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When working from home became our new normal
Stunned by the sudden twist of all our fates, we hurriedly built our home-office utopias.
Hastily cleared dining tables became desks while playrooms made way for printers. We pushed aside laundry and brooms, boxes and toys to stake our office claim while the universe shrank to the four walls of our apartment, and we left our old lives behind.
We realised we’re quite happy working in our slippers. We love spending more time with the kids (when they’re not photobombing Zoom) and enjoy leisurely breakfasts with our partner (who built their tiny office utopia in the opposite corner).
Photo by Ketut Subiyanto from Pexels
We take our laptop into the garden and work among the songbirds. Late nights at the office don’t seem so bad when the desk is in the kitchen.
And when we emerge from the other side of COVID—when lockdowns and social distancing are memories of a strange dystopian past—many of us will elect to stay at home.
So how do we connect?
Of course, there are myriad ways to connect. There are the usual suspects—Zoom, FaceTime, Skype—and day and night, we’re bombarded with texts, emails, and alerts.
The phone rings constantly.
Social media is a distraction beyond compare, but we love it because we keep in touch with our friends and families. Or so we tell ourselves as we lie in bed scrolling endlessly through the comments late into the night.
But these modes are hurried, frenetic—we are harassed and annoyed, and they encroach upon our precious time.
Photo by Compare Fibre on Unsplash
We join bleary-eyed Zoom meetings at midnight. Unread emails multiply like rabbits, and we open our inbox with dread. Texts are ambiguous—who can decipher the tone and emotion in LMKHTWOFY? And we’ve all been flummoxed by an unreplied-to WhatsApp message (we can see you’ve read it, you know).
And prerecorded video? How often do you watch a video and wish you could interject . . . ask a question . . . refute, rebut, disprove, deny? How many times have you hit the 10-second rewind to catch an inaudible mumble?
It’s like shouting at the telly—there ain’t nobody listening.
Okay, so how do we MINDFULLY connect?
What if you could slow it all down?
What if you could join that meeting when the time suited you? What if you could stop that video and throw in your two cents’ worth? What if your entire team could join the conversation—despite location and time zone—to brainstorm and pepper this asynchronous video with grand ideas and novel solutions?
timz.flowers is a powerful new app that can do just that, and it is changing the face of asynchronous video messaging. One-way, linear video is old news. You no longer have to be passive, eyes glazed, staring silently at the screen, trying to absorb a message with no chance to add your voice.
This is a revolutionary, organic, full-participation, hybrid approach to asynchronous video communication.
The timz.flowers organic interface
What does that mean exactly?
Participants record their video messages, nothing new there. What makes timz.flowers unique is that you post your message during your colleague’s message. You can choose any point in their clip to add your own post—just as you would interject in a two-way conversation. Other attendees add their messages at pertinent points along video timelines, and the discussion grows. As the input expands, the conversation blooms.
This creates an interactive asynchronous discussion that is sympathetic to any time zone.
Wake up, make a coffee, add your message in timz.flowers. Spend the day researching, respond to your colleagues’ comment. Struck by a 2 a.m. revelation? Record your post.
You can add music or link to websites, case studies, and Google Docs. And, unlike a live Zoom meeting, everything is recorded and saved, so you can travel back in time and dive into the conversation again, whenever and wherever you like.
Mindfully maximising connection
The meeting progresses at a pace to suit every participant. The process allows time to breathe, gather your thoughts, research your topic. Rest when you need to; talk when you want to. Each member has an equal platform and opportunity to make their voice heard, and the app’s interactive nature and playful interface generates much-valued connection.
It’s the perfect compromise—collaboration and connection from our home-office utopias, wherever they may be—but on our terms.
