Thanks for the detail and for the super helpful actionable advice! I'll give that a try. How would you go about asking the team why they keep their video off? Should I ask during standup, in Slack?
I would start by asking your team lead or manager why the team doesn't use video (particularly for longer meetings like sprint planning), as they may have more context. I expect the daily standup aims to be a fast and efficient status update without the distraction of folks getting their video sorted. There is probably a more appropriate team meeting for discussions, but if you don't have a suitable regular team meeting then discussing in a team Slack channel would be better than sidetracking the standup.
If you want to make the suggestion of adding video to a meeting, think about what the benefits might be for your team and whether there may be more suitable occasions to do so (eg sprint planning or a meeting later in the day). If your coworkers understand more of the Why behind your request they will hopefully be more willing to give this a try. They may also have valid reasons for not wanting to use video too often (camera shy, limited bandwidth, messy workspace, meeting is too early/late in their day, etc).
Another idea that might have less resistance versus changing an existing meeting would be to try starting something new (and optional), like a Tech Talk series. We have occasional internal Tech Talks, where the goal is short technical presentations or discussions (about half an hour) over one of our lunch breaks. Sometimes there are visiting presenters from other offices or companies. These sessions are great if you want to learn more about job-relevant tech that someone is learning, using, or building.
If your goals include fostering more social interaction and connection with the team, you could also try suggesting a format that more directly achieves that. For example, we started a Share & Learn series where anything is on-topic except work. The concept is to facilitate directed discussion about a personal passion topic. We plan for an hour (usually at the end of the day, once a month) with up to 3 speakers and around 15 minutes per speaker plus questions (delivery format up to the speaker). This has resulted in some great talks/demos/discussions which helped us learn more about our coworkers (and beekeeping, craft beer, technical interviews, video game mods, DNS, knots, ballet, ...). We also open those up to everyone in the office and encourage everyone to participate (irrespective of their department/org).
Some companies or teams may not be open to these sort of ideas, but circling back to your original question about trying to evaluate company culture before you accept a job... you can ask about these aspects in interviews as well. What does your team do to keep up with new tech? What regular social or tech sessions does the team have? Is there a budget for team lunches or social activities and how often do these happen?
Thanks for all the great detail, it's really useful! I appreciate the time you took to share and I feel inspired and more prepared to try some new things out!
Not judging, but they might have their video off because they are in their pyjamas, laying on the bed, they might be doing something else until it's their time to speak.
If you want to make the suggestion of adding video to a meeting, think about what the benefits might be for your team and whether there may be more suitable occasions to do so (eg sprint planning or a meeting later in the day). If your coworkers understand more of the Why behind your request they will hopefully be more willing to give this a try. They may also have valid reasons for not wanting to use video too often (camera shy, limited bandwidth, messy workspace, meeting is too early/late in their day, etc).
Another idea that might have less resistance versus changing an existing meeting would be to try starting something new (and optional), like a Tech Talk series. We have occasional internal Tech Talks, where the goal is short technical presentations or discussions (about half an hour) over one of our lunch breaks. Sometimes there are visiting presenters from other offices or companies. These sessions are great if you want to learn more about job-relevant tech that someone is learning, using, or building.
If your goals include fostering more social interaction and connection with the team, you could also try suggesting a format that more directly achieves that. For example, we started a Share & Learn series where anything is on-topic except work. The concept is to facilitate directed discussion about a personal passion topic. We plan for an hour (usually at the end of the day, once a month) with up to 3 speakers and around 15 minutes per speaker plus questions (delivery format up to the speaker). This has resulted in some great talks/demos/discussions which helped us learn more about our coworkers (and beekeeping, craft beer, technical interviews, video game mods, DNS, knots, ballet, ...). We also open those up to everyone in the office and encourage everyone to participate (irrespective of their department/org).
Some companies or teams may not be open to these sort of ideas, but circling back to your original question about trying to evaluate company culture before you accept a job... you can ask about these aspects in interviews as well. What does your team do to keep up with new tech? What regular social or tech sessions does the team have? Is there a budget for team lunches or social activities and how often do these happen?