because “in the presence” meetings experience suggests that the non-techies don’t.

I retired in September 2007. I’d never had a work laptop. There were a few around at ARM already, but not all that many. My wife and both our children had them at home by then, but I didn’t – I had a Windows desktop machine and a RiscPC that shared a decent size monitor – by the standards of the time. It was only 23", 1920×1200...

We’re baaaack! ;)

Yay!

Last post before breakage: Druck in Community support – blame him :)
Druck gets to do the RCA paperwork :)

So… did we all get a good drucking this weekend, or was this a firebreak lockdown to remind us to go outside and look at that big glowing ball in the sky once in a while? ;-)

Last post before breakage: Druck in Community support – blame him :)

Well breaking things seems to be what people pay me to do this days.

Well breaking things seems to be what people pay me to do this days

Use your old contacts, you could team up with the Flying Dutchman (actually he was born in Belgium) :)

Use your old contacts, you could team up with the Flying Dutchman (actually he was born in Belgium) :)

Well he can fly off any time he likes, if my old team ends up with a #1 and #2 – shoeys all round!

A most excellent result.