Do you ever replay work interactions and wonder if they should have gone differently?


 

Each episode, two debaters share what they’ve found in research and with conversations with real people behind ways of working today.

Join host, Christine Dela Rosa, and a team of debaters – Maren Hotvedt, Deb Lao, Marshall Walker Lee, Eli Mishkin, Rani Shah, David Shaw, Dominique Ward, Shannon Winter, and Kelvin Yap – to challenge the status quo on the ways you think about or show up for work.

Episode listings

Ever been to a cringey Zoom social hour at work, playing online trivia or doing awkward icebreakers with your colleagues? Sometimes virtual socializing at work is great. And sometimes... it feels like a waste of time. But in workplaces where IRL hangs aren’t possible, should we really skip socializing altogether?

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Does your calendar look like a game of Tetris, meetings on top of meetings from Monday to Friday? Or do you cringe when someone pops a meeting invite into the middle of your deep work afternoon? How would you feel if you had a whole day of your schedule totally cleared of meetings?

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Are your work chats filled with emojis? Or are they all text, all-the-time? In this episode, we debate if emojis belong in workplace communication at all.

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Maybe you call it a daily standup. Maybe it’s a daily huddle, or even a status meeting. But has your team stopped to ask if these daily meetings are really working for them?

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Are you the type to send Slack messages around the clock? Or are you more likely to close your laptop for the day at 5 o'clock sharp? Today’s episode is all about setting boundaries with workplace communications — and it’s more complicated than you might think. 

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Does turning your camera on during video meetings fill you with dread? Or do you look forward to seeing your colleagues' faces on calls? Today, we debate whether teams should default to having cameras on or off in virtual meetings. Get ready to dig into the surprising impacts that cameras can have on creativity, engagement, and even career advancement.

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Season three of Work Check is on its way! This season is all about debating the way your remote or hybrid team is collaborating, with questions about the best ways to Zoom, ping, Slack, and DM your teammates.

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Do you dream of a four-day workweek? Fantasize on Friday afternoons about the luxury of a three-day weekend? Today’s debate digs into the potentials and pitfalls of the schedule that’s been generating buzz around the world, and asks – is the grass really greener? 

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To wrap up season two of Work Check, we’re bringing in a special guest judge: Atlassian’s co-founder and co-CEO Scott Farquhar. Debaters Maren Hotvedt, Kelvin Yap, and Eli Mishkin join host Christine Dela Rosa to hear Scott’s takes and reflect on the season’s debates.

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Every team needs a chat tool – but it’s not easy to know who should be looped into different conversations, or how open team communication should be. We all know the feeling of being inundated with messages in shared channels, and we’ve also been that person left out of a decision that happened in direct messages. So today, we’re debating the merits and pitfalls of open channel communication. 

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The role of the manager has evolved dramatically since the days of barking orders and closed doors. But with modern managers being tasked with managing productivity, morale, and development… are we asking too much? Today’s debate digs into how responsible managers should be for the emotional wellbeing of their team members.

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Do you add your work friends on Facebook? Tweet at your teammates? Instagram DM other individual contributors? Turns out, most of us do … but should we? In today’s debate, we hear the promise and perils of connecting with colleagues on social media.

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If a coworker had feedback for you, would you rather they say it to your face, or do you prefer to receive it anonymously? Today’s debate challenges you to think again about the best way to critique your colleagues. 

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Have you worn PJs to a Zoom call? Now what about on the bottom half of you, that’s outside the video frame? Today’s debate might make you think a little more deeply about what you’re wearing to WFH, how it’s affecting your performance, and what the history of dress codes can tell us about where workwear is going next.

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Work Check is back for another season of debates, aimed to get you questioning the ways you’re working today. Join Christine Dela Rosa and a team of debaters as they dig into questions about how we collaborate, communicate, or even dress for work.

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Operating rhythms - the reoccurring processes you do with your team, like daily stand-ups or project retros – are a proven way to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of your team. But can they also help scale your company culture?

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A lot of people think of annual planning as a necessary evil. But, after the past few years of unpredictability and torn-up plans... is it still serving its purpose? Alternative planning methods are out there, but are they really any better?

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So many companies are reworking their relationship with diversity, equity, and inclusion actions this year, as they should. But for affinity groups within companies, like ERGs or BRGs, developed to support underrepresented groups – what is the best role for leadership to play?

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The offsite is a staple – for individual teams, departments, or even entire companies. A chance for everyone to get OOO, bond, and get some deep work done. But today, as more and more teams are moving to hybrid or remote working, are offsites necessary? Find out if your distributed team really needs to meet IRL.

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“Agile” is one of the buzziest workplace practices today - all about moving fast and breaking things, and iterating to perfection. The practice has picked up fans and detractors, as more and more companies have left waterfall methodologies in their wake. But is agile the way to go for all teams, and can it actually scale?

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Meet the debate team

Join host Christine Dela Rosa and two Atlassian debaters to explore the impact our day-to-day interactions have on teamwork.

Christine Dela Rosa | HOST

Christine Dela Rosa | HOST
Principal Strategist, Ways of Working

“Each of us has a unique set of lived experiences. So I like to think that all conversations are hot-takes.”

Maren Hodvedt

Maren Hodvedt
Lead UX Designer, Migrations

“If you want to be right, start by proving yourself wrong.”

Deb Lao

Deb Lao
Lead Designer, Brand

“Look Mom, I’m kinda sorta a lawyer!”

Marshall Walker Lee

Marshall Walker Lee
Product & Content Strategy Lead

“He may have lacked Tony the Tiger’s rhetorical flair, but Toucan Sam was the more effective debater—IMHO.”

Eli Mishkin

Eli Mishkin
Jira Brand Lead

“The more you explain it, the more I don’t understand it.” – Mark Twain

Rani Shah

Rani Shah
Brand Marketing Manager, Trello

“I’m here because I thought the meeting was about rebates.”

David Shaw

David Shaw
Senior Software Engineer

“I came here to find out how wrong I am.”

Dominique Ward

Dominique Ward
Head of Design Ops

“Constantly questioning the thing-in-itself.”

Shannon Winter

Shannon Winter
Corporate Brand Lead

“I learned everything I need to know from Cher’s iconic ‘RSVP’ debate speech in Clueless.”

Kelvin Yap

Kelvin Yap
Senior Product Marketing Manager for DevOps

“A hotdog is a sandwich.”