mrblobby – Member
Cisco Spark
We use Cisco Jabber and WebEx. Everyone complains about it and we’d much rather have stuck with using Skype for Business.

I’m home based, most of my time is spent on calls with people outside the UK. Have a Logitech USB headset thing (this one) which works well and is ok to use all day.

Video calls, no one bothers, just use voice.

I would like a decent whiteboard solution though. Trying to use a virtual one with a mouse or trackpad is just a bit awkward.

Oh and Flashheart, really like that video

you’ll be wanting the new Microsoft surface hub then, yours for a cool £6K..

she needs to get a remote presence robot so she can wander round the office

Our work solution is webex and the call quality is so much better with people using PC based headsets rather than phones.

We use Skype for Business with headsets.

Chuffing great product, screen and (effectively) application sharing, you can pass control of documents between ‘callers’, integrates with MS outlook and with good broadband it’s reliable and clear.

Our laptops have decent built in. Webcams if you want to video call. No good for a room full but great for two or so people on a video call.

My business partner is 1.h hours away, we work all day with hangouts open to have our virtual office and share screen when we need to. Couldn’t work without it

Can I recommend the company I work for.

http://www.circleloop.com

The Jabra stuff works very well with it. (In fact we are starting a partnership with them).

I do the Android app btw.
https://www.commstrader.com/reviews/circleloop-cloud-phone-system-review/

Can’t be bothered to quote on a phone, but there is no E7 package for office 365, as of this afternoon we only went up to E5. That gives the cloud PABX/voice add on for SfB, but you may not need it if everyone is using data connections rather than dialing into a voice number.

With the greatest respect you’re trying to make an old solution, that was fairly crap, work better with new, and very expensive hardware.

Co-location is by far the best option, collaborative work being done by a multifunctional team all sharing a space with facilities for whiteboards, post its etc on walls.

The MS Surface hub is great for bringing an extra person into that space. The whiteboard function is almost worth the price of the kit on its own. When you are paying contractor day rates in 4 figures, it would be false economy to scimp on the kit. And when the organisation is above a certain size and already paying substantial subscription fees to MS, you tend not to pay RRP for them.
Most conversations we use them for last less than 15 mins and they just work.

Of course, other ways of working and cheaper options may be relevant to what you are trying to achieve and the budgets that are available.

Co-location is by far the best option,

The least practical and least environmentally friendly though.

We need to work out how to get remote working to work.

The least practical and least environmentally friendly though.
We need to work out how to get remote working to work.

Maybe VR can offer something, but with companies like IBM pulling their workers back into offices, I’m sceptical that the value of it will ever out weigh the costs.

Remote working is not working for megacorporations as they don’t get enough control over employees. Companies with good employer – employee relations should be able make it work.

There was some demo about telepresence bot a good while ago, it was some kind of balloon with mic, camera and face projected on it. Lovely thing, floating around the office.

I’m sceptical that the value of it will ever out weigh the costs.

What value is spending two hours a day sat in traffic doing naff all except polluting?

Mrs B uses Skype for Business; seems pretty good and reliable once set up properly. It is limited by bandwidth though – before the village was connected to superfast it was dreadfully unreliable.

What value is spending two hours a day sat in traffic doing naff all except polluting?

That just gets us back to the live where you work debate.
And anyway, a developer of your prowess should understand the value of pair programming / mobbing – pretty difficult to do when not co-located.

Remote working is not working for megacorporations as they don’t get enough control over employees. Companies with good employer – employee relations should be able make it work.

The two aren’t mutually exclusive.

Pair programming is no use when I’m the only developer on the project 😀

I’ve tried a bit of it in the past though and it’s more of a distraction generally. It’s okay when you want to pool brain power on a tricky problem, though I find it’s better to go off into a quiet room with a projector and white board to discuss the solution, then individually go write code. Trying to do it two people sat at a desk, discussing a bit of code then one waiting while the other types, is hard. It’s non productive the instant you know the solution and just need to get on with writing code. Which is most of my work.

That just gets us back to the live where you work debate.

There’s no debate. My life comes first. Though I work from home at times so I partly live where I work anyway 😀 . Being freelance the office may change location, and often it’s not near enough to trails, whereas my house is 😀

And anyway, a developer of your prowess should understand the value of pair programming / mobbing – pretty difficult to do when not co-located.

It’s not difficult, it just requires the right tools and mindset.

That just gets us back to the live where you work debate.

Pretty difficult for me as I’d have to be in the US, Canada, Belgium, China and India in the same day 🙂

Must admit though there are occasional frustrations when you just wish you were physically in the same room as the people you were working with.

That just gets us back to the live where you work debate.

I work all over the country. And as an employer, why would you limit your workforce to those who live in the same town? Most people would prefer a short commute, but we don’t do it because there aren’t the jobs in the area when we need them, and the employers can’t find the resources in their local area either. And moving is sodding expensive and disruptive.

And anyway, a developer of your prowess should understand the value of pair programming / mobbing – pretty difficult to do when not co-located.

Yes, in fact my prowess is so great that I can in fact collaborate with people who aren’t co-located. Just got off the mural with a colleage now actually 🙂

Must admit though there are occasional frustrations when you just wish you were physically in the same room as the people you were working with.

There are, but people are happy to overlook the ENTIRE DAY that gets lost as I travel to a client in say Sheffield. That’s a frustation and a waste of money. I admit it’s worth doing sometimes, but when I get standing orders to do it every week for 6 months regardless of whether or not it’s necessary I get pissed off.