How Infinite Red Improved Remote Video Meetings With a Few Hand Gestures
“I don’t want to make it hard to have a natural conversation, but people should be allowed to express their opinion without someone starting their own right in the middle of it.”
“This is painful, overwhelming with this many people.”
“I want to make sure people are able to share their opinions without having to fight and be aggressive.”
Our postmortem about an important project had just concluded, and I was reading through a Slack thread discussing how the meeting went. To me, the meeting had been really productive. But it was obvious that others disagreed.
The meeting consisted of a large number of Infinite Red employees. We also had a clear agenda, talking points that we had collected for a couple weeks prior, and a team that knew the topic inside and out. However, as it turned out, many of the team didn’t talk during the retrospective, and the body language was negative. Instead, one group of assertive people (like myself) did most of the talking. This more talkative group reported that they enjoyed the meeting and got value out of it, and didn’t know why the others didn’t share that enthusiasm.
What Went Wrong?
When we sat down and analyzed the meeting, it became clear that something was “off”. While there was a lot of energy in the call, there were also a lot of interruptions, back-and-forths, and talking over each other. For those of us who have a natural inclination to interrupt, this was no big deal. We’d interject our piece if we got half a chance, and the conversation would flow around us.
But for those who are quieter or considered in their approach, this wasn’t an option. One of our designers, while stating her opinion on an agenda item, was interrupted and didn’t feel welcome to finish her point. Others didn’t even bother trying and just disconnected. We never got a chance to hear their thoughts.
The Hand Queue System
While recording our podcast (Building Infinite Red), Todd Werth, Ken Miller, and I had developed a queuing system. We didn’t want to talk over each other (that makes for a harder-to-follow podcast), but we are all prone to interruptions. Since we recorded podcast episodes while on Zoom, we could see each other and signal to each other. So, the system goes like this:
- If nobody is talking, you’re free to talk
- If someone is talking, raise one finger to indicate you want to go next
- If someone else has their finger raised already, raise two fingers (and so on)
- If you need to “interject” something really quickly (no more than a couple seconds), then raise your hand in the shape of an “O”
The difference in our podcast was positive. Given how prone to interruption the recent important project retrospective was, it made sense to try this with our other meetings as well.
I’ll admit to some misgivings at first. After all, what if I have something really important to say? However, I quickly realized that this was an inherently self-centered approach; my opinions weren’t “worth more” than others, even if I am one of the founders. The reason we were having these meetings wasn’t for me to drone on, but rather to gain perspective from others.
The Improvement
In our next meetings, we used the hand queue system. Immediately, there was a palpable difference in the air. People were more alert and focused, and the discussion flowed naturally from one person to the next. Everyone seemed more relaxed and interested. They knew that if they wanted to say something, they could just queue up with a finger or two, and they’d get a chance to speak.
The results were clear:
- Easier to follow the flow of conversation
- Happier and more engaged participants
- Tighter/faster meetings
- More substantive discussion
- More positive reinforcement of each other (“I agree with what Darin said, and would like to add …”)
This system has dramatically improved the quality of our remote meetings at Infinite Red.
Other Thoughts
- This system isn’t a replacement for human empathy. It’s a tool to help us be more mindful. If we can make this turn-taking and interest in others’ viewpoints a habit, we won’t even need this system in the future — a great ideal to work toward.
- Since old habits die hard, we encourage the meeting participants to correct interrupters by saying “I don’t think Justin was done yet” or “Cindy had her finger up, let’s hear her first.” We have a meeting organizer whose job is to say “Thank you, Todd, now Silas, you’re up.” It only took one or two light corrections per meeting and then everyone followed the rules.
- We encourage people to use the built-in chat system in Zoom, too. The meeting organizer would periodically read those chats out loud, which was quick and focused and spurred more conversation. This is great for people who don’t feel comfortable speaking up in front of the room.
- We have made a point to say explicitly at the beginning of every meeting, “As is our new standard procedure, we will be using the hand queue system for this meeting. As a quick refresher, this is where you raise a finger if you’d like to go next, or two if someone already has their finger up, and so on.” This reminder is important, because it’s easy to revert to old habits.
- We make sure to state who is the meeting organizer, what our primary purpose of the meeting is, and then describe (briefly) the context, so everyone is up to speed.
If you’d like to read more about how to conduct effective remote meetings, try these other articles on Red Shift:
- Taking the Pain out of Video Conferences by my co-founder Ken Miller
- Our brand-new ebook, The New Remote Work Manifesto
- Virtual Meetings have Types by our CTS Gant Laborde
- And others that are tagged Remote Working on Red Shift
Jamon Holmgren is co-founder and CTO of Infinite Red, a React Native expert consulting company based in the Portland area & distributed across the USA. He lives in southwest Washington State with his wife and four kids. Follow him on Twitter for more remote work discussion!
