Using Meet to keep close to each other

Historical note: As you see from the post date (March 19, 2020), this entry was posted as PwC went into full lockdown during COVID and nobody knew what would happen to colleagues, jobs and families. Continuing to post was a small contribution to the firm and the people around.

Extraordinary times require extraordinary measures - but no matter where you are and your conditions, these are times where your Google skills shine and you can help others. Be it by checking in, by giving a little tech help or by nudging your team. Here are some tried and tested ideas that may help keep your team closer together.

💬 Virtual 1:1s

Participants: You and your boss. Or you and one of your direct reports.
Organizer: Whoever is interested more. If you have a super busy boss and you want to make sure to update her, that is probably you. If you are the boss and you would like to keep a pulse on your team, that would also be you.
Frequency: Weekly (Fridays!)
Duration: 30 minutes.
Structure: Formal, always the same. Do prepare for this meeting, so that none of you stares at your room during that time. Keep a running minutes document and just drop whatever comes up during the week, so that the agenda builds itself. It's also a good idea to invest half an hour to prepare for that meeting, and a couple of minutes to transform your annotations into next actions.

☕ Virtual coffees

Participants: You and a coworker.
Organizer: You.
Frequency: Every six weeks has worked for me.
Duration: 30 minutes.
Structure: None at all.

Virtual coffees are times to talk about anything. What's going on in your world, how is the family doing, how is work ... By nature, you won't do these with anybody because you're not best friends with everybody (and they also take up time). Highly encouraged though - I find these get togethers maintain friendship.

🍺 Virtual happy hours

Our team has been always been working from home (although I go into the office - well, went), so we have very few opportunities to grab beers. Virtual happy hours were something people laughed about, but perhaps it will be useful now:

Participants: The whole team. There's an upper limit though, probably around 10-15 people, communication gets hard there (especially once you had a few)
Organizer: One dedicated person on your team. There's really not that much to do other than set up the meeting and make sure people know the rules.
Frequency: Every 3-6 months has worked for us.
Duration: 1 hour
Structure: Very informal, but there are 3 golden rules: 1. No talk about work (and now, no talk about the virus?). 2. Join from the couch (or any other place than your home office, or this becomes yet another meeting). 3. Alcoholic beverages are encouraged - but not mandatory. People on our team usually have 1-2 beers. Tip: Exotic beers are great conversation starters.

One challenge is time zones, nobody wants beers if you present afterwards. A coke can also be a drink. Consider alternating the time zone of the happy hour to create two tiers of team members.

Also: who said virtual happy hours can't be virtual team dinners?

⛲ Virtual water cooler

The water cooler is a permanent Meet session where people can drop by to see if somebody else is there, and chat a bit before going back to work. Like in the real world, you can schedule ("see you at the water cooler after this?") or just try your luck.

Participants: The entire team. Whoever wants to.
Organizer: One person to set it up.
Frequency: Permanent.
Duration: You have work to do, so perhaps keep it to 5 minutes? Perhaps (if you're lonely) you could eat lunch there.
Structure: None at all. Just make sure the team knows where to find the URL of the water cooler.

☑ Daily stand ups/stand downs

For many teams, this is a given. If your team does not do this yet, or you are new to working remotely (even without buying into the whole Agile thing), these meetings can help managers build trust in their team during crunch times. Give it a try.

Participants: The whole team.
Organizer: The manager (or a dedicated person).
Frequency: Daily (first and/or last thing)
Duration: 15 minutes
Structure: Formal. Everybody gives a quick status, no discussions. Got something that needs looking at? Say so, then say you will schedule a follow-up.

🏢Virtual office hours

If you are a specialist, consulted by other teams, Google Calendar allows you to create time slots that other people can book. This way you can (literally) time box your availability, manage expectations and keep things organized.

Participants: You and whoever likes to book time with you.
Organizer: You.
Frequency: Weekly?
Duration: 30 minutes (suggestion)
Structure: Probably informal, depending on the work you do. You may require people submit a form before, but that cannot be tied into Calendar, so coordinating that requires extra work.

Final tips

Turn on your camera: We are working remotely and the time of conference calls is over. If you do not have the greatest home office setting, turn your desk around or put up sheets behind you. Seriously - it is that important. Reach out to people who do not turn on their cameras.
Make use of Meet recording and streaming: Make sure you know how this works. If this is not yet available to you, talk to your service manager. These may be times to reconsider old limitations.

We sometimes grumble that work spills over into the private life. Legitimately - boundaries need to exist. How about we invert that - Google Workspace brings the human side to work, and using Meet is just one tool to do that. Stay safe, and thank you for reading!

#meetPublished 2020-03-19 by Holger Matthies.Modified 2020-03-19 by Holger Matthies.Written listening to the trailer of Doom Eternal...!

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