PROPOSAL: Remote meeting - make sure everyone's using headphones

[plocket]

Vote by: 10pm 2020/03/17.

Why

With headphones, some background noise may get in, but usually it's much better. That means fewer people have to be on mute (or have to remember to put themselves on mute) and all those little complications are reduced. Mute is part of the little things that add up to turn remote meetings into obstacles.

1. Problems with mute being off - loud environments
   1. People without headphones have more noise around them that can get on the call or video.
   2. People forget to mute themselves a lot, and that includes people with a lot of background noise.
   3. If two people are in the same room, neither on headphones, and neither on mute, they start getting feedback.
2. Problems with mute being on - slows things down
   1. People forget they're on mute and it takes a while to figure out. Even if they don't, it takes just a few more seconds to get to the button and have it kick in. It's a small thing, but it has an impact in this setting.
   2. Missing feedback (A bit theoretical)
      1. You're already missing other types of feedback in this medium, like body language. If everyone's always on mute, you might also miss out on the smaller feedback you can get - confirmation, reservations, curiosity.
      2. It's harder to talk into complete silence.

How

Let people know they should have headphones for the meeting if at all possible. When first starting the meeting, double check that people have headphones.

Resources

Proposal History

2020/03/14

1. Proposal issue made with 'proposal' label and other relevant labels. Was automatically posted to Slack (with end date, voting chart, and link to this issue), and post was pinned to the channel.

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