Visual Studio is an IDE (Integrated Development Environment) created by Microsoft that is used to develop all kind of applications including Desktop, Web and Mobile. We also have a light IDE called Visual Studio Code: on one hand, it is limited, but on the other hand it is really flexible and extensible. Both IDEs support this feature called Live Share, which is integrated in the regular version and works as an extension in Visual Studio Code. With Live Share, you can work on the same project at the same time with your colleagues. This is not just limited to coding on the same page, but also includes debugging together, sharing terminal (command line) and servers (localhost).  In the last Microsoft Build event (link to previous blog post) a new feature was announced: audio calls.  

Currently, the most used practice in companies outside of this new feature is to share your screen in a voice call, which works well for certain onboarding processes like showing how work is organised. However, it is not interactive since there is just one person in charge of making changes in the projects and, therefore, less suitable for getting a new team member involved in a new codebase. With Visual Studio Live Share, all of the attendees are able to modify the documents. Moreover, if you don’t have Visual Studio installed, you can still share your session since it is compatible with Visual Studio Codespaces, which works in the Azure cloud and can be used from the browser. 

Do you have a new mate in your company? You can work together for the first week, it a very effective way to show how your work is and also, introduce yourself since you can do audio calls now. 

As a new member in a team, you have a lot of questions. However, it can feel awkward to approach different people through a digital platform to ask those questions. What can help in this situation is to assign a buddy, someone who has been asked to reserve time to answer all the questions of the new team member and who can guide them through the ways of working. The buddy can also have virtual lunch with them to get to know them more on a personal level. 

While the company should provide a statement with the goals and vision of the company, a buddy can talk about the company from their own perspective, providing much more insights and body to the words expressed on paper.  

A buddy can be chosen from different perspectives: you can choose a buddy based on work-tasks or based on personal interests. For example, a direct colleague working on similar tasks can be assigned, since they can really show the ins and outs of the work that needs to be done and they can provide the proper guidance for any work-related issues. However, you can also choose to assign a buddy based on personal interests, with whom they can really express any personal concerns and with whom they feel comfortable having open conversations about the company, or personal matters. If possible, you can also assign two buddies: one as an expert for anything work-related, and another buddy who is there for general discussions. 

Colleagues are everything: they form a large part of the culture of the company and influence your work experience. However, as you might have noticed while working remotely, meeting people online is different from meeting them in person. Calling them specifically without having a direct question or problem can sometimes even feel awkward. Nonetheless, ensuring the new colleague meets their direct coworkers on a personal level is extremely crucial for a good onboarding process. This lowers the barrier for the new colleague to get in touch with teammates later to ask for help, guidance or to collaborate, which directly influences productivity, effectiveness and happiness.  

In the current state of the art, there are already plenty of tools that can help your team get closer, for example by encouraging virtual meetings to drink a cup of coffee. Within Xablu, we use Slack on a daily basis and we have integrated a plugin called Donut. Every week, our colleagues get matched up and challenged to drink a cup of coffee together, eat lunch together or just call each other to catch up. Even after the onboarding period has shifted into everyday work, connecting with colleagues on a personal level is still something that requires attention.