[codingdave]

My team has been remote for years, and it never stopped us from having spontaneous conversations. We have Slack channels set up specifically for that purpose, where many people say hi each morning, and throw in their thoughts. We'll do occasional calls with everyone as well, just to catch up.

The barrier to this isn't lack of an app - it is just developing the habit of reaching out and saying "Hi."

[happycipher]

Hey thanks for the answer!

Just out of curiosity, how did your team work to develop that habit when starting out? Is there anything in particular you did to hit that critical mass? I find it can be difficult at times to build that up.

[codingdave]

The culture was already there when I joined the team, 8 years ago - but for me, it started with the on-boarding process when someone new was hired. They were introduced via email to everyone, including a short bio. Everyone else responded in kind, so your first week was already a lot of informal conversations getting to know everyone. Then it just continued - we'd all help new folks get up to speed, ask them how things were going... it felt natural from day one.