Watercooler AI

watercoolerai

This by David, Linh, Ellen, Hang, Utsav Jaiswal, Bruno Molteni and Sidra Ijaz occurred in hackernoon's official #only-at-hackernoon channel. Slogging thread David Sep 1, 2021, 5:50 PM The secret to being a good is steering into your adhd hackernoon employee 😂 6 💚 5 :dead-inside: 4 Linh Sep 1, 2021, 5:51 PM Hang Utsav Jaiswal to debate the pros and cons Ellen Sep 1, 2021, 5:52 PM But organize your email tho Hang Sep 1, 2021, 5:53 PM You get your hands on all the task but we got nothing done :dead-inside: Utsav Jaiswal Sep 1, 2021, 8:59 PM Classic ADHD tangent - Wait!! Does that mean I'm a good employee? Nice!! 💚 2 :smiling_face_with_tear: 1 Linh Sep 1, 2021, 9:05 PM YOU UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING that’s going on at the company at the same time you still don’t understand: 1. blockchain 2. metaverse 3.anything that has anything to do with coding. :savage-joy: 3 Utsav Jaiswal Sep 1, 2021, 9:07 PM Blockchains are like the spreadsheets that do not have a delete key :exploding_head: 2 Hang Sep 1, 2021, 9:14 PM classic ADHD case is when you are in a meeting and you reply to Slack threads and answer emails at the same time :savage-joy: :savage-joy: 2 Linh Sep 1, 2021, 9:24 PM CLASSIC ADHD: WE MENTIONED HALLUCINOGENIC MUSHROOMS out of nowhere in a brand-dashboard meeting :woman-tipping-hand: Linh Sep 1, 2021, 9:24 PM (the meeting is still going on, btw) :savage-joy: 1 Utsav Jaiswal Sep 1, 2021, 9:26 PM attention deficit on this thread is over 9000 :savage-joy: Ellen Sep 1, 2021, 9:27 PM Which meeting was this? Sounds like I should have been there. Hang Sep 1, 2021, 9:27 PM It turns out we all have short attention span Hang Sep 1, 2021, 9:28 PM And today we learn Bruno looks like Sidra’s younger brother, also during the meeting :savage-joy: 😂 3 Ellen Sep 1, 2021, 9:28 PM The first step to admitting you have a 'problem,' is organizing your email. 🤔 2 Linh Sep 1, 2021, 9:33 PM Bruno Molteni LOL Bruno Molteni Sep 1, 2021, 9:35 PM Sidra Ijaz please send pic ... now I want to know! Sidra Ijaz Sep 1, 2021, 9:35 PM Yes that picture would be perfect for this thread 😂 David Sep 1, 2021, 9:36 PM OH: "David, are you trying to explain the metaverse to me?" Sidra Ijaz Sep 1, 2021, 9:36 PM Bruno Molteni’s Pakistani doppelgänger :party_parrot: 2 Linh Sep 1, 2021, 9:38 PM here’s how that convo went: David: I think we can position HackerNoon Content Management System not as a digital site but a digital economy. You have readers, writers, sponsors, each can do their own things or interact with each other. Linh: did you just try to explain the metaverse to me or have i been on too many meetings? 😂 2 David Sep 1, 2021, 9:40 PM This is Chad: https://giphy.com/gifs/pixelated-hackernoon-face-x5eCE2eTD6J0mr8OFZ 😂 1 David Sep 1, 2021, 9:41 PM This is Chad in a Haunted Mansion: David Sep 1, 2021, 9:43 PM my emoji game :awwyeah: 1 David Sep 1, 2021, 9:44 PM When you discover an undocumented technology, you should document it to help the next person looking for it. Hang Sep 1, 2021, 9:49 PM Do ADHD symptoms include reacting with irrelevant emojis to a post? asking for a fren 🤖 2 👀 1 :savage-joy: 1 :fireball: 1 David Sep 1, 2021, 9:53 PM The only thing that rhymes with orange is , which is a very rare alternative to the fern-like . sporange https://www.lexico.com/definition/sporangium :orange_heart: 1 🍊 1 😆 1 Hang Sep 1, 2021, 9:57 PM Now that you mention it I do want an orange David Sep 1, 2021, 10:01 PM If you find yourself in the area, buy some Redlands oranges. https://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=Fruit+Stands&find_loc=Redlands%2C+CA Sidra Ijaz Sep 2, 2021, 6:17 AM “Blessed are the forgetful, for they get the better even of their blunders.” - Nietzsche 💯 2 ❤ 2 Ellen Sep 2, 2021, 6:25 AM You did not just quote Nietzsche, I'm dead. :smiling_face_with_tear: 4 ❤ 3 💚 2 Linh Sep 2, 2021, 1:41 PM Omg you know you are next level smart when you just quote Nietzsche but pleaseeeeeee watch envy by contrapoint she lovesszzzzz him 😆 💯 1 Sidra Ijaz Sep 2, 2021, 1:43 PM I have written that in my notes! 🙂 I'll watch that video 😄 Sidra Ijaz Sep 2, 2021, 2:49 PM lol, she has butchered Nietzsche. AND SHE IS MIND BLOWING. V well-read. Thank you for recommending her content Linh 🙂 :party_parrot: 1 Linh Sep 2, 2021, 6:03 PM David wanna slog this? David Sep 2, 2021, 6:09 PM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJLIiF15wjQ

Slogging Definition: Publish Remote Watercooler Moments

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I was sipping my coffee this morning when an email notification popped up. It was from an old friend, Mitja Goroshevsky. The last time we sat down, he shared grand visions of a future while debating the fiasco of Tornado Cash, Solana, and Julian Assange’s cat. Today was a little more serious than that, though; GOSH has another game-changer in the works: becoming the world’s first ‘Freemium’ L2 solution. blockchain In other words, they now offer an Ethereum Layer 2 alternative (much like Matic or Optimism), but the gas for your smart contracts is free. You heard me, free. Set fire to the beacons, fellas; the watercoolers of the are abuzz. metaverse digital community Now, before you roll your eyes at yet another blockchain headline, hear me out. This isn't your typical Ethereum product launch news. GOSH is crafting an Ethereum Layer 2 that's different. Why? Well, for starters, GOSH isn’t actually primarily an L2 solution. It’s a decentralized, fully on-chain, and open-source version of Github, or ‘Git On Chain DAO Platform’ if you prefer. And while I’m not a developer or even much of a techie, even I can tell the potential implications and uses for this are huge. But, back to Mitja. He, confidently as ever, stated, “Any on GOSH can transform into Ethereum Layer 2 with just a click." Simplified, perhaps overly so, but the essence of it was groundbreaking. In a world cluttered with promises of decentralization, GOSH seems to be one of the few making headway. DAO Now, in our previous interviews, Mitja had hinted at some big partnerships. Today’s email confirmed those suspicions. Twelve of them, in fact, from GBA to Viete. Not just names but innovators. They're not just jumping on a bandwagon; they're actively building the road ahead. And the folks I've spoken to are buzzing. Gerard Daché of GBA sees GOSH as a torchbearer in the blockchain realm. And Joshua Bate, the mind behind DeSciWorld, views GOSH as a pivotal force in decentralized science. But it's not all praise and no critique. Like any early-stage venture, GOSH has its skeptics. Some see it as the next big thing, while others are hedging their bets. Time will tell. So, if your interest is piqued, and you're willing to navigate the cutting edge of blockchain tech, drop by . Peer into this world with a healthy dose of skepticism and curiosity. gosh.sh For those keen on getting an insider perspective (and perhaps a story or two about Mitja's coffee preferences), you might want to ping Luca at . Luca@gosh.sh To the untrained ear, GOSH stands for Git Open Source Hodler. But to those in the know, it’s a beacon in the expansive sea of blockchain.

GOSH!: Another Fancy Crypto Toy, or a Revolution?

We want productive, collaborative, happy people on our software teams. is pretty ubiquitous in software. There are a tonne of Slack apps and integrations. Not all of them are good. Rather than put together a long list of tools you’ll mostly never use, I’ve picked out 6 of the very best Slack apps for software developers, product teams, project managers and anyone who designs, builds or maintains software. Slack I’m going to cover one best-in-class tool for some of the best use-cases for Slack add-ons. You can always explore more Slack integrations in their . Slack App Directory 1. GeekBot – Automating Team Updates & Standups : Streamlining remote team communication Use this for GeekBot is a Slack app for remote and hybrid teams. It automates things like your standup meetings, sprint retrospectives, surveys and more. Instead of spending half an hour in a daily standup every day, just answer three questions asked by GeekBot in a Slack message. It’ll aggregate it into a concise, customisable report and share it with everyone who needs to see it. GeekBot reduces the hassle associated with different time zones and allows software teams to crack on with the work that matters. It ensures a consistent flow of information. It means more time for your core tasks, and greater overall productivity. My team use this every day to save a whole bunch of time. Try GeekBot for Slack 2. CollabGPT – AI Companion for Software Projects Keeping track of what’s happening on your projects Use this for: is an AI-powered project companion specifically designed for software teams. It integrates smoothly with , delivering rich summaries of team activities and proposing actionable next steps. CollabGPT Slack, Jira, and GitHub CollabGPT’s complex architecture of AI agents develops a long-term “memory” of your projects, and therefore, a deep understanding of the context of your projects. Software teams will find CollabGPT invaluable. Its ability to “remember” allows it to provide deeply contextual summaries, actionable suggestions, and precise answers to critical questions. I’m biased, because I’m part of the team building CollabGPT – but I can put my hand on my heart and say I believe it’s a game-changer. Try CollabGPT 3. Peoplebox: Strategy Execution Platform : Strategic planning and execution Use this for Peoplebox keeps strategic goals at the front of people’s minds. At its core, it’s an OKR (Objectives and Key Results) platform. It’s easy to get into silos and lose sight of company goals. Peoplebox keeps everyone aligned on cross-functional goals. Its Slack integration removes the friction of having “just another tool” and makes promoting focus, alignment and accountability easier for teams who design and build software. Try Peoplebox 4. Evergreen – Team recognition : Encouraging team members to appreciate colleagues’ hard work Use this for I’ll be honest, I don’t like a lot of the employee recognition software out there. It’s generally well-intentioned, but can have unintended consequences like the perception of favouritism, unhealthy competition, demotivation, and encouraging focus on the wrong activity. However, Evergreen’s take on it minimises some of the harm. There’s no money or rewards changing hands – instead, recognition plants trees. It reminds teams of our collective responsibility towards the environment. There’s a feeling that everyone wins when somebody gets praise, and it feels casual enough to avoid some of the negative side-effects of competitor tools. You can choose to link praise to your company values, which helps people keep them front of mind. Try Evergreen 5. Marker – Sending Annotated Screenshots via Slack : Collecting bug reports with annotated screenshots Use this for Marker lets you send feedback and bug reports directly from your site via its Chrome extension. It makes it easy to send annotated screenshots along with context straight to Slack channels in your Slack workspace. Marker is awesome for software teams, particularly when bug tracking or when visual communication is essential. Capturing, annotating and sharing relevant sections of a screen makes tracking bugs and sharing information easy – it also does things like automatically capturing the URL to make the process painless. Try Marker 6. Donut – Human connections for remote workers : Better team cohesion Use this for Got a remote team? You might miss those “water cooler” moments where random people have bonding moments. Donut sparks interesting Slack conversations and keeps people connecting about something other than work. Informal chat makes for better working relationships And it helps keep people sane! It doesn’t just do watercooler moments – their Slack plugin can do icebreakers and intros too. Donut creates the chance for spontaneous ideas and problem-solving discussions. People who know each other better are more productive together, too. Donut say their tool boosts productivity, trust and morale. Try Donut Wrapping up Software teams have so much to gain from using the right Slack extensions. When you add the right Slack apps, you can make huge gains in collaboration, visibility, alignment and more. Each tool I listed above presents an innovative solution to a common problem. And because they integrate with Slack, they don’t proliferate tools unnecessarily. I’m working on making CollabGPT the ultimate AI companion for your software projects. It works with Slack, Jira, GitHub and soon many more tools development teams use every day. It’s able to provide context-rich summaries of the details that matter about your project, make clever suggestions about what to do next and answer any pressing question in real-time. If you’d like to, you can find out more about CollabGPT works here. Also published here.

6 Slack Apps & Integrations All Software Teams Need to Consider

If you’re serious and competitive when it comes to gaming (like you should be), then it’s in your best interest to drop the antiquated quips and platitudes and get with the program. With proximity chat becoming ever more popular in some of the latest Battle Royale and First-Person Shooters, it has never been more important to know how to verbally thrash your opponent into oblivion after a good PK and teabag. “Are you saying they’re abdicating their duty to scrutinize me? Are you saying that they don’t have the guts to put the questions to me? Great supine protoplasmic invertebrate jellies!” Boris Johnson, Mayor of London Unlike Mr. Johnson, you don’t need to graduate at the top of your class from Oxford University to have a rich gaming vocabulary and to properly be able to articulate to your team that you’re responsible for the friendly-fire; due in-part to your nagging girlfriend. All you have to do is memorize this guide by heart and then you’ll never have to worry about another immature keyboard warrior giving you any more watercooler banter. The Complete List Gaming Slang Terms The most comprehensive and unadulterated list of gaming slang terms below is in alphabetical order, and applies to traditional games as much as it does to the more novel . Finding any particular phrase or word that you may be looking for is a complete non-issue. Web3 games The alphabetically ordered gaming terminology list is also segmented by genres so you don’t have to spend to much of your time and attention on thoroughly understanding how to deal with scrubs. General Gaming Terms – a PC gaming technology that aims to deliver better image quality without adding any additional strain on a graphics card. This results in higher frame rates and a better overall quality of game. Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) – a setting that determines how much of your in-game surroundings you can actually see. Field of View (FOV) – a genre of games that feature a top-down player view and was originally popularized by DOTA. Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) – the added immersion and ability to interact with in-game, cinematic cut-scenes. Quick Time Event (QTE) First-Person Shooter Gaming Terminology – when a highly skilled player goes berserk and annihilates all members of an opposing team all by themselves. ACE – players refer to a ranged weapon’s (typically a gun but could be a bow and arrow) ADS when discussing how long (in seconds or milliseconds) it takes to aim down the sight of a weapon when right clicking or pressing the left bumper on a controller. Aim Down Sights (ADS) – what players refer to characters as in the FPS VALORANT. Agent (VALORANT) – The AWP is a military spec sniper rifle that’s used by the Arctic Warfare Police in CS:GO. Those who use the AWP are known as AWPers and are feared due to their ability to quick-scope headshots. AWPer (CS:GO) – some FPS games have a game mode known as search and destroy. The bombsite is where one of the teams has to plant and detonate a bomb in order to successfully win the round. Bombsite – Non-Player Characters (NPCs) that are automata and typically act entirely based on a predetermined ruleset that is programmed into the game. Advanced bots can be governed by an artificial intelligence that is less predictable. Bots – the act of rapidly jumping and crouching in rapid succession so as to avoid getting hit by the enemy bullets. Bunny Hopping – someone who hides after spawning in-game instead of heading to the frontlines like all of the other players. In some instances, camping may be advantageous to those who provide sniper support fire. Camper – if rounds in an require the use of resources, some teams may agree to play a few practice rounds and minimize resource spend in order to save the remaining resources for future rounds. Economy Round FPS game – someone who aggressively attacks and kills an enemy member of the opposing forces. Frag – this is short for “get wrecked”. This is an insulting term that is acceptable to use upon defeating your opponent. Get Rekt – means “Good Game. Well Played.” GGWP – means “Good Luck, Have Fun.” GLHF – any player who hacks to gain an advantage and violates a game’s terms of service is deemed a haxor. Such individuals are less-than-adequate and will typically ruin the game for everyone else playing with them. Haxor – stands for elite and usually refers to players who are highly skilled and well geared. Leet – players who use alphanumeric and special characters in rapid succession to substitute the original grammar (i.e. l337, h4xor, etc.). L33t Speak – a player who thinks they’re L337 but in fact is rather horrendous in practice. A noob will usually be on the south-end of a leaderboard and may ragequit if triggered. Noobxor (noob) – usually means “please”, but can be used to annoy other players (“noobxor plox”). Plox – when a player flawlessly destroys another player without any loss of health. Pwned – players who are noobs and can’t handle the mental anguish of constantly losing to those better than they are may ragequit. Ragequitting is the act of vehemently turning off the console and throwing controllers through walls while profusely yelling unintelligible expletives at those who may be in the player’s vicinity. Ragequit – unlike a n00b, a scrub is a player who has been playing for a long time yet their skills haven’t improved in the slightest. Scrub – some rounds limit all of the players’ choice of weapons to only shotguns. Shotties Only – this refers to a round in a game that is stacked entirely to one-side. A “stomp” is preclusion to a round that is unbalanced and won’t prove to be a challenge to the team that has all of the best players. Stomp – someone who crouches on a deceased enemies face over and over again after a kill for the kill cam is known as a teabagger; for obvious reasons. Teabag MMORPG Gaming Terminology – In Player-versus-Environment (PvE), the additional enemy NPCs that spawn in large numbers during a main fight or battle; typically during a complex boss fight. Adds – stands for “Away From Keyboard”. Players who are idle in-game and are distracted with other unimportant activities are considered to be Away From Keyboard. In some MMORPGs, if you’re AFK for too long, the server will automatically boot you. AFK – also known as the “Aggro Radius”; this is the invisible radius around your in-game character that will provoke NPC mobs to engage you and begin attacking you in battle. Aggro – short for “Area of Effect”. This refers to skills, spells, abilities, and buffs that effect a certain area as opposed to a specific targeted NPC or player. AoE – short for “Damage per Second”. The amount of damage that a player can inflict on NPCs or other players in a single battle is represented as the DPS metric. There are two forms of DPS; Melee and ranged (guns and spells) DPS. DPS – often resembling bullying, this is when a group of players team up against another single player to take them out and collect their loot. Gank – players request heals in combat from other friendly players who have the ability to remedy the loss of health. Heals may take the form of spells and buffs or resources such as potions, bandages, and med-kits. Heals – the ability for a player to keep a boss or mob aggroed at a distance while moving around in a pattern that avoids taking substantial damage. Kite – stands for “Looking for Group”. In MMORPGs, players will look for or announce in chat that they are seeking to either start of join a group of other players to complete a task that they alone cannot do; such as a quest, a dungeon, or a raid. LFG – stands for “Looking for Party”. A common phrase that is used interchangeably with Looking for Group (LFG). LFP – these are standard PvE enemy NPCs that exist within MMORPG worlds. Mobs – buffs are passive and temporary spells that boost player stats and skill sets. When a player requests to stack buffs, they are requesting that another player adds additional buffs to their character in order to multiply the positive effects caused the buffs. Stack Buffs – a tank is an in-game character that takes all of the damage in a party. Tank – provides the ability for a player to change their avatar’s appearance while retaining stats of the original gear. Transmog – common in-game loot that has such a large supply that the marketplace has deemed the item or resource in question practically worthless. Vendor Trash – a common tactic used by n00bs who find power in numbers. These are typically brutes and are far from being skilled tacticians as the only way for them to find solace is to overpower an enemy with a large group of people. Zerg Gaming Terminology Recap You’re now equipped with the latest and most commonly used gaming slang terms that the pros use on the daily. Whether you’re playing a riveting and fast-paced First-Person Shooter or you’re slowly grinding for experience points in an MMORPG, you’ll know how to respond to a fellow gamer without appearing like a complete noob. Use these gamer slang terms in combination with IRL chatter for best results. Also published . here

A Comprehensive List of Gaming Slang Terms That You’ll Ever Need

Virtual team building makes remote teams feel as tight-knit as office employees to support purpose, vision, and enthusiasm and grow as a company. The future of work is remote work, and when it's done right, it improves employee productivity, creativity, and morale, psychologists' research finds. The number of employees who said they couldn't concentrate at their desk in an office increased by , and the number of employees who couldn't access quiet places to do focused work when working in an office went up by 13%. Similarly, has found that employees who worked from home were reported to have higher job satisfaction and reduced levels of burnout and psychological stress. 16% research Bringing that teamwork and collaboration to the virtual world can be difficult, but it is not impossible. Also, virtual teams are increasingly growing because most people prefer to work from home. With this increase of remote working, companies mustn't forget that these are real people behind their screens, and creating a solid rapport with one another can bring your team closer together. What Is Virtual Team Building? Virtual team building is essential because people have felt very isolated over the past couple of years. When a group is a part of the virtual team-building experience, they are getting to know their team, so the usual team bonding people complete in the office can be done virtually. Why Is Virtual Team Building Important? While returning to face-to-face work is slowly coming back into our lives, many companies are also looking at mixing in-person work with virtual work. Since this is happening, it is vital that every team member feels and knows that they are a part of a team. A study found that "87% of remote workers feel more connected through the use of video conferencing". So, to promote the use of video during team building activities. Icebreakers for remote teams are activities to start a virtual meeting involving everyone and making quick, personal connections with your remote co-workers. Use these virtual team-building activities and icebreakers to connect with your team better and conduct effective remote meetings. Benefits Of Virtual Team Building: The main benefits of virtual team building activities include: among remote employees Supports Collaboration because of working from home Combat Loneliness Increases Productivity Boost Team Morale and generate new ideas Encourage Creativity between team members Improve Communication to work during difficult times Boosts Motivation Supports Innovation Management amongst the team members. Builds Strong Relationships and taking care of employees’ mental health. Reducing Stress Here is a list of 10 virtual games, icebreakers, and activities you can do with your virtual team to build that strong company culture. This list includes: free virtual team building ideas quick virtual team building games virtual team building activities for conference calls best team building activities for work from home ways to make virtual meetings fun online team building activities for conference calls fun virtual team games for work Let’s get to it! The 10 Best Online Games and Icebreakers for Remote Employees Ice Breaker This is such a classic game to complete in person that it just needed to be added to this list. Ice Breakers are a great way to virtually get to know your remote team. This activity can be done in two different ways. The first way is to find an Ice Breaker list online that gives you a lot of questions to ask. On the contrary, have your team members answer questions themselves and send them to one individual. That person can print them out and cut them up to be picked from a hat. Either way, it's a fun way to get to know your team and learn a bit more about each other. Two Truths & a Lie Another game that is very popular in person (such as this one) may also be applied to the virtual world because it's good for people to play games they're familiar with. Have each employee think up of their two truths and a lie so that the other members can guess. This game is excellent for introducing your team to one another and building that social connection. With so many different aspects of picking from within your own life, this game always makes people laugh and ask questions for clarification. Online Team Meeting Virtual Scavenger Hunt What is great about this game is that the teams are going to have to work together to find all of the items. Split your virtual team up and give everyone a list of things they have to see in their house. Have some fun with it! Please give them a specific task like finding a green stuffed toy or blue pencil. Then, do something abstract, like finding something with an eye on it. After finding all the items, individuals can show their findings on the video chat, and their teammates can say whether or not that fits the bill. It's a great way to have fun with a timer and for lots of laughs to be had. Video Charades Who doesn't love a good game of charades? With the acting, jumping, and overall fun, your team will love this virtual Zoom game. Create a list from an online generator and privately message the individual with their topic on Zoom. Then, have them act it out for their team to guess, and voila, you have video charades! This online team-building exercise can bring a lot of social interaction to your team. In addition, it will leave your team with new memories of one another, and they are going to be excited for the next game day. Time Traveler Everyone has thought about what life would be like in a different time period. So, first, have your team discuss which time period they would like to go to and why. Then, get them to properly explain everything about this time period and how they would even make a living, survive, or their goals. This is a great way to introduce your team's imagination into the conference calls because daydreaming is fun for everyone. You can even give bonus points to people who want to act out their time period! Teamwork Photo of Your Life Challenge Creating a personal connection with your virtual team can be difficult because you are all apart. That is why it's essential to show your personal and human side, not just the business version of yourself. Have each team member take a picture that sums up their life. Yes, this isn't easy, but it can make them think a lot about themselves. Afterward, have them write up a short explanation of why this picture represents them. You can post this in a group chat or do a short presentation during a video conference. Either way, this is one that people will enjoy because everyone is going to know a bit more about their colleagues. Can You Hear Me Now? This is an excellent twist to Pictionary. Every team member has a turn of being the Describer. The Describer only has three minutes to describe how to draw an item using only simple shapes. For example, if it was a car, then they could say that you have to draw a rectangle and have two circles side by side at the bottom. Afterward, have everyone share their image. This is an excellent way to laugh with one another as your compare each other's drawings. The Describer gets the point for every person that draws the correct item, and whoever draws correctly gets the point too. Guess the Workspace/Refrigerator Want a guessing game that is fun and thought-provoking? Have each team member take a picture of either the inside of their refrigerator or their workspace. Get everyone to send their photo to one person and post them all up onto a group chat. Allow your team some time to look at the images and figure out which picture is connected to which teammate. This activity is a great way to try and bring each other into your home while still being private at the same time. It can also encourage your team to clean up their space before taking a picture, and they might be grateful for that. Tiny Campfire Everyone likes S'mores because they're delicious. Send every member a little kit with a tea light, marshmallow, graham cracker, chocolate, and a toothpick if you have the budget. Pick a day where your team is going to have a campfire together and have them all set up in front of their workspace. Take this time to share ghost stories around your tea lights while enjoying a S'more on the business. This is a great way to create memories together and to relax. With such a fun activity, your team is going to tell everyone about this idea. Pancakes vs. Waffles Pose the question to your team members: 'Both pancakes and waffles are about to disappear from the universe forever. Which one should go and why?' Your team needs to come to a unanimous decision on which one is allowed to stay and which one is disappearing. Once this has been decided, someone else can suggest another food or topic that is up for debate, like carrots. This game can get intense quickly because people can nominate anything for debate. If they want to put love, humanity, or family up there, then they can. With such freedom to choose the next topic, it is sure to keep people talking and allow them all to get to know each other more. You can more ideas for team building and icebreakers for remote meetings from the video below: Virtual Team Building Activities Are you looking for a remote job? Team building activities, on the other also allow remote team managers to become familiar with every employee's talents and skills, making for more efficient task delegation. Therefore, make sure you connect with your virtual team because you work together for most of the day. Also, suppose you're looking to join a virtual team or find any remote job. Find a remote position, learn about remote interviews, remote working tips, tools, and more, as work from home provides the ability to have a better work and home life balance. Frequently Asked Questions Some common questions to come up with for companies managing remote employees for the first time and are looking for fun remote team-building activities and games. Why is Virtual Team Building important? Virtual team building improves team effectiveness, leads to closer-knit teams and heightened collaboration levels, brings a team closer together, and creates a culture of psychological safety, which is essential for a team to be high-performing. Best Practices For Virtual Team-building. Regular check-ins & constant feedback sessions with your remote teammates Provide training, workspace upgrades, wellness packages, and technology allowances Conduct employee wellness programs Conduct daily stand-ups and 1:1 meetings Encourage social interaction Set clear expectations Promote fun Watercooler Chats How do you boost team morale virtually? Virtual happy hours, coffee catch-ups, and other fun activities are easy to keep morale high when times are tough, and connectivity is low. How do you make a virtual meeting more fun? Breaking up the monotony of online remote meetings is essential to keep people from falling asleep, feeling awkward and to boost participation and team involvement: Let people take ownership Keep meetings short and on-task Play games throughout the meeting Utilize interactive features on Zoom etc Use fun quizzes, trivia, and icebreakers Incorporate real-world objects Conduct fun interactive polls How do you motivate your team virtually? Align the remote team around the company goal so that everyone understands how they impact it. Create incentive programs to attract employee participation in remote team activities Provide the team with all the required remote tools Create and foster a growth mindset. Never miss a way to increase communication among teammates Introduce recognition and employee awards program to boost motivation Address trust issues by interacting more with remote employees. Tools for virtual team building. Virtual Escape Room Squad Squabble Virtual Icebreaker Plop Quiz The Team Quest QuizBreaker Water Cooler Trivia Team Building Slack Extensions like Donut First published here

10 Team Building Activities to Boost the Morale of Your Remote Teams

Let’s go to Mars to have coffee. It is fascinating to overhear but possible too to drink. Let’s talk about the Metaverse that seemed to be our virtual future or virtual lives. It’s exhilarating to dive into Metaverse which has a cumulative worth of between by mid-2020s intended the global market according to Bank of America. $390 billion and $800 billion And when we indicate the inclusion of companies that stimulate Metaverse to turn its wheel by developing hardware and software union the Facebook transforms its name to Meta to ponder its metaverse muses. Unity Software Inc., Nvidia Corp, Microsoft Corp., Google, Zoom, and Meta. Let’s get first down to basics. What the Metaverse actually have in the bag: is befalling with the power to alter the world to a virtual world. It gonna be a blend of the physical and digital world. It has the dynamism to shift the people virtually to any rim of the world virtually. You are gonna experience to put your glasses or headset and you are instantly in your home space. You can easily build buildings, parks, signs, as well as things that do not exist in reality. Metaverse It is a space where digital depictions of people – avatars – socialize at work and play, meeting in their office, going to concerts, and even trying on clothes. At the hub of this cosmos will be virtual existence, a digital world that you can penetrate via Facebook’s Oculus VR headsets. You are gonna experience to put your glasses or headset and you are instantly in your home space. These trials to create the metaverse have carried copious online games and gathering spots that seized some of the metaverse's most prominent concepts without ever using the term. Mark Zuckerberg has decided that now is the time to , so gigantic wheels are swirling and resources are flooding and the effort is surely operating to be cooked. intensify the metaverse You will be handy to transport physical stuff to the Metaverse. Almost any species of media can be embodied digitally such as arts, books, games, boxes, anything you name. The Metaverse and gaming go hand-in-hand: The primary platform where Metaverse gonna be splash is gaming. In that game environment, will escort you through IMVU. Rather than being fuzzy on a flat screen, you can forsooth communicate with the environment framing them. Gamers are pleased to outlay in virtual cases, skins, avatars, and so on. In the second quarter of 2021, virtual currency is shopped in Roblox climbed 161% to $652.3 million. As the games enterprise elevation fosters the metaverse. Gaming in Metaverse would be like immersive experiences from fantasy lands to bringing our mild games into our daily lives through holograms. It also could be the citing of old games in a new way. You will be able to head in the head with members from throughout the world. You will be smart to inject into things that you can’t do yet in gaming. You could be dive, skate, flipping, without any pulse of danger. Metaverse does a salubrious investment in VR and AR ecosystem. Metaverse will permit creators to keep creating. Games have a thrilling population. Working in Metaverse pulses: I would like to reach the office without a voyage. Dropping the daily commutes would because to a healthy environment, avoid stuck in traffic, and saving time. You will quite have a spirit of synergies, interactions while many positives and that all would be accessible from anywhere. Job from any place would be a great bargain for pro spreading opportunity to more people. You would have watercooler conversations with like-minded folk. Then you would also have ideal work set up, music, modeling, and you can also keep wearing your sweatpants. People are diversely imprisoned to serve from anywhere but hybrid is advancing to be complex meanwhile some imply together and besides still are remote. Environmental understanding, content placement, persistence, voice interaction, and standardized hand interactions would be still handed to you. Metaverse would be meant and introduced to the presentation platform, a broad range of machine perception and AI capabilities that empower developers to build mixed reality experiences. What Have Businesses Become in the Age of Metaverses: Metaverse would be a marvelous place to gain fresh perspectives, stay on the pulse of trends. Metaverse also gonna paint with bringing some for companies. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has said about wanting his company to mount an "enterprise metaverse." Microsoft has officially announced in the 2020 conference to begin featuring AI-enabled avatars and workspaces for Metaverse. business opportunities Businesses that aspire to stay ahead in battle should compose plans for wherewith they are walking to fasten with consumers, dig new exhibit opportunities, and be patrons in sponsorships in the metaverse. Is the metaverse the future of digital businesses? Many experts say yes. Sound futuristic? Product placement and advertising: A huge opportunity for advertising such as billboards, for product placements. You package gigs in a metaverse, cull a fan base, and new touchpoints with their consumer realm also found by marketers. It has businesses that gain real money, and that’s the eye of VR advertising. Sponsorships of events and concerts: The huge execution by people, music festivals by Minecraft, as further events gonna be hostess in metaverse in digital space. The company has a duo of opportunities for profitable sponsorships. Over the years, many brands like MTV, Coke, American Apparel, Dell, Coldwell Banker, etc. have put in cash and effort to create a metaverse advertising campaign. Digital Only products: You are on the seat of opportunity hallmarks to generate and sell digital products in the digital world. So pretty much Personas have to buy crisp outfits, homes, cars, including they can assume and even things that can’t even imagine. Let the avatars try on clothes and allow them to place real-world orders. Things have to be digital too if we gonna digital. Metaverse Services: Metaverse services firms will be obliged to support organizations to move and sway in the Metaverse. Corporations for case produce digital twins latterly arguing to sports about how you can form a digital twin of the stadium of football in the Metaverse. So people can digitally move to the stadium and watch games and at this point, companies troops have the chance to form this digital service. Metaverse hardware: Evolving headsets and dressing them light and more light. And the glasses with extra contact lenses proffer us virtual and optical reality. Give us A haptic suit (also known as a tactile suit, gaming suit, or haptic vest) that gives us a sight of feeling and stirring. Any device such as PCs and mobile manufacturing lead to a wide range of ideas and opportunities to companies for Bussiness in Metaverse. Improving business operations: Business operations applications to improve their operation. Such as the digital models and supply chain that syncs up in real-time with the physical environment. The model enables masters to customize the method and conduct quality control. Remote working: Remote working is a roaring thing that rises opportunities to lead our work in the Metaverse and form entire working spaces like meetings, training, stimulations. For instance, Facebook gonna raising workrooms that attempt to take new ways to collaborate rather than take on zoom and which is virtual reality. In the future, you will hold events, conferences, in the virtual world and they will be given performed as avatar tasks. Your avatar takes meetings while you are at home. Informational Facts: It is mounted on blockchain architecture and it has its own called sonium cubes that can be adopted to buy properties and then you have a large avatar-based 3D social network where users can interact, hangouts, gather. You gonna become up with Digital twins in this space. You will be the proprietor of IMVU a large avatar-based 3D social network where users can socialize. In the virtual world and they will be given performed as avatar tasks. Your avatar takes meetings while you are at home. in-app currency IMVU In the next five years, we will be effectively transitioning from people seeing us primarily as a social media company to being a METAVERSE company. - Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg

How the Metaverse Could Change the Future of Meetings, Gaming, and More

How to Find and Hire the Top Remote Tech Talents in 2021 [Part 1]

The past year and a half in the shadow of the pandemic has seen the dawn of many new working and socializing concepts - all of them remote. Online meetings, digital conferences, and virtual parties still seem like substitutes for the real thing that humans crave since prehistoric times - socializing with others in the flesh. I and my team of five fellow writers were among the first to go fully remote as soon as Covid-19 numbers began going up last fall. Since we don’t need any special equipment to work, home is as good a place as any. During the winter months, we’d been working either from home or taking solo shifts at the office and hadn’t been in the same room for 8 months. Save for three weekly team calls, our communication had been reduced to chatting on Slack, discussions in Google Docs comments, and using other . software for online collaboration Missing proper conversations (and out of curiosity if we’re still able to work in the presence of each other), we decided to try “virtual coworking”- working with our cameras on for a week to simulate being in the same room. Context: Is virtual coworking “a thing”? When we hear remote work, we see a person working alone in a room, either performing daily tasks or participating in an online meeting with or without video. Neither of these standard forms of remote work tends to the basic need of social interaction with your colleagues. It’s just a survival mode of work, forced upon us by the pandemic. If you’re lucky, your company organizes some , like virtual happy hours or online game nights. online team building The first time I saw virtual coworking in action was when my brother spent a big part of the workday with his girlfriend on camera. As a couple leading a distant relationship and not being able to travel because of Covid-19 restrictions, they had found a way to be in the presence of each other despite these strange times. This idea stuck with me. I was missing socializing with my colleagues - despite seeing them in virtual meetings few times per week. I realized that scheduled meetings about a specific work topic couldn’t substitute random socializing moments and watercooler chats. I was curious if working with cameras on works, and what kind of impact it has on people’s productivity and mood. But when I googled remote or virtual coworking, not much came up - it seems like this work format, however simple, isn’t a thing that many teams have tried. Is it because it’s awkward being constantly on camera with your private environment in the background? Or is it because it seems unnecessary - since all the important stuff has already been discussed in the meetings? While working with cameras on obviously isn’t “a thing”, there are that offer the chance to socialize digitally and are mainly designed for freelancers who lack a sense of community. In these spaces, you can walk around actual floor plans, sit at a specific virtual desk, knock on doors, and chat with someone you accidentally meet in the hallway. virtual coworking spaces However, working with your camera constantly on is very different from being in a virtual room and waiting for a virtual knock on the door. It’s a much more tangible sense of presence which also demands stepping out of your comfort zone where nobody sees how you work. Experiment: working with cameras on all week Luckily, my team is always open to quirky productivity experiments and perceived keeping cameras on for a week as an interesting challenge. As we work for the and are all constantly using this tool, such experiments aren’t only fun, but also give us valuable insight into our day-to-day productivity. DeskTime time tracking app The experiment went like this. Every day the first person to start working posted a Google Meet link in our Slack General channel. Then others would join one by one - just like in a real office when the door opens and your colleague comes in. Right from the start, office jokes and small talk were back. Just like we would share our commute adventures or complement each other’s looks in real life, we know shared details of how our morning started, what we heard on the news, etc. This was like a fresh breeze - something so normal but so missed for months on end. During this experiment, we took notes of how virtual coworking impacted our daily rhythm and how we felt about it. Simultaneously, we tracked our work hours and the use of distracting apps on DeskTime, to see if virtual coworking somehow affected our productivity. As we were also using this app daily before the experiment, we could compare the number of distractions we had before and after. Results: does remote coworking improve productivity? After a week of working with cameras on, the results were rather surprising. Working together did foster accountability (e.g., we were less inclined to check our phones or do some house chores while working), but personally we felt a little less productive because of the distracting conversations we had time after time. However, this might be a subjective feeling because our time tracking app showed even a slight increase in productivity. This indicates that we were less likely to use unproductive apps while “sharing a room” with co-workers. While it was harder to focus on in-depth tasks and get into the flow stage of writing, we did better at managerial tasks, brainstorms, and decision-making because we were able to consult each other directly, without explaining everything in writing and receiving asynchronous replies. Admittedly, it was unusual to be in two rooms at the same time - the physical one and the virtual office with all colleagues present. Oftentimes we kept our microphones muted to prevent others from hearing background noise from our homes. If our partners or flatmates were also working from home, they involuntarily became part of our experiment - while crossing the room or having to say hi if they happened to pop in the camera frame. Most importantly, we felt reunited and happier. It turns out that we didn’t need to be physically together to achieve a sense of camaraderie. All it took was the illusion of being in the same room with the team. This is a useful takeaway in case another unwelcome wave of the virus hits us this fall.

We Tested if Virtual Coworking Improved our Team’s Productivity

Working remotely at your own time and your own place; it's great, right? Well, that's what it might feel like at the start, but after working from home for a long time, the dark side of working remotely starts to show up. Don't get me wrong. Many people dream of working remotely and it's great, mostly. But as with anything good, there are also cons of working alone at your apartment, sitting in front of the computer all day long. One of the major side effects of working from home is feelings of depression, anxiety, and loneliness. Here are 6 ways to battle the feeling of isolation and loneliness while working from home: 1. Force yourself to reach out to others When working in an office, it's easy to take social interactions like the small talks over lunch or over coffee breaks with our co-workers for granted. But when working from home, it's up to you to be more intentional and proactive about creating social interactions with your colleagues and friends. So, do whatever you feel like will help to interact with others. Create a separate slack channel called "Watercooler talk" or have virtual lunch together with your colleagues. Call your friends or have a zoom call with your friends from college. 2. Find hobbies and activities outside of work One of the major challenges while working from home is to "check out" from work and have a work-life balance. Your work tends to consume the majority of your day. It's important to leave your desk and focus on other activities and hobbies that you find interesting. It doesn't have to be something that's productive. It can be anything that you find interesting, like reading a good book or gardening. 3. Go for a walk It's easy to sit in front of a screen all day without the need to be anywhere else. But sometimes when feeling anxious or overwhelmed, instead of hacking at it for few more minutes, it's best to just get up and go for a walk. Walking helps release anxiety and feeling of loneliness. Even if you can't go for long walks, just walking around the block also helps switch your mindset and gives you a break from the virtual world. 4. Change your work environment Working from home doesn't always have to be Working remotely gives you the flexibility of space. So, change your environment once in a while. Work from a coffee shop, library, or a co-working space. It's important to feel like you are around people and part of society. Working from some place other than your home even once or twice a week can be extremely helpful in giving your fresh ideas and outlooks. working from "home". 5. Join a community or volunteer for a cause Not everything has to be done in exchange for money. Find something that is close to your heart and volunteer for the cause. It can be an extremely stress-relieving and rewarding experience and will make you feel part of society and less alone. 6. Work on side projects Having something outside of work to look forward to every day is a great feeling. Find some way to use your existing skills to work on some side projects. If you are a developer, you could try contributing to open source or work on your own Micro-SaaS product. It could lead to a side-income or a nice addition to your resume also, not to mention it is a rewarding process to work on your own project without the worry of deadlines and requirements from others. That's it. These are some of the things that are helpful in combating loneliness and isolation while working remotely. Please post in the comments below if you have anything that you found helpful in keeping you mentally healthy while working from home. Also published on my blog

Coping With Loneliness While Working From Home

Working remotely has been the new normal for professionals all over the world. As we continue to adapt to our unique working practices, sales professionals will still be judged upon their ability to meet and exceed quotas and targets. The best sales work is arguably done outside of the traditional office environment. However, as a sales manager, it's important that – as the pandemic continues – you're helping your remote team continue to adjust, all the while helping them hit sales quotas. What Challenges Come with Remote Sales? Working remotely is an incredible challenge for any team, let alone a sales team. Equally, managers who are not used to working with a team without face-to-face contact will have a considerable learning curve to ensure they're supporting the team in the best possible way. As a sales manager working from home during the pandemic, you may face the following pressures: – the lines between home and working life can become blurred the longer the pandemic continues. The inability to switch off – ensuring everyone in the team feels supported and productive is crucial when working from afar. Staying engaged – as the absence of face-to-face interaction continues, the opportunity for creating and formulating ideas can become few and far between. Collaboration obstruction How to Oversee & Smash Sales Quotas When Managing Remotely 1. Refine Communication Methods According to a report from Hubspot about the challenges of remote working, claim that communication with  co-workers is one of the most significant issues when working remotely. 29% of remote workers Although by now, you've probably created plenty of communication processes, these must be continually refined as we continue to work remotely. To lead a successful team remotely, strong communication and understanding should be at the top of your agenda. Previously sales reps could stop by a colleague's desk to exchange information, but since we've been required to work remotely, it's a good bet that you now have a whole host of digital tools to bridge the proximity gap. However, as time goes on, you may notice that some employees prefer using different communication methods. Whereas one person may prefer email, someone else may prefer something more instant such as WhatsApp or Slack. So long as you are able to contact them and vice-versa, you should always be refining your approach to communication to ensure that everyone is comfortable. When it comes to remote working, it's certainly better to overcommunicate than under-communicate. 2. Formulate Consistent Schedules with the Room for Development Consistent schedules and routines are absolutely essential for ensuring that everyone is working to their best ability. If you aren't regularly sitting down on Zoom performing one-to-one's, discussing deals and generally staying abreast of what's occurring, then it can be challenging to ensure that each member of the team is getting the support they require. As the pandemic continues, you may find that working schedules need to evolve with what's going on in your local area, so be sure to continue to keep this under review. Of course, it's essential to remain as consistent as possible, but also be wary of pivoting whenever you're required to, to ensure everyone's needs are met. 3. Set Realistic & Measurable Sales KPIs Does each member of your team know precisely how they're measured in terms of performance? Do these existing metrics reflect the current economic climate and the adjusted priorities of the business? In the current situation, we find ourselves in, there's no use in setting overly ambitious sales targets. So now is the time to refine those to ensure everyone is crystal clear on what is expected. metrics and KPIs Learn to work closely with that data you have at hand. Just because you can't pop over to someone's desk, it doesn't mean the work isn't taking place. By using data and reporting tools to track your reps’ progress, you can see who is moving towards the goals you've set, who will exceed them and who might need further support. 4. Remote Team Building During the coronavirus pandemic, it's thought that up to of us will be experiencing some form of depression. Additionally, the latest statistics suggest that have reported feelings of  loneliness and isolation during 2020. 19.2% (one in five) 24% of us This is why it's crucial to come up with ideas and opportunities for your sales team to connect with each other and try to recreate some of the day-to-day interaction they'd experience in the office. My company, Meet Hugo, experienced huge growth over the initial lockdown period in the UK, around March and April. We tripled our staff members in head office, so it was a big challenge for us to integrate so many new people who'd never met. We introduced watercooler meetings, icebreakers, and activities using video software, to help keep everyone engaged and feeling like a team. 5. Create Remote-Centric Sales Strategies One of the biggest things an effective manager needs to understand, is how to give their employees all the tools and resources they need to be successful. As we move headlong towards 2021, with no clear picture on when we might be able to head back into the office safely and consistently, now is an excellent time to ensure you have a remote-centric plan in place for now and the future. sales enablement Here are a few ways you can do this: – Ensure that all of your team have the correct information they need, precisely when they need it. For remote teams, this will often mean ensuring that a robust and secure online environment is in place to share everything. Document & Optimise Sales Literature – Since your team can't just sit by your desk while you walk them through the latest sales procedures, you can perform a share screen with you so that you can resolve their issues instead. Use Video for Training – It's important to review your current sales process to ensure that it makes sense for both a changing market and your team. Take a look at each step and work to make sure each phase of the sales process is as simple as possible. Define & Refine 6. Look for New Ways to Form & Solidify Relationships Building trust with your employees is crucial for ongoing success. In fact, according to , teams who can trust their  superiors are more relaxed, more motivated and have fewer sick days. Business Insider Building trust with anyone that works in my business is a massive focus area for me. And something that I really pride myself on is trying to get to know my employees early on. This takes a little more time when working remotely, so it's really up to you to make that relationship happen. Scheduling ice breakers and interactive activities over Zoom, has been incredibly helpful in helping our team bond during 2020. This is a great way to make up for losing that daily office chit-chat. Ben Harper is a sales specialist and founder of lead generation company . Meet Hugo

6 Ways to Smash Sales Quotas When Managing a Remote Team

Tune in ( , , wherever you get your podcasts) for a nine-minute briefing on this year’s biggest, greenest and most independent tech industry awards: Hacker Noon’s prestigious #Noonies! iTunes Stitcher ! The 2020 #Noonies are made possible by Amplify Brokerage , the world’s first global zero trading fee cryptocurrency trading platform. GET STARTED The original Noonies was conceptualized in early 2019, and it turned into something bigger than we at Hacker Noon could’ve ever imagined. This year, we’ve 10x’d the thing (sorry - touchy phrase in tech these days, I know) and includes two new award categories, and over 100 new award titles. In this quick listen, Natasha runs you through this year’s Noonies selection process; a few of her favourite awards, and how nominations and voting will work this year. Enjoy! the New Noonies See last year’s winners here . NOMINATE: NOONIES.TECH PODCAST TRANSCRIPT Hey there everybody you’re listening to the Hacker Noon podcast - how hackers start their afternoons - I’m Natasha, I manage editorial at Hacker Noon, and I am EXCITED. Today: we launch - Hacker Noon’s annual tech industry awards, definitely the greenest industry awards out there, and no I’m not talking about the environment although we have awards for that too… the second annual Noonies So today I’m going to spend twenty minutes maximum talking to you about: This year’s Noonies selection process, The Noonies awards and nominees I’m most excited about this year, and How it’s all going to work. Stay with me, get excited, and share this thing on all your socials when you’re done. BEFORE WE DIVE IN… A SPECIAL NOONIES SHOUTOUT to our headline sponsor, The Amplify Exchange Brokerage: the world’s first global zero trading fee cryptocurrency trading platform. Amplify Brokerage launched from the belief that cryptocurrency trading platforms in the market today are taking advantage of traders. Raising fees, instituting long lockup periods on interest bearing accounts, and relying on their monopolistic entity size to trap their traders, cryptocurrency exchanges needed to be redesigned from the ground up. Find out how Amplify is achieving exactly that, with their traders at the heart of every decision they make: https://amplifyexchange.com/ When it comes to this year’s selection process, we were primarily focused on ways to make the Noonies more inclusive, diverse, and representative than last year. Which, is, unsurprisingly, still not an easy task, in tech today! Which is why we need YOUR help, and why we’ve got a full one-month period of public nominations open before voting opens on August 13th. As a team at Hacker Noon, we’ve identified over 2,000 people and products we believe really deserve the recognition of being nominated for a Noonie this year. BUT: We’re hoping to 10x that number with this public round of nominations, and we’re looking forward to this opportunity to learn from each other, celebrate great work; start important conversations about what matters in tech today; and provide a platform for the people behind-the-scenes, those responsible for building our collective futures, so to speak, to be seen, heard and recognized for their contributions. Right, that covers selection - on to which awards I’ll be keeping a close eye on over the three month duration of this project. We’ve not only quadrupled nominee numbers this year, but also added two award categories and over one hundred new award titles. The five award categories are: , TECHNOLOGY , DECENTRALIZATION , SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT , and FUTURE HEROES . BACK TO THE INTERNET Out of respect for your time and attention, I’ve attempted the impossible and selected just a few really exciting award titles to share with you today, just to give you a taste of what’s happening over at noonies.tech. In the TECHNOLOGY category: Some of our listeners might be interested to hear that the hotly contested, and later entirely hacked award for Social Network of the Year is back, though it’s hacked counterpart award for Most Exciting Startup has evolved this year to into a range of more specific award titles, like Most Promising Software as a Service startup, Creative Innovation of the Year, Founder of the Year, Best Startup CTO, and more. One of my favourites has to be the ever topical “WFH Innovation of the Year.” Among the internally nominated nominees: DWELITO, which isn’t technically tech but these clever cats will deliver a mini-office to your door that you can assemble yourself and then theoretically set up anywhere outside of your home - provided you’re privileged enough to have the space, of course - and that’s a pretty smart idea, I’d say Watercooler which I guess lets you hang with your co-workers in a less super productive, Slack kinda way Spatial, which lets you collaborate with your colleagues in Virtual and Augmented Reality My ultimate favourite award from the tech category, however, is Hacker Noon’s New Contributor to Watch award, which features some really exciting founders and devs who are, as mentioned, new to the community but already adding so much value: one of whom, Benjamin Mmari is, I believe, in my home country, South Africa! The next two categories are DECENTRALIZATION and SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT, but since those are technically Utsav and Arthur’s areas of expertise I’ll skip straight to FUTURE HEROES. When I thought of including this category, I was originally so on the fence about having the audacity to name it something so optimistic “In these unprecedented times..”, but David was all like hell yeah we need some heroes, so, here we are. This category is really for the people and projects that have helped us redefine what it means to make meaningful things in tech this year, and there are a number of nominees I feel deserve a big shoutout: Erwin Lima and Jarrett Dunn who have both been nominated for Mental Health Advocate of the Year - both of these great humans contribute so much of their personal time and energy to reminding all of us to vibe check ourselves on the regular - and in fact Erwin has written a book on smartphone addiction filled with really productive tips on how to manage it - and, you can read lengthy excerpts of it for free as always on hacker noon - search Lima Writes on hackernoon.com and you’ll see it all right there. Nominated for the award of Best Use of Tech for Good, we already have some outstanding products like Goodnight Zoom, which pairs you with an isolated senior for storytime; Snapplify, a truly awesome initiative providing FREE access to educational textbooks; TLDRead, who takes research articles and uses Machine Learning to automatically summarize papers and mount them as a dashboard to provide a quick overview; and more. I feel similarly passionate about the Back To The Internet award category, which houses such fun and impossible award categories as: Podcast Episode of the Year, Slack, Telegram, and/or Discord Channel of the Year, Extension of the Year, Newsletter of the Year, and, Meme of the Pandemic. There’s so much worth getting into there… you’ll have to check it out for yourself - AND add your own nominees! Which brings us to the fun part of HOW THIS ALL WILL WORK: 2 things you need to know - Public nominations open today, Monday, 13 July. As aforementioned, nominations will be open for one month - which means VOTING will only open on 13 August, 2020. With regards to how voting will work when the time comes in August - you can find more details on the FAQ page of noonies.tech, but, spoiler alert - if you’ve published a story with Hacker Noon before, your vote counts more. Like, a lot more. Which means there’s still time to before voting opens. Just saying. start publishing with Hacker Noon Which is a nice segway to…… an important function of these annual Noonie Awards, celebrating our most read contributors. For those of you who might not know how Hacker Noon works: we’re an entirely crowdsourced publication in the sense that anybody can get published on Hacker Noon - under the review and support of our team of very human editors - and so our community of “writers” aren’t usually professional bloggers, or anything - they’re real people writing code and funding companies and founding startups. They share what they learn with Hacker Noon because, well, publishing on Hacker Noon gives you mad street cred obviously, but also because they are personally carving out time in their schedules to contribute to industry standards, important conversations, technical knowledge… And we at Hacker Noon are super grateful that they do. So, in no particular order, a shout out to some of our most read writers, many of whom are nominated across more than one category -  thank you for your contributions! Javin Paul, Daniel Jeffries, Angelica Dietzel, Sophia Martin, Patrick Lee Scott, Limarc Ambalina, Frederik Bussler, Pirate Beachbum, Kirill, Ishan Pandey, Adnan Rahić, Sandra Shpilberg… And hundreds more. Check out noonies.tech to see them all, and nominate your own at ! noonies.tech

PODCAST: The 2020 Noonies are Here and Even Greener than Last Year

Although WFH is now the new normal because of COVID, managing a remote startup presents unique challenges. As first-time founders of a fully-distributed team, this is the advice and playbook we wish we read when we started out on this journey. We made the decision to be remote-friendly right from the beginning when we started . Although we decided to set our HQ in San Francisco, we knew that there was a deep talent pool beyond the Bay Area that we could tap into. Shuffle Coming from larger organizations like Coinbase and Google, it took some time to learn best practices for running a remote startup team. Today, we have a small and elite team living across 6 cities, from San Francisco, to Utah, to Canada, and Singapore, and we’ve built a system that keeps the team on-track and connected. Here’s how we did it. 1. Set up good collaboration tools As a remote team, you need a system to collaborate effectively. Here’s what we use: : Notion is our operating system. All our documentation — from meeting notes, to PRDs, to Engineering Tickets — is stored here. They give for startups. Notion $1000 free credits : What we use for real-time communication. Slack Equipment: As a manager, ask and make sure your team has everything they need to be successful working from home. We’ve invested in better wi-fi, standing desk converters, and even had to buy a desk for a team member! 2. Meetings are the pulse of the organization If a company is an organism, meetings are its pulse. It’s important to keep meetings short, lean and with a clear objective. At Shuffle, we have 3 types of team meetings: : We start the week with a team sprint, where we share our team goals for the week, make important announcements, and choose the tickets we’re focusing on. Team Sprint Meetings : Do a quick check-in with the team to update them what you’ve completed and where you’re blocked. Mid-week check-in We end the week by showing off demos, celebrating what went well, and reflecting on what we could’ve done better. Retro & Demo: 3. Be deliberate about team bonding One of the biggest downsides about not having an office is not being able to bond in-person. You don’t want work interactions to end up feeling transactional. We’re constantly experimenting with new tools to build authentic connection: : For all the random things that you would say if you bumped into your colleague in a watercooler #Watercooler slack channel Our favorite slack channel where we highlighting our personal and team victories, big and small! #Team_wins slack channel: We livestreamed the SpaceX launch yesterday, and shoot the shit. Weekly remote lunches: : This is a fun tool to bond by pairing us up 1-to-1, and providing interesting prompts (example: What’s one thing you’re grateful for last week?) that make it easy to share and connect. It’s free and fun to do over happy hour. Icebreaker.video : A bot sends prompts to our team every Monday asking what the highlights of our weekend were, or asking them to share an interesting article. Icebreaker slack bot There’s a ton of team online games out there like , , , etc. Happy hour games: Jackbox.tv Codenames Skribbl COVID-19 put our first team offsite plans on hold, but I think this is incredibly important to do twice a year. We’re inspired by pictures of Notion’s retreats. ;) Team offsites: In a remote team, building a culture of closeness isn’t going to just happen, so be deliberate in creating time and space for people to bond. The most important thing as a manager here is to . Having tried a WFH system for the last 5 months, I’d say the benefits are incredible and can lead to an even more happy and productive team. Here’s . experiment and find what works for your team Matt Mullenweg explaining why remote work leads to happier workers We hope these practical tips help other startup founders just embarking on the journey. Feel free to reach out to me on Twitter ( @adayeoyh ) if you have more tips and tricks! If you want more content like this, check out the Shuffle app for the best 1-minute highlights daily from top startup thinkers and VCs. Surfacing the best ideas and stories found in podcasts Previously published at https://medium.com/getshuffleapp/an-inside-look-into-one-startups-remote-work-playbook-b1b00dc10edf/

Remote Work Playbook: Best Practices To Follow

“The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it.” – Theodore Roosevelt So, remote working is no more your occasional instance where employees were granted leverage to work from home after much skepticism from the managers and bosses alike. Times have changed and now working from home is the new norm, and it’s here to stay for long. Before the pandemic of COVID-19, about was already working from home, but it was more of a part-time rather than regular, which is the case these days. one-quarter of the US workforce With uncertainty looming large, these numbers are bound to go up, not only in the United States but in all those countries severely affected by the novel coronavirus. As a large number of businesses operate remotely, many employers are facing unique challenges. As a Chief Marketing Officer at , managing remote teams was not a new experience for me, but I did not have to do it as consistently as now. So, I realized quickly that I will have to double my efforts to ensure my remote team stays productive, feels inclusive, and more importantly never feels left out of the pack. ProofHub Here, I have listed down seven effective experts-backed strategies that have proven excellent with my team. Execution of these tried and tested tips will help managers to keep productivity and high when every member of their teams is working from home. motivation 1. Establish Daily Check-ins With Employees From daily team meetings to sharing lunch with colleagues to watercooler conversations, a traditional office space provides ample opportunities for everyone to have more facetime with each other. Without in-person interactions, remote employees can easily feel isolated and left out from the pack. In days of remote working, establishing daily or near-daily check-ins with team members is important to make them feel inclusive, needed, and appreciated. Team managers can schedule daily virtual meetings, at a fixed time, through the communication tool of their choice to have both professional and casual talks with employees. Using video conferencing tools like Google Hangouts, Zoom, or Skype is highly recommended over phone calls or emails so that participants can be both seen and heard. 2. Take Advantage of Various Forms of Communication Tools For team managers of the digital age, it’s not when but how you communicate with your team that matters. The option of using phone calls, texting, and long email threads is still there, but the latest with advanced features have made communication so much easier, faster, and more personalized. internal communication tools Tech-savvy managers utilize technology to great effect. We have video conferencing apps like Google Team, Slack, and Zoom, like Basecamp, WeChat, Line, and document sharing tools like Google Drive and Dropbox. Managers can choose what tool to communicate with the team and when, based on different factors like time available, level of engagement, nature of the topic to be discussed, etc. instant messaging apps 3. Encourage Employees to Set Up a Dedicated Workspace No matter how efficient your team members are, working from the comfort of a bed or couch is not always the best of ideas. Writing for the New York Times, Jen A. Miller says, “Choose a spot in your home for the office. It’s ok if it doesn’t have a door, but it should be away from distractions.” I know it’s not easy to replicate the office environment, but make sure you and your team members set themselves up to work comfortably and efficiently, without being lazy during working hours. Make a list of and forward it to your team. work from home essentials At ProofHub, we provide our employees (upon request) with the tools and equipment to make the transition as smooth as possible. 4. Set Realistic Expectations While managing virtual teams, create realistic expectations for their work when it comes to defining working hours or assigning project deliverables. Clearly state the tasks and responsibilities of every team member, and make your team understand exactly how you will measure their performance. Everyone must have clarity regarding the project. At the same time, once you’ve assigned tasks to team members make sure you let them work at their own pace, without interfering in their work. When goals are well-defined, there are minimal chances of confusion creeping into the workflow. 5. Make Sure Your Team Is Equipped With The Right Technology Remote working is not just about having a dedicated workspace and a hardworking team; use of the right technology is of paramount importance to ensure the work is done smartly and efficiently. Make sure to check out on your team if they already have a laptop, reliable and speedy internet connection, and software. As a manager, it is your responsibility to simplify the way remote work is done. Using a feature-rich software, for example, can help managers, teams, and clients easily collaborate on a common single platform and keep everyone in the loop. When your team is well-equipped with the latest technology, it will help the entire workforce to achieve more in less time. project management 6. Check Their Work/Life Balance Is Not Tilted Either Way The increased flexibility of WFH does not always guarantee a more balanced life. Many people end up working overtime, which leads to diminished work/life boundaries. Remote workers often experience high work intensity due to regular communication with colleagues through their devices at any time. As a manager, you need to tell your team that they should not let the pressure of work upset their personal lives. Let them know you respect their right to disconnect at the end of the workday. Define working hours, if possible, and ask employees not to work overtime. Encourage them to share their work-related concerns and be empathic while helping them. 7. Measure Performance By Results, Not The Activity Understand that in the current scenario, your team members have so many things to take care of. We all are facing turbulent times and we all worry about the safety of our near and dear ones. Your team is no different; some people might seem to be less active than others, but that’s not how their performance should be measured. An employee may punch in for 8 hours and still may not match the productivity of someone who appears online for 7 hours. Trust your team, give them the flexibility and freedom to work on a schedule that best suits them to be at their productive best. In other words, measure them by the output, not by the hours they clock on the desk. By and Large As any team manager will tell you, the sudden shift in company culture is not easy to come to terms with, especially with workers dispersed across various geographical locations and time zones. However, deliberate efforts can help to keep your workforce productive and connected, while allowing them certain leverage to do things at their own pace. I am sure using these seven valuable tips will go a long way in delivering the best results for you, your team, and the entire organization. Good luck! COVID-19 - Doing Our Bit As millions of schools are shut down to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus, it is indeed a hard time for the school managements, staff, and students. ProofHub understands their challenges, so we are offering a free subscription to schools for the rest of year 2020. All features in one centralized location can help in easier planning, organization, and task management, with unlimited users and unlimited projects being the striking features of ProofHub. Click here to know how to get started for free!

Seven Expert Tips For Managers To Support Their Remote Teams

Due to COVID-19, companies have found themselves in the middle of the . Many hail remote work as a blessing, allowing employees to continue working while practicing social distancing during this uncertain time. world’s largest work-from-home experiment Of course, even before coronavirus grabbed our attention, many companies were already adapting various telecommuting and remote work policies. A 2019 study by Owl Labs found that 16% of global companies were fully remote, and 40% were hybrid (companies who offer both remote and in-office options). There are good reasons why companies have been embracing the remote work culture. From , s, and enabling access to a larger talent pool, remote work has many benefits. boosting productivity reducing the cost of operation However, for all its advantages, remote work also presents many unique challenges. Companies must establish communication norms, address diminished productivity due to lack of supervision, and create systems for managing accountability, tracking projects, executing payroll, and prioritizing cybersecurity. Taken together, these hurdles pose a significant hindrance to fruitful remote work. Fortunately, with the right strategy and tools, you can effectively identify and address these issues to fully reap the benefits of a remote team. For those enacting a rapid transition to digital work or even for veteran leaders of decentralized teams, here are five best practices to ensure that your operation runs smoothly. #1 Adopt Remote Security Measures Ensuring security, privacy, and data protection in a fully remote setup will be difficult. Traditional intrusion prevention systems, firewalls, and sandboxes are not enough now that employees are no longer under your corporate security perimeter. While VPNs are being advertised as a solution, . they are not the quick fix that many companies expect them to be One workaround is an endpoint-based data loss prevention (eDLP) solution. It can monitor and protect your employees’ workstations instead of just the servers and nodes on your network. This has the benefit of preventing data leaks by mitigating risk at the user level, where the . majority of cybersecurity threats occur Another approach that companies can take is to utilize virtual machines on Windows, VMware Horizon, AWS/Azure/GCP, or set up a Terminal Server for their remote team. With this arrangement, employees can then login to the server using RDP while continuing to protect the company’s sensitive network and repositories. This is particularly useful if you have third-party contractors or other external users you need to support. #2 Implement a Communication Policy Frequent and fluid communications are keys to a successful remote team. Zoom, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Hangout, Telegram, 8×8, WebEx, and Jabber all are useful tools. Many of them are offering free services for a limited time. In many cases, cell phone providers are also extending or removing the data cap. However, due to increased demand, you may experience some limitations and disruptions. For example, Zoom recently removed the dial-in by phone audio conferencing capabilities from its Basic plan. Most recently, because it was overloaded with activity. It’s a good idea to have a backup plan in case your default service fails. Microsoft Teams went down for over two hours Regardless of your brand preference, select one that has end-to-end encryption. If you want better protection, you can adapt a Data Loss Prevention (DLP), Content Monitoring and Filtering (CMF), or Extrusion Prevention System (EPS) solution. Many of these have real-time monitoring for email and IM/chat conversations to prevent sensitive data exfiltration over your communication channels. #3 Utilize Team Collaboration Tools Office 365, Google Apps, and other collaboration suites have built-in tools that allow employees to work together seamlessly. You can also use cloud drives to enable document sharing. When doing so, don’t forget to implement access control policies so that sensitive documents don’t get into the wrong hands. Use project management tools for assigning team responsibilities, defining project priorities and tasks, and providing clear directions. This is critical for remote team collaborations.  The right tools provide employee clock-ins, create and track projects and tasks in real-time, integrate with your support systems/PM systems, and many other useful features to improve team collaboration and engagement. #4 Monitor Employee Engagement and Productivity Remote workers . However, flexible and “always-on” hours can that neither supports employee well being nor promotes company priorities. Therefore, establishing a consistent workflow that measures team performance is critical to ensuring that your team stays productive and doesn’t suffer alienation, burnout, or . can be highly productive lead to a burnout culture app-overload Specifically, a user and entity behavior analytics (UEBA) software can be utilized to track employee behavior for signs of stress or other abnormalities. Of course, companies should implement this software carefully because many employee monitoring and time tracking software solutions allow you to record screens. This can be demotivating and hamper productivity. Instead, focus on activity and outcomes to support both employees and employers. #5 Manage Your Remote Team with (Special) Care The truth is, many managers are not trained to manage remote employees. After all, traditional management practices focus on personalized interactions, body language, and other soft skills that do not translate well in a virtual world. Remote employees also have unique needs that require special attention. For example, found that remote workers struggle with unplugging from work, loneliness, and collaboration/communications. Make sure your managers are mindful of these social elements. It seems counterintuitive, but technology can help address many of these “human” challenges. Conducting daily one-to-ones, using video conferencing, organizing “shenanigans,” “watercooler,” or casual team time, ideas generation sessions (for example, using for remote brainstorming and engagement), flexible scheduling – all are useful tips. The key is to invest in the extra effort and pay attention to your employees. a survey conducted by Buffer Mural While painful, this could be the movement. By the time we reach the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, remote work will likely be even more normative than before. Companies should prepare now with a full understanding of the remote workflow, security, productivity, and monitoring tools, so that they can manage decentralized teams at scale – for the future of remote work is already here. watershed moment for the work-from-home This article was originally published on IT Security Central and reprinted with permission.

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