Team communication recommendations

@djslack @ruouttaurmind My organization uses Skype for Business and it seems to get the job done. I love being able to share screens, take control of people’s screens, video conferencing, etc…

@ConAndLibrarian Can you respond via SMS, though?

@medz I am not sure, I have never tried.

@medz There are some unified communication functions that may allow sms integration. Like much of the admin in o365, they’re not intuitive to manage or easily exposed so I can’t say for sure that it’s in there.

@djslack

Any reason to worry with SMS integration versus using the slack app and its notifications on mobile? Do you have non-smartphone mobile users?

There are a couple dinosaurs still using flip phones, and two Windows phone users. After discussing my challenges with them, some aren’t interested in upgrading phones, even if I offer incentive.

@ruouttaurmind Zoom as a bit more funcitonality than Skype. It can record, use a phone to call in or computer connect (and turn off video and mute audio). You can integrate email notifications with microsoft’s email/calendar/etc. The only thing I find irritating as soon as you accept the email the email automatically transfers to trash (but it does put the meeting on the calendar with the link to the zoom meeting).

@Kidsandliz The email disappearing from inbox on acceptance is standard Outlook behavior for every calendar invite and not specific to zoom. The body of the email can be found in the details of your calendar appointment after accepting.

@ConAndLibrarian We are converting to Skype for Business and I just had it downloaded last week. I haven’t read all these comments but I’ll check tomorrow to see if we have the ability to send messages via SMS. It does have a lot of features so maybe it will have that one.

@jbartus There are a couple dinosaurs still using flip phones, and two Windows phone users. After discussing my challenges with them, some aren’t interested in upgrading phones, even if I offer incentive.

@ruouttaurmind what sort of incentive did you offer? One of my clients has literally sent me to the phone store and had me use my card they issued me to purchase iPhones for employees and at least one contractor. I think the reasoning is that the productivity gains are worth the one-time expense to the company.

@ruouttaurmind Hey, who you calling a dinosaur? I my flip phone.

@jbartus When considering the comparison to a flip phone, one can get a pretty usable brand new Android phone for $75-$100 (or half that for used). I offered a $100 credit towards the purchase of a new or used Android or iPhone of their choice (running Android 6/iOS 10 or higher).

One response indicated a refusal to “make internet available” in their household. I will not debate family values (who am I to debate how someone chooses to raise their family?), so that pretty much ended the phone upgrade discussion. To be fair to the employee, they have had issues with a troubled child and online activity in the past, so I understand their decision.

@Barney

@ruouttaurmind even those hundred dollar units should have support for pin code locking the device. Family values are all well and good but from what you said below it sounds like this is all in aid of providing these people a pretty sweet job with super flexible hours, the needs of accommodating that flexibility should have some sway.

@ruouttaurmind I can see their point but with just one phone couldn’t they password protect it and turn off the internet at home, I think there is a way to do that.

@mehbee I agree. But as I said, it’s not my place to give parenting tips. If I can solve the problem another way, with minimal expense, that will be my best move to preserve harmony. If other solutions are complex or costly, I will have no other choice than to lay down the law as @jbartus suggested.

@woodhouse I’m with you. It checks every box on his dream list except sms integration. And even that’s still probably doable depending on how important it is/how much effort he wants to put into it.

@djslack Push notification should be able to override lack of SMS integration, and you could probably set up a Slack bot that could send SMS using triggers.

@djslack Quick Google found this:

https://zapier.com/zapbook/slack/sms/

@ruouttaurmind – @woodhouse’s Slack + Zapier solution is probably the closest thing you’re going to find. Atlassian’s new Slack competitor, Stride, seems to allow for better organization, but it’s not available yet and not sure how long it would take before integrations for it are available on Zapier.

@cranky1950 Tried this while on the road. It sliced the cup wide open and I damn near lost an earlobe. It was like a paper cut from a plasma cutter. Was I using the wrong kind of string?

@djslack I think you were over working it. KISS

@cranky1950

Conference call solution:

@djslack Maybe? The distance may have been an issue …

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/d7795x/these-adults-made-the-longest-tin-can-phone

@narfcake Repeaters. Works right in to MAGA

@cranky1950 @narfcake I think my issue was trying to use it while driving 75mph. Not suitable for mobile use.

@djslack ya just hafta use common sense ya know.

@readnj I really appreciate feedback from someone with relevant experience. Thank you for your suggestions.

Although I am seeking a technical solution, this was not my first effort. When this situation began to evolve, I believed it was manageable with traditional business communication tools and regular contact via email, phone calls, SMS (one woman even suggested using fax???).

Maintaining constant communication and regular involvement only took us so far before communication limitations have become a hindrance. One of the biggest hurdles involves documenting discussions and commitments when coming from 3 different sources(phone, text, email), none of which are available in a public format.

@ruouttaurmind I think at the end of the day you’ll need to establish a policy that “‘X’ is how we are going to communicate things here for business purposes” and make your employees comply. Unless you’re making them go to unreasonable lengths there’s really no legitimate objection. Dinosaurs be damned, they need to do what the company needs regardless of personal preferences. That’s what you pay them for.

@ruouttaurmind I’m not sure what the roles are here but if there are sub projects or tasks, have the leaders compile a weekly summary which can be sent to you in X format and then you can distill and present the big picture as the team lead at your weekly virtual webcast, conference call or email

@readnj We have multiple ongoing projects with weekly production deadlines, collaboration between at least 3 departments, management (me) and clients.

Remote employees often work on their assignments without a specific daily schedule. For example, team members might choose to work late into the wee hours to meet a deadline, or because they had to take the kids to the doctor during the day or whatever.

Having access to post inquiries, or retrieve responses, or look back to reference previous team discussions, decisions, schedule changes, etc is a potentially valuable resource for these folks. Hitting a roadblock at 2am and having to stop the bus because they can’t exactly phone their teammates at 2am, and woudn’t expect a reply to email or SMS in a timely manner, this is not ideal.

Adding this capability I think lends to team member job satisfaction by permitting the team to work to their preference rather than being forced into a schedule box and having to punch a clock for the man. Does that make sense?

@ruouttaurmind I wish we had Slack to communicate when live. Have you thought of something as basic as a community Google doc editable for each project? They can comment, or look up resources in real time. I had an internationally spread out team and that worked for us. The 2 am roadblock is tough but at the most they will have an answer in a few hours.

@ruouttaurmind We use One Note for a lot of the items you’ve mentioned. We have pages for meeting notes that can be referenced for future questions, we have a current events page pet month that we use to put new information such as outages, new vendor processes, simple policy changes, issues we may be having with a project/application or GDS, etc. We also have reference pages set up. They are not completed but once they are, the hope is that any of us, whether we are experienced with an application or not, can go to a reference page and set an agent up or troubleshoot by following the instructions there. I would think this could be a resource you could use along with a communication tool. My office is completely virtual, and of course we can’t walk over to someone’s desk to ask a question, so we rely heavily on our One Note pages.

@mehbee

My office is completely virtual, and of course we can’t walk over to someone’s desk to ask a question,

This, I think, is the direction my operation is morphing. It started with one girl working from home for a few months after she had her baby. Now, it seems someone can’t get a hangnail without pitching it as valid justification for becoming a remote.

Honestly… I don’t love this development. It’s one thing to have one girl offsite for a few months, postpartum. It’s not at all inexpensive to establish and maintain the infrastructure to support remotes. To re-develop processes and procedures. New communication methods. Data systems and networks. None seem to understand all that extra expense and effort doesn’t really benefit the company in any way, but rather it’s 100% for the convenience and benefit of the employees. Until the day I can lock the doors to the office and tear up my lease, it’s 100% cost, 0% benefit.

@ruouttaurmind my office we do some days in the office and some days out of the office. i only work one day remotely, some work up to three, some work none. however every Monday everyone is in the office. we do have another department that works completely remotely, but they don’t deal with much “group” work.

@thismyusername That’s definitely the right Slack. Not the one you’re referring to though, I think.

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