Ideas The World Needs That I’ll Never Do #8: Make Remote Video Better
Perhaps this isn’t an idea as much as a problem identified. See, at my day job (GoodRx), we now have a few hundred people scattered amongst 5+ offices. And I find that, without fail, trying to talk to someone in a remote office just sucks.
We’ve tried lots of solutions — we currently use Zoom, we’ve used Google Chat / GoToMeeting / Join.Me / WebEx / Skype, all with varying success for video conferencing. Just connecting is a hassle, and no matter how much we spend on fancy speakerphones, hardware and bandwidth, inevitably there’s dropouts, echos and, my favorite, the “oh, didn’t realize mute was on”.
On the product / communication side, we use Slack, Asana, Confluence, etc., but none of these solutions make a remote person feel like they’re an engaged part of the in-office team. These apps are good for organization, but not good for spontaneous communication.
Thus, I wonder if there could be (or should be) a solution where you’d have an always-on video and/or audio solution to connect you to your teammates.
I’ve wondered about some of the features. For example, I don’t want someone listening to me / staring at me all the time, but I’d like to know if they’re at their desk / available to chat — so perhaps a translucent/automated presence indicator? I presume that my audio would be off by default, but with a click I could unmute. Should the unmute power be on the speaker side or the listener side? Is it like a walkie-talkie?
The key to my (not good) idea is the always-on video presence. The very act of having to dial/wait/answer a call removes the dynamic nature of a conversation for teams that work closely together. Some years back, I went to a fancy office that had an always-on video connection with a half-conference table at each end, so it looked like you were in one big room together. Smart, but also wildly expensive and space-consuming. Plus, only really useful for formal meetings. I want this type of a solution, but for everyone.
I want to be able to touch a screen / push a button / just speak and know that my teammate is on the other side, able to answer in real time. I’ve actually thought about this app for phones too — why do I need to call my wife and kids? Shouldn’t there be a simple press-to-talk app for your closest friends and family? I’m pretty sure this has been tried, but it’s late and I’m just too damn lazy to Google it.
My other issue is that the very nature of having yet another app on my desktop is depressing. I wonder if this would be better as a dedicated iPad, sitting next to my screen, showing me all my teammates in some shape or form. I could see who’s there or not, touch the screen to talk (which would unmute both sides), and just release when done. Or something like that.
Someone else should solve this so I can buy it. Please get on it asap. :)
