Team communication

Overview

The following is a summary of how we expect the team to communicate.

• Focussed time: it's OK to be offline to focus on complex work. Please note you are still expected to check Basecamp and email daily.
• Phone: client calls need responding to quickly, everything else within a day.
• Emergency: we'll call you on your mobile if there's an emergency and we can't get in touch any other way. Please respond, even if you are on focussed time.
• Meetings: remote video calls for all meetings for now. We will re-introduce face-to-face meetings as Coronavirus restrictions ease.
• Email: avoid email if you can for general comms, we primarily only use email for client sales and sending private information to staff. Phone messages are sent via email. Please check your email daily.
• Slack: quick, short comms with the team. While it's useful to chat online, there is no expectation to always be online or respond to all Slack messages. It's OK to miss a Slack message. Send any asynchronous comms via Basecamp.
• Basecamp: our primary tool for client and team comms. Please check Basecamp at least once a day.
• JIRA: task management on larger projects, please keep this up-to-date on a daily basis.
• Zendesk: respond to support tasks. If you are on first-line support check this hourly. Everyone else, check it weekly so we can keep on top of issues.

Further details appear below...

How I work docs

It's recommended to write a short doc on how you best work, to help communicate this with other team members. You can view How I work docs and see a template to help you write your own. Please save all How I work docs to the Google Drive folder.

Asynchronous communication

By asynchronous communication we mean a message we do not expect an immediate reply, but someone can reply in their own time (e.g. a few hours, or next day). Synchronous comms is when we expect an immediate reply (e.g. Slack, phone).

We encourage more asynchronous comms. E.g. rather than have a meeting to brief on task requirements, write them up, let people read, and then have a meeting to discuss any questions.

Focussed time

Purpose: sometimes we need downtime to focus on a complex piece of work, this can apply to anyone in the agency.

It's OK to mark yourself as do not disturb to focus on your work. We don't have any rules on how long you can do this for, but please be aware it's your responsibility to keep on top of other team communications. You are still expected to check email and Basecamp daily.

When you are on focussed time please ensure you:

• Mark yourself as do not disturb for Slack chat (see Pause notifications)
• Update your status to Do not disturb on the 3CX phone system

That way everyone on the team knows and won’t expect an immediate reply.

Phone

Purpose: respond to incoming client sales or support calls, communication with clients & team.

Most often used if someone is calling into the office, or if you have an urgent reason to reach a client, or if it's easier to explain something to a client on a call.

If you need to call a customer to discuss something, please do. There’s no need to wait for permission or go through somebody else. Feel free to reach out and organise either a video or telephone call.

Of course, if you’re apprehensive about calling a customer about something, please talk to a colleague for advice and moral support.

The main office number & support line

• We always need at least two people available to answer calls to the main office number.
• Calls to the main office number should be answered immediately, or if not possible then any messages responded to within an hour.

Your personal number

• If you have a phone number setup, please respond to any calls immediately (unless you are in focussed time).
• If you get a phone message please aim to respond to client calls within half a working day, and all other calls within one working day.

In an emergency

• If we cannot get hold of you via other means we'll call you on your mobile. Please respond to this even if you are marked Do not disturb.

Taking a phone message

• If you take a phone message for someone, email the message to them (not Slack, as this may get lost).

Meetings

Face-to-face meetings

Purpose: in person meetings to help discuss and collaborate.

Face-to-face client or staff meetings are currently restricted due to the pandemic. At present we will allow face-to-face meetings only in tier two and below and only if COVID-19 Secure measures are in place. Please note this is optional and up to each staff member's discretion.

Normal face-to-face meetings only return after restrictions are far more eased. Any questions ask Simon or Emma.

Video call meetings

Purpose: we use video calls for remote meetings (internal and external).

We currently use Google Meet for client meetings. We also have Microsoft Teams, which some clients prefer to use.

When you book in a Google Meet video call and invite an external participant, if you are not going to be there, assign a co-host, so people can enter. The option is within settings (the cog on the right of the Google Meet link), and then select 'Co-host' and enter who has the hosting permissions. See instructions for adding a co-host on Google Meetings. If you don't do this we cannot let any external participants (e.g. clients) join the meeting!

What we need to do for all calendar meetings

• All meetings must have a short description so its clear what the meeting objective is, add any links to resources people need to read before the meeting.
• If clients are attending, invite them so it's clear who is attending.
  
• When you book a meeting in, check everyone's schedule before sending the meeting invite to see if they are free. You can do this using the 'find a time' option in Google Calendar.
• Respond to all meeting invites to say whether you can attend. It's OK to say no if you can't make it - just talk to the meeting organiser if this is an issue.
• Check your own work schedule before responding to meeting invites, it's your responsibility to balance meetings with your weekly billable work.
  
• If you're not sure if someone can make a meeting, ask them.
  

Google Calendar tips

It's recommended you set your working hours in Google Calendar so people know when you're available (Settings > Working hours).

It's good to schedule yourself focus time, you can easily do this by blocking out time in Google Calendar and marking this as "focus time" .

We encourage shorter meetings, 25 minute or 50 minutes to give people time in-between concurrent meetings. You can use "speedy meetings" to default to these times when adding new meetings in your calendar (Settings > Event settings).

For those of us who don't have regularly scheduled work it's important to set a default diary where you have regular time to do the work you want to do. Set aside regular slots in your calendar, use focus time where you need to!

Office Hours is an idea from the book It Doesn't Have to be Crazy at Work to give people the chance to book a meeting with a subject-matter expert where they are 100% available for questions, pair coding, etc. This creates a nice balance where the expert can provide guidance to others without their day being constantly broken up by distractions. You can set these up on your calendar as "appointment schedules." Find out more about appointment schedules in Google Calendar.

Email

Purpose: we use email for client comms in the sales phase and when it's necessary to send private information to staff. Otherwise we prefer other tools (e.g. Basecamp, Slack).

We try to minimise email usage, due to the large volume of automated emails and the inability to track conversations easily across the team.

Email is primarily used for client comms in the sales phase. Wherever possible please avoid email if a better alternative exists.

Please do not document tasks in email, do this in Basecamp or JIRA.
How often should you check email?

• If you are involved in sales work, please check your email (and respond) at least twice a day
• Otherwise, please aim to check your email at least daily
• If you send private info to a staff member and need them to check it quicker, Slack them

If you see a sales opportunity (e.g. a tender notification) please email this to hello@studio24.net - don't use Slack.

Slack

Purpose: quick, short-term communications in the team. We do not recommend Slack for asynchronous comms (i.e. we do not expect an immediate reply).

In general please be online on Slack during core hours, unless you feel you need to go offline to get focussed time (see above). Our core hours are 10am to 4pm (UTC).

If you want to chat with your fellow team or have a quick question, Slack is your place. Please note, there is not an expectation to respond to all messages on Slack. However, it's a useful place for remote collaboration on projects.

We do not use Slack for client comms. We occasionally invite freelancers to collaborate on Slack.

• We do expect everyone to login to Slack regularly, to help smooth project comms
• Please use channels for project discussions
• Please do not document tasks in Slack, do this in Basecamp or JIRA
• There is no expectation to always check Slack and respond to all messages. If someone misses a message, that's OK. If you don't want to be online, you don't have to
• If someone doesn't respond, use alternative methods (Basecamp, or email if it's private)

Basecamp

Purpose: we use Basecamp for all client comms on projects. We also use Basecamp for sharing internal information on projects and all team and company announcements. We recommend Basecamp for asynchronous comms.

We use Basecamp for all client communication on projects. Think of Basecamp as centralised email for client comms. Messages sent via Basecamp can be viewed by the entire team.

We also use the Studio 24 HQ in Basecamp for all staff communications and announcements.

We always record decisions / outcomes of conversations in Basecamp so there’s a single place of record.

• To keep a record of sign-offs on Basecamp, especially on larger projects, consider setting up a to-do for the client to sign-off work (i.e. design approval, spec approval). Link the to-do to the place the discussion is happening and assign to the client with the due date. Then when the client is happy to approve they can write a short note on the to-do saying the work is approved and tick it off. That way a full record of sign-offs will be in basecamp in an easy-to-find place.
• We don't add the whole studio to new Basecamp projects, to reduce noise. If you are not on a project and need to be added, you can ask Claire, Emma, Julia, Francesco or Simon.
• If you are on a project but want to reduce noise you can stop notifications by selecting "Stop following" option. You will then only be notified unless someone specifically @mentions you or assigns you a to-do.
• Please do not "Stop following" for the Studio 24 HQ otherwise you may miss important announcements.
• We recommend:
  • Always @mention someone if you want them to read your message
  • Archive messages once they are no longer relevant / have been actioned to reduce noise
  • Use categories to help organise messages
• How often should you check & respond to Basecamp messages?
  • Please check your Basecamp messages at least once a day
  • Please aim to respond within one working day to Basecamp messages, or note if you need longer to respond
    
    

You can manage your notification settings in Basecamp. Useful settings include "Only notify me when someone sends me a Ping or @mentions me" and "Catch me up if anything happened after hours."

However, please do not turn notifications off - it's your responsibility to keep up-to-date and respond to Basecamp communications.

JIRA

Purpose: manage and organise tasks on larger projects.

All developer tasks are stored in JIRA on a project board, this way we can keep organised.

• If your project tasks are defined in JIRA, the board should be kept updated each day to reflect the status & progress of the tasks.
• Discussions about specific tasks should be done in JIRA to keep them related to the ticket.

Zendesk

Purpose: manage and respond to support tasks.

We use Zendesk to manage support tickets, and sometime maintenance tickets.

• We always need one developer on first-line support in working hours, this should be highlighted on the intranet homepage under "On support"
• If you are on first-line support you need to check Zendesk at least hourly
• For everyone else, please check your support tickets at least weekly and escalate any issues in responding to your own support tickets to whoever is on first-line support so things don't get forgotten.
• We have agreed response times with clients which are detailed below. You can also view response times in the handbook.

Project comms

For projects we can communicate in lots of different ways, such as stand-ups, weekly check-ins etc. It's recommended to discuss with the team at the kick off how they would like to work together. For example - some people like stand-up at the start of the day, some people at the end of the day.