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…through video conferencing. The Hexagon project is an interesting research project that has created a live video wall on screen that allows participants to view a number of different video feeds. Through this, co-workers can see what’s going on with their colleagues, ask quick questions etc. I came across this through Stowe Boyd’s link to Web Worker Daily, and their piece on Workstreaming.

I’ve experienced this kind of working though, and I think there’s something in it. A few years back I was in Toronto on a trade mission. Whilst there though, I was also required to launch a new site (ah, those were the days when I actually did get my hands wet) so I ended up spending a lot of time in front of the screen preparing code and testing what I was doing. Using Apple’s iChat software and iSight camera, I was able to connect back to the office in the UK – but instead of ‘picking up’ calls when we needed to talk as you might do when you’re doing traditional video-conferencing, we instead left the connection up, and running in the background. This meant that when someone left the room or returned to the room in the office in UK – or even got in first thing in the am, I knew about it. I didn’t have to ask questions or play catchup because I was virtually in the office.

This might sound a bit…well, sad really, and of course it’s likely that this might only suit certain team dynamics, but in one sense it worked really well – it did mean that there was a real connection back to the team from the remote space, and I’d certainly do it again.