The best purchase for remote work

I am more of a visual person. It is easier for me to work with visual images and convey information through them, to explain and teach.

At first, COVID-19 created just physical barriers. When we transitioned to remote work, we lost access to short communication where we could approach a colleague and draw something on a board or a piece of paper/napkin. To quickly convey an idea, especially when we see the other person’s confusion in their eyes. During a call with colleagues, we wave our hands, but nobody sees it.

To start, I began drawing in Paint with a mouse, which immediately solved the communication problem. Even a diagram consisting of 3-5 squares with numbers and arrows simplified communication significantly and provided a clear reference point.

• Are we discussing server/application 1 or 2?
• We are having difficulties with application 3.
• Let’s not forget about the connection between 3-4.

But drawing with a mouse is very inconvenient. And drawing on a sheet of paper, photographing, and sending it to the chat is time-consuming and loses part of the interactivity. There’s a workaround: open a web application on a tablet/phone and simultaneously on a computer with screen sharing. Draw on the tablet, and it appears on the web in an instant. It’s a working solution, but it lacks interactivity.

The solution is to buy a graphics tablet. It’s not necessary to buy a large branded tablet, any will do. Currently, on various platforms, the starting price for such tablets begins at $30-40.

The communication speed has increased three to four times, in my opinion, as soon as I encounter confusion during a call or when a discussion about a system with three or more blocks, I stop communication, launch Whiteboard (from Microsoft), and start drawing a crooked, diagonal but schematic diagram with different blocks. And communication speeds up significantly.

In addition to regular calls, it has been very helpful for me to be able to tell the historical retrospective of architecture changes, business processes, algorithms. With interactivity, the drawing appears online, the speaker follows the conversation, and engages in it rather than falling asleep after 10-15 minutes of the call. We are hunters - we watch the prey, and here, a new goal emerges from a blank sheet.