[geuis]

I'll just be honest. One on ones suck. We all mostly have to do it year after year with managers and it's a huge uncomfortable waste of time.

Having to talk to some random person is even more awkward and a waste of time.

Make it useful and group up 3-4 randos at a time. The best conversations happen in small groups.

[dewey]

The problem there isn't the tool ("one on one") but the surrounding process in your organization from what it sounds like.

In my experience, having a weekly 1:1 with your manager works really well. If that's a frequent and regular occurrence, there's nothing uncomfortable about it.

It's a weekly block of time where you can discuss the priorities, give feedback, talk about things outside of work or start salary negotiations or role changes. If there's a week where there's nothing new it'll just be 5 minutes long, but having a regular no-pressure event is a lot less stressful than having a scheduled 1:1 come out of nowhere or once or twice a year.

[geuis]

You completely missed my point. I'm not talking about managers, I'm talking about how fucking awkward it is to talk to people. We're mostly all a bunch of nerds. Lots of common ground, below average social skills. (I'm intentionally being facetious here.)

Small groups of 3-4 people with similar interests are WAY easier to feel comfortable in and get interesting conversations going.

[dewey]

Even for "nerds" there are usually people where they don't feel awkward about talking to them (Friends, family, online regulars,...). My point is that by not making a 1:1 a big event but rather a regular occurrence it'll be just become part of a regular week, and not a big event or something to feel awkward about.

This is very different to meeting an online stranger you have never interacted with every week.

[throwaway4aday]

> This is very different to meeting an online stranger you have never interacted with every week.

Isn't that what's happening in this app? From the landing page:

> Every week, you are matched with another dev automatically for a 1 on 1 call.

So it's going to super awkward for people that don't like cold starts with strangers. I agree with the other commenter but I've also seen responses in other comments that say some people prefer 1-on-1s to groups so I say, why not both? Just have a preference that says if you want to do 1-on-1 or a small group and let people choose. That way if you change your mind or want to try out the other type you can switch.