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Working with our Remote Teammates

At Sparkbox, we have the opportunity to work with many different people in many different locations. Whether it's with our coworkers or our clients, sometimes, we all have to work remote.

Tips for Non-remote Folks When Working With Remote Colleagues

Let's be more inclusive of our remote coworkers and clients. Here are some ways how.

  • When a conversation becomes more than a quick back-and-forth on Slack, spin up a Zoom and encourage all parties to join. It is almost impossible to read tone from text alone.
  • Try not to ask for things from your remote workers during lunch or outside normal working hours. "Remote Guilt" is a real thing. For example, people who are remote have no way to tell that the Dayton office is pretty shut down around 4:30pm.
  • Join meetings 2-5 minutes early, to encourage friendly, human banter. Avoid jumping directly into tasking whenever possible.
  • Use a headset/headphones in public spaces. Avoid noisy or high-traffic areas, even if they don't seem loud to you.
  • Let people know if you're not using a headset, or if they are "on blast" in public spaces.
  • Activities with physical paper, whiteboards, or other items should be avoided. Use online tools such as draw.io instead.
  • If your team is able, when one person is remote on a meeting, everyone should be remote. Find individual spaces, such as your desk, so that everyone is on the call separately.
    • This equalizes the speaking floor so that everyone involved has the same opportunity to share and listen, and no one person has to compete with a large conference room where the video screen is quickly forgotten.
    • This is a more important type of meeting setup for problem-solving or brainstorming meetings, as meetings like Stand-ups typically have time set aside for individuals to speak.
    • Be cognizant of causing audio feedback if you are near coworkers (such as in the big room).
    • Mute when you are not speaking, and always use a headset.
  • If you are in a situation with a big group in one room and a few remote people on a call, designate a "point person" in the large group space as an advocate for your remote friends. Try to rotate the role of Remote Advocate among every member of the team if you meet often. The Remote Advocate could be responsible for the following:
    • Taking and posting frequent photos if there is anything physical, such as a whiteboard
    • Keeping digital notes
    • Check in on Slack to make sure sound and video are easily available to remote parties
    • Stop the conversation now and then and ask if anyone on the call has something to say
    • Take note of when a remote person seems to have something to say, potentially making room for them in the conversation.
  • Make your video meetings more friendly:
    • Set default Zoom settings to join without sound.
    • Use "gallery view" instead of "current speaker."
    • Avoid side conversations if you are in a shared meeting space.
  • Consider whether a meeting is even necessary. If the goal of the meeting is largely to pass along information, determine if it is better done in writing/async. Meetings are ideal for discussion, but not the best format for everything.

Some of Our Favorite Resources

Here are some links to articles and videos we love.