Late-Night Video Conferencing

One of the downsides of working for Sony is that it is a global company. Don't worry, that is also a bonus but it means that sometimes I am up early for calls with Europe and other times I have to stay up late for calls with Japan. Yesterday I got hit with one of those rare days where I met with our Brussels Lab in Europe early in the morning. Then later in the day I received an invitation for a 9pm meeting with Japan. Don't worry, I took time out for lunch, exercise and dinner so I wasn't working that whole time but it did make for a long day.

When I received the invitation for the 9pm video conference call, it came with an apology for being so late in the day. I responded that I normally practice guitar nightly at that time but would move my schedule around to accommodate the meeting. My boss, who is Japanese but based in Los Angeles, responded that he too practices guitar daily at that time and that we should have a jam session during our meeting. I thought it was an interesting coincidence that we both practice guitar at the same time daily.

The meeting organizer thanked us for adjusting our schedules so we could join the very important meeting. My boss responded by telling him to bring drums. I thought that was a great response and it got me thinking. 

Guitar players can be kind of eccentric with their long hair and wearing sunglasses even in dark rooms. I should show up for the meeting dressed like a rock star and get a few laughs before the meeting started. So my wife went and found a long-haired wig that I use for Halloween and I found a pair of cheap wayfarer sunglasses. Then I threw on a dress shirt over my Snowbird t-shirt but left it unbuttoned. Finally I set my guitar on my lap and joined the meeting.

My boss and the meeting organizer had already arrived when I logged on but didn't have their cameras turned on. They greeted me with silence and then my boss realized why I wore my costume and immediately grabbed his guitar to join me while we waited for about a half-dozen others to join. Everybody laughed and thought it funny. I pulled off the wig and sunglasses before buttoning up my shirt and we started the meeting. My boss tried to get serious and began talking but had trouble keeping a straight face for a solid 5 minutes.

At the end of the meeting we got a lot accomplished but we also had a good laugh that everyone commented on before closing. I figure if we are going to have a late meeting, we should at least have some fun. All attendees agreed.

Feeling a Bit Under the Weather

Saturday I started developing a slight cough. It is now Wednesday and I am feeling a bit under the weather. It could be that I keep waking up early and heading to Alta where I spend an hour hiking up the mountain and skiing down. That probably won't help me feel better but I do admit that I feel rather good even during the hike up. Unfortunately my cough has gotten worse.

I have gotten to the point where if I had to go into an office, I would probably opt to work from home so as not to spread my germs and get anyone else sick. I only wish that whomever gave me the cough had done the same. I have a sneaky suspicion though that it came from a family member as I don't really interact with anyone else.

Fortunately the world of COVID made it possible for me to work from home on a regular basis. It is normal to attend meetings using Zoom, WebEx, or Microsoft Teams. Now we just need to take advantage of the technology and not go into work when we are sick. I know that isn't possible for every job but if you can use it, then please do.

Another Hiccup with Apple's MacOS Big Sur

A week or so ago, I posted about an issue I have with Apple's update to Mac OS X with Big Sur. Today I ran into another issue that caused a problem. I will admit it is a small problem but one I am sure others may have. In my case, it arose because of a seldom used piece of software.

This all came about because of a problem with Microsoft Teams on the Mac. You used to be able to share your system audio on a video conference call and then the feature disappeared. It still exists on the Windows version and so I thought I might try using Windows running within VirtualBox on my Mac. It is something I set up a few months ago but never really use and so I tried firing it up. I was immediately halted by an error.

The first message I got told me to update to a later version of VirtualBox and so I installed the newer version. That didn't help as the error persisted and so I did a quick Internet search. I copied the entire error into my usual search engine needed to update a preference to allow VirtualBox to run. No it didn't take a lot of effort but annoyed me anyways. It doesn't take too many annoyances to really start hating a product.

With the problem fixed, I started VirtualBox and then loaded my Windows 10 virtual machine. Unfortunately I ran into a completely set of new problems related to Windows and so I will save that for another posting. Ultimately I discovered that I need to be careful before upgrading my computer to the next major version of Apple's new operating system. I won't know how much work it will take to fix little issues like this.

Video Conferencing Suggestions

I am finishing up my sixth month of working from home and last night found myself trying to decide between 2 different video conference calls. Actually there was a third one I could also have attended but opted not to long before last night. Video conference calls are not just for work either. One of the calls I didn't bother attending was for a personal hobby. I know that families are also holding them in place of getting together and risking the spread of COVID-19.

In the first few weeks of working from home, people tried to continue holding meetings as usual. It didn't take long for insightful organizations to realize one or two changes needed to be made. My company put out some specific guidelines for video conferencing and I think many of them are worth sharing.

One of the benefits of face-to-face meetings is that you get up from your desk and walk to a conference room. If you need to stop and use the restroom, you have the option. You also get a minor change of scenery. With video calls you can schedule them back-to-back all day long and never have to leave your desk. An early suggestion we received is to cut back on the length of meetings. Instead of a 30-minute meeting, make it 25. If it is usually an hour, make it 50 minutes. This will allow people time to gather thoughts between meetings, grab a drink or snack, and take a bio-break if needed. My personal preference is to start meetings on the hour or half-hour and end early. Starting 5 or 10 minutes late is a bit tougher for me as I find myself waiting at my desk for the appointed start time.

Another suggestion we received is to see if we can cut down on the number of meetings being held. Some days are so full of meetings that people don't have the chance to do actual real work. What I have done with my team is remove one of our daily stand-ups each week. For those that don't know, daily stand-ups are short meetings where the team quickly reviews progress of daily work. We have them Monday through Thursday but not on Friday. Should something come up and we need to cancel one of the meetings, we reserve Friday for a make-up, just in case.

Cutting down on the number of meetings also goes along with another suggestion: setting aside one day a week with no meetings, if possible. Unfortunately this is a tough one for some people. My boss has multiple meetings every day and so even though we don't have stand-ups on Friday, he still has meetings. I am one of the fortunate ones that has no meetings on Friday and so I don't have to worry about making sure I am at my desk during specific times throughout the day. I generally use this freedom to actually get stuff done. So far this morning I have taken care of a load of paperwork I haven't had time to get to during the week. I am also making sure to put together this posting during my lunch hour so it doesn't distract from the time I am at work.

There are many other suggestions ranging from what to wear (you don't have to wear pants as long as nobody can see your legs), how to make sure you pay attention (taking notes helps me), and always making sure you are muted unless speaking in the meeting. For those that find themselves attending way too many meetings, you can put together an avatar that will attend your meetings for you. It is a funny read and should put a smile on your face even if it does have one or two issues. Good luck with your next meeting.

What Will Work Look Like after COVID-19?

We had a group weekly meeting today at work and the question came about what the office environment will look like after COVID-19. A year ago I worked for a company that felt it important to show up at the office every day. My being able to work from home one day per week was considered a very special circumstance. Now that everyone is working from home, people are questioning the old corporate culture. Furthermore a lot of people are much more effective working from home.

Recently we hired a new project manager and while some of us are effectively working from home, on-boarding a new team member is less than ideal. It takes a lot more mentoring and hand holding to get the new person up to speed. So how will this effect work after COVID-19?

 The meeting at work today was held over Microsoft Teams, which is a relatively new video conferencing application. With the large number of people using the service, there is a lot of innovation happening with the tool. Furthermore there are a number of other similar services that are advancing at an equally rapid pace. Some of the new features being offered are making video conferencing a much more viable option as a replacement for in-person meetings. So how will this effect work after COVID-19?

My wife and I went for a walk this evening and the topic of our cancelled vacation came up. This led to the discussion of whether or not I will need to travel as much for work. I had one year where I went to Japan something like 7 times. We don't think it will be necessary to ever fly that much in the future but are not quite sure. Will other people want to be travelling as much as they have in?

Unfortunately I don't have any answers. I could make a prediction but will most likely be wrong. I would like to believe that I will be able to work from home most days of the week. That would really help me rack up the ski days in winter. I would like to believe that I will still get all of those wonderful trips to the exotic country of Japan. Unfortunately that doesn't work with the scenario of working from home more often. Ultimately the current work environment is evolving and we are not done yet. Hopefully we can all look forward to those changes. While many people are filing for unemployment, I sincerely hope there is a place for everyone and think there will be. Of all the things I want to be right about the last one is the most important.

Photo Editing with GIMP

Yesterday my youngest son and daughter-in-law dropped my granddaughter off so they could drive to Ohio in preparation for a move. I have always told my kids that they are welcome to leave their kids with us but to not be surprised if we take the kids to Disneyland. With COVID-19 that is impossible right now as the park is closed. I still wanted to send them a picture of us in Disneyland.

I searched through my phone and found a picture of the Millennium Falcon in Galaxy's Edge from our most recent trip back in September. Then I had my wife take a picture of me and my granddaughter at my work desk. The rest should be easy. Everyone always talks about Photoshop'ing people into pictures, so how hard can it be.

 My first idea was to use Microsoft Teams. I have been using it for a lot of my conference calls and rather than use my own office background, I have added a picture of the Snowbird tram to my Teams picture library. I figure I could add one of Disneyland, start up MS Teams, and take a screenshot. After playing for a bit, I decided that I didn't like my picture with my hands out reaching for the keyboard. Interestingly enough, my oldest daughter thought that I had used a Zoom background for the finished picture.

Instead I decided to try GIMP. I actually use GIMP quite frequently as it is a great little tool for editing photos and other computer graphics. Lately I have created a bunch of icons for a project at work with it. Unfortunately I have never used it to take a person (or two in this case) from one photo and add them to another. My first stop was YouTube. I watched the process where you add an alpha-channel to the photo with your people and then use the free-hand tool to trace them. Once you have them traced, you cut out the background. That looked really tough and so I searched for another video in case there is a trick to use. The second video showed multiple tricks. First, make the picture really large so you can see the fine edges. You can then drag the free-hand lines to fit the outline of the people better. The second video also suggested going in sections so you are pulling off a bit at a time.

I didn't really care that I did a great job creating the fake photo. In fact I wanted it to be fairly obvious that I had created the picture. Then I stumbled upon some more tricks that make my fake actually look pretty good. One is that I cut out my granddaughter and myself from a fairly large picture. Then I shrunk us down before pasting us into the Disneyland background. Shrinking the photo removed a lot of the imperfections from my cutting out the background. Then I only used a section of the picture above my waist so you couldn't tell I was sitting in my office chair. The finished photo actually turned out pretty good even though I didn't mean it to.

Once I finished the picture, I Air Dropped it to my phone and then texted it out to the family. My oldest daughter replied almost instantly with her suggestion on how I pulled off the faked picture. I got a few laughs from everyone.

Now that I know how to Photoshop someone into a picture, it is not that difficult. I'm sure there are a ton of tricks to make the photo turn out even much better than I did and I encourage you to do some Internet searching. I don't know how to make hair look more natural but figure it is just a matter of patience and choosing a picture with a well-combed head. Today my wife and I will be taking my granddaughter to Paris. Wanna come?