Ask HN: Are you using asynchronous video at work?

[albertkoz]

Hi,

Disclaimer - I am building https://birdslate.com - an asynchronous video communication for remote teams.

I've spent many years working in the videoconference space and this is my second startup in that domain. Now I am focusing all my effort on building an async video chat. I believe this is a form of communication that will sit somewhere between Zoom and Slack, yet it is not meant to replace either of them.

In recent years, I've noticed that people often switch from video calls to recorded videos (e.g. for standups). I wonder if any of you is already using video messages in an asynch way, and whether you see any downfalls to it. For me the biggest pro is not being tied to a schedule, yet having the ability to hear and see the other person. I don't see many cons, but then again, I am obviously biased.

I would appreciate any input on it.

[codingdave]

I know many people who despise video. Text is faster to read, avoids self-consciousness when taking video of yourself, and is easily searchable.

Sure, people always ask me to record videos of many meetings when discussing product features and decisions... which I do, and then post the videos on Confluence pages where I can track views. Nobody ever actually watches them.

[CinematicStudio → codingdave]

Agreed 100% - anything in text - you can easily search/index later

[superbcarrot]

Apart from recording group calls when some people can't attend (you can already do this with any video call software), I don't see a good use case for this. Video is strictly worse for async communication than text - it's more difficult to review, more difficult to extract the important points, it's much more awkward and time consuming to record yourself speaking than to write an email or a message.