Housework during meetings with the camera off
Remote people, how acceptable do you think it is to do housework during meetings? Sometimes I’ll carry my computer around during sprint planning with the camera and mic off and do dishes/cleaning.
I routinely do house work, play Xbox, watch TV, mow the yard, do chores, run errands. Just get your shit done and participate and it should all pan out. I feel the time not spent commuting is the community time that is gained flexibility - so the business needs to be aware of that gained flexibility by reciprocation of availability
Also, where do you work? I’m looking to make a move to a remote job, but want something close to FANG level compensation.
Tacky. Be professional
Which behavior is tacky? Be specific please.
I’m semi-remote (2-3 days per week at my discretion) in the Boston area. My company is small, and almost our entire scrum team is remote. My compensation could be better, but I’m Product side, not engineering, so I’m effectively a second class citizen in a dev-centric organization. What I’m saying is I wouldn’t know if you’d get FAANG level money, since I’m just a Design peasant.
You would only do other stuff if the meeting you are in doesn't make sense. It's better to get out of such meetings, or if they don't let you then tell your are one mute and will be listening. Be professional and do work rather than abusing the situation. You are already benefiting a lot by WFH, and on top you want to do other stuff during work time?
The specific reason for me not getting out of these meetings is that my input is required occasionally, which means I have to be present and available to answer questions, and I have to have heard the conversation to glean context for any decisions I may be asked to make. I’ve tried to work on other projects in another window, but that requires that my attention be diverted actively to something else, which distracts me from listening to what is going on. Doing dishes, dusting, and cleaning can all be done in a passive manner while actively listening to the meeting. What I’m saying is that I shouldn’t be doing work that distracts me from the meeting. But I feel like it’s a waste of energy to sit quietly and stare, waiting for the question/decision request that may or may not come. If I’m doing the work I’m being paid to do, how am I abusing the situation?
Can you give your input and hang up with the meeting organizationers permission? Can you just give your input by email or on wiki/shared doc? If the answer to above is no, that means you are expected to fully engage on the meeting. I dislike meetings that are not discussion oriented. Any meeting other than discussions should be handled differently.
Gosh, hope you are not taking your laptop to toilet with you.
Oh god no.
If you are engaged in the meeting and not making noise, no one cares.
It sounds like your meetings are not very useful if you don’t need to be looking at the screen or typing notes.
Not all of them, no.
Just make sure your mic is actually off. I heard one guy talked then forgot to mute again and he very clearly flushed a toilet.