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Comment by newscracker | Hacker News Reader

I agree that writing well is important, but I would characterize this as beyond writing alone. Assuming that "remote work" isn't confined only to teams in time zones where working hours don't overlap, it's quite easy to start a chat or an audio call/conference. "Talking" directly is more important, and many a times yields quicker results than exchanging long emails or documents, whether it's with text (chat) or voice or even video calls. But it does come at the cost of trying to setup a mutually convenient time and being available (synchronous vs. asynchronous).

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> it's quite easy to start a chat or an audio call/conference

"Ok, we're all here. Wait, where's Mike?"

"I think he was making coffee. Let's wait for him."

"Hey, is Zhang saying something?"

"Zhang, say something."

"..."

"I think your microphone is broken."

"Can you disconnect and reconnect?"

"Hey, he's typing something. I... will... reboot. Ok, let's wait for him to reboot."

"Hey, Mike's back. Someone tell him we're waiting on Zhang to reboot."

"I don't think he can hear us."

"Guys, I'm gonna go grab a coffee while Mike and Zhang figure it out."

If you're working in a largely co-located company, where video conferences are an uncommon occurrence then this probably fits.

In the context of this conversation around remote only companies though, everyone is going to be set up to be able to properly participate in a video call - that means making sure everyone has a decent internet connection, microphone, and camera at home. When people aren't at home tools like Zoom have the ability for them to dial in to conferences on a regular phone which deals with the remaining problems.

> In the context of this conversation around remote only companies though

I've worked mostly remote for many years and please trust me - it's almost exactly the same, with every weekly meeting starting with "is everyone here", "do you hear me?" etc etc.

This is especially when working from home - typical residential connections are having less nicer SLA and may get flaky from time to time. And someone may leave their phone near mic cable. Or someone's machine may need rebooting. Or conferencing service may be experiencing problems.

Glad if it's not like this for some, but I believe it's not exactly uncommon.

I've worked remotely for 10 years. This happens with new setups, but if you're doing it daily, it stops happening.

I don't do standups anymore, but at my last company, they often took about 5 minutes from dialing to hangup.

I worked with a team remotely for 3 years, solely relying on Google Hangouts for video and an occasional Zoom meeting. The video/mic/hardware problems are _incredibly_ rare.

Being late or grabbing coffee instead of starting a meeting are culture problems at a company, not problems with the medium.

> The video/mic/hardware problems are _incredibly_ rare.

You've had better luck than I have. Our New York team is still dealing with the problem of the Boston office being virtually inaudible, while Dublin sounds like they're speaking through a megaphone directly into my ear.

That is, assuming we didn't lose a room, or the Hangouts equipment isn't broken - then Boston uses our manager's laptop, which actually sometimes has better sound quality.

Zhang was on mute. Happens to the best of us.

I covered part of this under "being available" at the end of my comment. But I completely get what you're driving at. Apart from people's availability, some of the technology is still horrible and quite unreliable (I'm looking at you, Skype for Business). But my main point was that writing emails and documentation cannot be a substitute for instant communication (chat) or voice communication.

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