This or That Questions for Work, Meetings and Team Building

Work-appropriate pairs for a daily Slack or Teams post or a meeting warm-up.

Random this or that picker

Work
Standing deskorSitting desk
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No politics, money, health or dating.

Jump to a section (14)
  1. Office life: this or that work edition
  2. This or that work questions about habits and productivity
  3. Meetings, email and chat
  4. Food, coffee and breaks
  5. Remote and hybrid work
  6. This or that icebreaker questions for work
  7. Funny this or that questions for work
  8. Silly this or that questions for work
  9. Question of the week for work: this or that pairs with more to say
  10. How to run a this or that question of the day for work
  11. How to run this or that poll questions for work in Slack or Teams
  12. This or that team building activity: pick a side of the room
  13. Rules for work appropriate this or that questions
  14. Frequently asked questions

Office life: this or that work edition

These office this or that questions cover desks, coffee and the small habits every workplace argues about. Use them for a this or that office edition of your team newsletter.

  1. Standing deskorSitting desk?
  2. Window deskorDesk near the kitchen?
  3. Open officeorPrivate office?
  4. Coffee from homeorOffice coffee?
  5. Desk plantorDesk photo?
  6. Corner deskorMiddle of the room?
  7. No-meeting MondayorNo-meeting Friday?
  8. Label makerorSticky notes?
  9. Headphones onorOffice chatter?
  10. Clean deskorOrganized chaos?
  11. Cold officeorWarm office?
  12. Three long weekendsorOne full week off?
  13. Casual FridayorCasual every day?
  14. Office dogorOffice cat?
  15. Desk by the printerorDesk by the fridge?
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This or that work questions about habits and productivity

Habit pairs tell you how coworkers like to work, which helps when you plan a project together.

  1. Early startorLate finish?
  2. To-do listorCalendar blocks?
  3. Inbox zeroorThousands unread?
  4. Paper notebookorNotes app?
  5. One big monitororTwo monitors?
  6. MouseorTrackpad?
  7. Deadline rushorDone a week early?
  8. MultitaskorOne thing at a time?
  9. Work in silenceorWork with music?
  10. One big projectorMany small tasks?
  11. Plan the week on MondayorPlan it on Friday?
  12. Ask for helporFigure it out alone?
  13. Gel penorBallpoint pen?
  14. SpreadsheetsorSlide decks?
  15. Keyboard shortcutsorRight-click menus?

Meetings, email and chat

  1. EmailorQuick call?
  2. Chat messageorWalk over to their desk?
  3. Cameras onorCameras off?
  4. Strict agendaorOpen discussion?
  5. 15-minute meetingorEmail instead?
  6. Emoji reactionsorTyped replies?
  7. GIF repliesorPlain text?
  8. Voice memoorLong message?
  9. Present to the teamorTake the notes?
  10. Thumbs uporCheckmark emoji?
  11. Reply allorReply to sender?
  12. WhiteboardorShared doc?

Food, coffee and breaks

Keep your question of the day for work fun. This or that pairs about snacks get replies from people who never post in the team channel.

  1. Office donutsorOffice bagels?
  2. Lunch at your deskorLunch out?
  3. Team pizzaorTeam tacos?
  4. Free snacksorFree coffee?
  5. Afternoon coffeeorAfternoon walk?
  6. LeftoversorSandwich?
  7. Birthday cakeorBirthday cookies?
  8. PotluckorCatered lunch?
  9. Sparkling waterorStill water?
  10. Energy drinkorEspresso?
  11. Long lunchorLeave early?
  12. Break room chatorQuiet break?

Remote and hybrid work

  1. Work from homeorWork from the office?
  2. CouchorKitchen table?
  3. SlippersorSocks?
  4. Pet on your laporPet in another room?
  5. Virtual backgroundorReal background?
  6. Hybrid weekorFully remote?
  7. Coffee shoporHome desk?
  8. Commute podcastorCommute music?
  9. Mute by defaultorUnmute by default?
  10. Lunch walkorLunch nap?

This or that icebreaker questions for work

These this or that questions for coworkers stay away from work tasks. New team members learn who likes hiking, who cooks and who plans every trip.

Use them as this or that questions for team building in a first meeting with a new hire. They also work as this or that team building questions at an offsite.

  1. Beach vacationorCity vacation?
  2. Morning personorNight person?
  3. BooksorPodcasts?
  4. Cook dinnerorOrder in?
  5. Watch the gameorPlay the game?
  6. Busy weekendorWeekend with no plans?
  7. Escape roomorBowling night?
  8. MuseumorTheme park?
  9. Gym before workorGym after work?
  10. HikingorBiking?
  11. True crimeorSitcom reruns?
  12. Host the partyorBe a guest?
  13. Plan the triporWing it?
  14. Sweet breakfastorSavory breakfast?
  15. KaraokeorTrivia night?

Funny this or that questions for work

Pick one as your work question of the day. Funny this or that pairs land best when they poke fun at office life, not at a person. Funny work this or that questions never single anyone out. These this or that funny questions for work make everyone pick between two small disasters.

  1. Reply-all mistakeorMessage in the wrong chat?
  2. Snore in a meetingorLaugh at the wrong moment?
  3. Share a screen with 40 tabsorShare a screen with your shopping cart?
  4. Printer jam every dayorWi-Fi drop every day?
  5. Coworker who humsorCoworker who taps pens?
  6. Meeting runs longorMeeting gets moved 5 times?
  7. Squeaky chairorWobbly desk?
  8. Forget your chargerorForget your lunch?
  9. Call your manager MomorWave goodbye on a voice call?
  10. Type in all caps for a dayorOnly emojis for a day?
  11. Selfie in the team chatorMeme sent to your boss?
  12. Camera stuck onorMic stuck on?
  13. Unlimited coffeeorUnlimited snacks?
  14. Autocorrect on every emailorNo spellcheck ever?
  15. Elevator small talkorSilent elevator ride?

Silly this or that questions for work

Question of the day for work: funny this or that pairs like these work best on a Friday. Nobody has to give a serious answer.

  1. Office slideorOffice ball pit?
  2. Nap podorMassage chair?
  3. Robot assistantorPersonal chef?
  4. Teleport to workorWork from anywhere?
  5. Office llamaorOffice parrot?
  6. Theme song when you walk inorApplause when you log off?
  7. Meetings as musicalsorMeetings in rhyme?
  8. Pirate DayorPajama Day?
  9. Office talent showorOffice bake-off?
  10. Desk in a treehouseorDesk on a boat?
  11. Laptop never diesorWi-Fi never drops?
  12. Pause buttonorRewind button?

Question of the week for work: this or that pairs with more to say

Run a question of the week for work. Funny this or that pairs get quick votes, but these career pairs give people a week to share a story.

  1. Big companyorStartup?
  2. Lead a teamorBe the expert?
  3. Learn a new skillorMaster one skill?
  4. Have a mentororBe a mentor?
  5. Same job for 10 yearsorNew job every 3 years?
  6. Extra week offorFour-day week?
  7. Public praiseorPrivate thank-you?
  8. Work abroad for a yearorWork anywhere at home?
  9. Redo your first joborTry a dream job for a week?
  10. Team projectorSolo project?

How to run a this or that question of the day for work

  1. Pick one channel for it, such as #random or #watercooler, and post at the same time each day.
  2. Post one this or that question for work each morning. Write it as "Desk plant or Desk photo?" with nothing else.
  3. Pin your office questions of the day. This or that results from last week give people something to scroll back to.
  4. Add your own answer first. A manager who answers first tells the team it is safe to join in.
  5. Rotate topics through the week: food on Monday, habits on Tuesday, silly pairs on Friday.
  6. Keep a list of 30 pairs so a busy week never breaks the streak. The random picker at /this-or-that-generator fills gaps.

How to run this or that poll questions for work in Slack or Teams

  1. Write the pair as one line: "Office donuts or Office bagels?"
  2. In Slack, ask people to react with one emoji for each side, for example a donut and a bagel. Poll apps from the Slack app directory also work.
  3. In Microsoft Teams, use the Polls app (built on Microsoft Forms) to create a two-option poll in the chat.
  4. Leave the poll open for one workday, then post the result with a one-line comment.
  5. Ask one person from the losing side to defend their pick. That reply usually starts the thread.

This or that team building activity: pick a side of the room

This version gets people moving, which helps at offsites and all-hands meetings with 10 to 40 people.

  1. Clear a space and mark two sides of the room, left and right.
  2. Read a pair aloud. Left means the first option, right means the second.
  3. Give everyone five seconds to walk to a side.
  4. Ask one person on each side for a one-sentence reason.
  5. Play 10 to 15 rounds. Start with easy pairs and save the question of the week pairs for the end.
  6. For remote teams, swap walking for a hand raise or a chat reply of "1" or "2".

Rules for work appropriate this or that questions

  • Skip politics, religion, salary, health, dating and alcohol. People should never feel they have to explain a personal choice.
  • Avoid pairs where one side reads as a bad worker, such as "Work hard or Hardly work?". Someone will feel judged.
  • Every pair here passes three tests for this or that questions: funny, work-appropriate and quick to answer.
  • Keep each side to 1 to 4 words. Fun this or that questions for work get answered from a phone between meetings.
  • Let people pass. A quiet coworker can still enjoy reading the replies.
  • Keep this or that questions for workplace channels in one thread so the main channel stays clear for work.

Frequently asked questions

What are good this or that questions for work?

This or that questions for work are quick two-choice prompts that coworkers answer in a few seconds. Good this or that questions for work use two everyday options with no wrong answer, such as Standing desk or Sitting desk, Email or Quick call, and Office donuts or Office bagels. The best this or that questions for work take seconds to answer and never make someone reveal money, health or politics.

A funny question of the day for work is something like "Snore in a meeting or Laugh at the wrong moment?". It pokes fun at office life without targeting anyone. Post it in the morning and add your own answer so others feel free to join.

Aim the joke at shared office problems, such as printer jams, reply-all mistakes and long meetings. Never aim it at a person, a body, a culture or a job role. If a pair would embarrass the least confident person on the team, swap it.

Use the funny and silly sections above. Pairs like "Office slide or Office ball pit?" and "Camera stuck on or Mic stuck on?" get a laugh in a meeting. Read two or three at the start and ask for one-word answers.

Keep both options about the situation, not about people. "Coworker who hums or Coworker who taps pens?" works when no one on the team hums. If it points at one person, cut it. This or that questions for adults at work should feel like a joke everyone is in on.

Two small disasters that everyone has lived through make this or that office questions funny. Awkward pairs single out one group or one person. Test a pair by asking whether your newest coworker could answer it out loud without explaining anything.

Plan about 20 fun questions of the day for a month of workdays. Write them all at once and schedule them. Mix topics so the work question of the day this or that thread does not feel repetitive.

Yes, for busy teams. A this or that question needs a one-word reply, so more people answer. Open questions like "What did you do this weekend?" get longer answers from fewer people. Use this or that daily and an open question weekly.

A fun pair offers two options that both tempt people, like Pirate Day or Pajama Day. Each side needs to be short and easy to picture. Use this structure for the office question of the day. This or that format keeps replies quick.

Read a pair aloud and have everyone pick a side by moving, raising a hand or typing 1 or 2. Ask one person per side for a reason, then move on. Ten to fifteen rounds take about 10 minutes for a team of 12.

Yes. They give a new hire an easy way to talk on day one. Use the icebreaker pairs above, which stay off work tasks, and keep this or that questions for work team building light. Save career pairs for later.

Five minutes is enough for most teams. Run 3 to 5 pairs at the start of a meeting and move on. For an offsite or this or that questions for office parties, run 10 to 15 pairs.

They leave out personal topics. This or that questions work appropriate for an office avoid politics, religion, dating, money, health and alcohol. They also avoid pairs that mock a job role. Use the rules section above as a checklist for this or that questions for the office.

Yes. The habits, meetings and remote work sections above all use work-related pairs, such as To-do list or Calendar blocks. Mix them with personal ones so the questions do not feel like a survey.

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