Video calls of the future

Plus: Why you’re unproductive

 
Logitech has debuted a lounge-like videoconferencing alcove that it says may be the answer to our collective frustrations with awkward video calls, Jennifer A. Kingson reports.

Why it matters: In our “mixed reality” future, where we’re as likely to meet in person as we are on a screen, we’ll all crave more verisimilitude and human connection in our video meetings — and comfy new physical spaces could help.

Driving the news: Logitech’s “Project Ghost,” a telepresence booth that lets you chat virtually with a colleague — or boss, shrink, mentor or frenemy — is a prototype that’s meant to invite discussion of how we’ll work and interact in the future.

• Inside the booth is a 5′-by-8′ piece of furniture with a loveseat that faces a large screen.
• What you see of your conversational partner is a life-size head and shoulders image against a black background. (See a video demo here.)
• It’s meant to eliminate the weird camera angles, lack of eye contact, hinky bits of glare, and cringey backgrounds that so many of us grapple with during typical video calls.

How it works: Touch a button to start a Project Ghost meeting, and step into the booth to converse in a semi-private way.

• Project Ghost is compatible with Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet.
• It’s named for a parlor trick called Pepper’s Ghostin which angled glass or a mirror creates a hologram-style illusion.
• Logitech’s partner is Steelcase, an office furniture company that aimed for homey touches — like a houseplant in the booth and a sofa that might work in your living room.

Zoom out: The product — which isn’t shipping yet and doesn’t have a price — is an alternative to Google’s Project Starline, a competing system that’s also meant to make video calls more intimate (and that isn’t on the market either).

• A real-world competitor might be Cisco TelePresence, an immersive videoconferencing system that’s less portable and intimate — and more corporate-looking — than the Google and Logitech projects.

Where it stands: Logitech took the wraps off Project Ghost in January and is soliciting feedback on the prototype, with hopes of starting to ship this fall.

• “This is extremely un-tech,” Alex Mooney, manager of partnerships at Logitech, tells Axios. “We want to solve for the human connection.”
• Inside, the Project Ghost experience “suspends your depth perception,” he said. “What you’re trying to do is eliminate as many distractions as possible.”
• It’s envisioned not only as a workplace tool, but also for telehealth and education.

Yes, but: It’s a big contraption that would take up a lot of real estate in an office, let alone someone’s home.

• Some of the magic is lost if one of the parties is dialing in from a boring old laptop. “You probably get the best experience Ghost-to-Ghost,” Mooney acknowledged.
• Plus, the openness of the alcove means you might not want to spill your guts during a Project Ghost chitchat — which, TBH, looks kind of like the place you’re summoned when you’re about to get a pink slip.

The bottom line: In the hybrid work era, employers need to design office spaces that lure workers in — to “earn the commute,” as Ron Martere, a vice president of Steelcase, put it.

• “What we’re talking about more lately is design for well-being,” Martere tells Axios.

 
-Why you’re unproductive

The day is over and you probably feel like you got what, one or two actual things done? So what’ve you been doing?

Why it matters: Most of us are getting more and more bogged down by the ancillary stuff required to do our jobs, and that can shrink the time we have to get real work done, increasing the risk of burnout.

That’s one takeaway from a Microsoft study published today.

State of play: The company found that within its Microsoft 365 applications, people spend 57% of their time communicating in meetings, email and chat.

The big picture: “Over the course of the last three years, communication, collaboration and coordination [have] become a bigger part of our jobs,” Jared Spataro, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of modern work and business applications, tells Axios.

And “a lack of focus time, the search for information, and the volume of constant communications have an opportunity cost,” the report concludes.

By the numbers: 68% of people surveyed say they don’t have enough uninterrupted focus time.

64% say they struggle with having the time and energy to do their job — and those people are 3.5 times more likely to also struggle with innovation and strategic thinking, according to the report.

Most leaders surveyed (60%) say they’re already feeling the effects, noting that a lack of innovation or breakthrough ideas on their teams is a concern.

The intrigue: While some might assume that people want to dump the extra communication, workers told Microsoft that their “output is better” when they collaborate, Spataro says.

“It’s just that if [workers are] not careful, it takes over everything else.”

What to watch: As more companies institute return-to-office policies, in-person distractions and stress will return as well.