Communicate with Teams More Effectively

Contributed by Charles Humble

Difficulty level: Intermediate

In offices, synchronous communication (mostly in the form of meetings) is the default. This causes a range of problems, including too many meetings, constant interruptions, and feeling like you have to respond to everything immediately. It is particularly problematic for us as IT professionals since our work is what Cal Newport calls “deep work” in his book of the same name, requiring sustained and deep concentration to do it effectively.

In this Shortcut, we’ll look at how we can overcome these challenges and help create a sympathetic framework for team communication.

Synchronous Communication

Synchronous communication has the highest productivity cost and should therefore only be used sparingly.

Meetings have measurable costs; one recent study estimated that companies could save $25,000 per employee per year by eliminating unnecessary ones. Moreover, if you have eight engineers in a meeting for one hour, you’ve lost an entire working day of engineering time. Factor in any preparation they needed to do before the meeting, pausing the work they were doing and subsequently resuming it, and the full impact is likely higher.

For all communication, try to make your expectations explicit. Ahead of meetings, include an agenda with the meeting invite. This means that everyone knows what to expect, and can tell you if they feel they don’t need to attend. Limit meeting length—experiment ...