Re: [gentoo-dev] Gentoo Hangouts

[Rich Freeman <rich0@gentoo.org>]

On Mon, Jun 24, 2013 at 4:14 AM, Diego Elio Pettenò
<flameeyes@flameeyes.eu> wrote:
> And unlike IRC meetings, you can cannot multitask, say making your dinner
> while discussing this or that feature.

Honestly, that bit is a two-edged sword.  I was just musing with the
Trustees yesterday how it seems the meetings take forever to really
just hit a few items.  I think much is due to distraction (and I'm
probably as guilty as anyone).  That said, it is also helpful that I
can still attend family functions or whatever and connect via mobile
to a meeting - I'd definitely need to excuse myself if we were using
audio/video.

In my experience well-done videoconf works well for meetings, though I
haven't tried Google Hangouts for anything serious so I can't vouch
for that - low latency would be the most important attribute so that
people aren't stepping all over each other.  It does require focus to
come across professionally.  Since not coming across professionally in
my workplace is just an invitation to get fired that isn't really a
problem.  Now, language CAN be a problem in audio or videoconf -
generally in my workplace people speak English reasonably well, but
I've seen that become a challenge in anything other than written or
non-1:1 conversation.

I think our main meeting challenge boils down to timezones and being
international.  I can't say I'd want to have an international
videoconf at work because inevitably it would mean having to dress up
and be in a room that looked nice at 6AM or 10PM.  For gentoo that
matters slightly less, but only to a degree.  The bigger issue is that
meetings end up being inconvenient for many just due to their timing -
maybe one person lucks out and has it at the start/end of the day, but
for me they end up being middle-of-the-afternoon which has a tendency
to kill the day if on a weekend, and if on a weekday could conflict
with work.

However, I think it is still a good idea.  Perhaps they shouldn't be
used as a regular way to meet, but on occasion to try to re-capture
the personal element.  I for one have never met another Gentoo
developer in the flesh - and only a few users.  It would be nice to
actually talk with one...  :)

Rich