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Call me if we need to talk. Email for long-winded or more thoughtful text conversations.
I get what you mean but I don't agree if talking to some of my off shore folks. I just struggle to understand sometimes. Even people in USA with unfamiliar accents throw me, I think it is something wrong with me actually. IDK.
Can those of you who hate TEAMs just say to contact you a different way? I work with lots of different people with different communication styles and I just straight up ask, "What way do you prefer me to communicate with you?" I had one person say she hates trying to communicate via TEAMs, but prefers e-mail. I e-mail her. Someone else said she likes TEAMs, I TEAMs message her. Others like to speak in person, I go to them. Teamwork makes the dream work.
I apologize if this has already been posted, but does anyone else find it distracting (and annoying) when peers message you on Teams? I get it when my manager does because she needs something at that moment, but a coworker? Is email not an effective way to communicate vs you need an answer RIGHT NOW! I even tried setting myself to 'busy' and people still messaged me and one even called me shortly after sending an email. I'm very good at responding to emails same-day, but if I don't read and respond within seconds then IM is their next approach. I'm busy and find these interruptions distracting.
Consider this a vent, or share your experiences.
We use Skype and even when coworkers can see you're in a MEETING/conference call they still IM you! Sure, my boss does whenever he wants but so does everyone else. I wouldn't mind so much if I was "just working"/"busy" status but it is very hard to be in an actual meeting (unless you're just a passive observer) where you're expected to participate and be getting multiple IMs.
Sorry, but that's the new generation - emails are rare and considered "formal" - of course when those go out you have to have at least a dozen people cc:ed on it!
Some have said IMs are preferred because they're not "in writing" like an email - well, Skype saves "conversations" so that's one less excuse for IMs but that's becoming much preferred over email.
Your problem isn't Teams, your problem is your job itself. I doubt your job would be any more peaceful if Teams disappeared from the face of the earth.
Quote:
Originally Posted by macroy
As with the above - this is less of a technical solutions issue and more of a process issue.
If people three levels and down are constantly coming to you and expecting immediate responses where you can't actually get YOUR work done... than there is likely no application that is really going to resolve that.
I'll answer these together since that's a misinterpretation of what was said. The topic was about IMs interrupting you. Well yes, it is a problem caused by the instant messenger capability. If they didn't have IM and channels in Teams, they'd have to use email. That alone would mean I wouldn't get the interrupting pop up in the middle of what I'm working on, nor would I have to do a hunt and search through three dozen channels on the off chance that there's a task for me lurking somewhere among them.
Email would force them to think for a second what they want while typing it up and describe it better and ensure that those who need to work on the task actually got it (vs channels). Teams channels may be a good way to pass information, but a poor way to pass tasks. For IM, it's the instant part that is the problem. It pops on the screen, interrupts you, and because it is a chat, they expect you to drop what you are doing and chat back with the answer.
So while you may call it a process problem, it is a process problem caused by the IM capability.
Just an observant poster who notices you seem to actively look for fights on a daily basis.
Poster: "The sky is blue."
oceangaia: "So what you're saying is, the sky isn't at times cloudy and white?? I can't believe you're saying that!!"
Exhausting.
Is it really exhausting for you? That makes my day. Maybe you should learn to ignore posts you don't like just as you should ignore IM's you don't have time to address.
I'll answer these together since that's a misinterpretation of what was said. The topic was about IMs interrupting you. Well yes, it is a problem caused by the instant messenger capability. If they didn't have IM and channels in Teams, they'd have to use email. That alone would mean I wouldn't get the interrupting pop up in the middle of what I'm working on, nor would I have to do a hunt and search through three dozen channels on the off chance that there's a task for me lurking somewhere among them.
Email would force them to think for a second what they want while typing it up and describe it better and ensure that those who need to work on the task actually got it (vs channels). Teams channels may be a good way to pass information, but a poor way to pass tasks. For IM, it's the instant part that is the problem. It pops on the screen, interrupts you, and because it is a chat, they expect you to drop what you are doing and chat back with the answer.
So while you may call it a process problem, it is a process problem caused by the IM capability.
If they need a quick response, wouldn't they be "upset" with you if you didn't reply to their email promptly? Your point about email is spot on, though. It forces them to think it out, which is why I dodge voice calls where they say stuff in an even more mentally disorganized manner. So in the absence of IM, maybe they wouldn't email you but CALL you?
Chats don't "pop up" in Teams for me. The taskbar icon pulses with a red badge indicating a message awaits. Sames as Outlook. Different settings? Different enterprise installation? I don't know but I don't get these popups. Try going to Settings / Notifications and under Teams and Channels, select Custom and set everything to Off.
If they need a quick response, wouldn't they be "upset" with you if you didn't reply to their email promptly? Your point about email is spot on, though. It forces them to think it out, which is why I dodge voice calls where they say stuff in an even more mentally disorganized manner. So in the absence of IM, maybe they wouldn't email you but CALL you?
Chats don't "pop up" in Teams for me. The taskbar icon pulses with a red badge indicating a message awaits. Sames as Outlook. Different settings? Different enterprise installation? I don't know but I don't get these popups. Try going to Settings / Notifications and under Teams and Channels, select Custom and set everything to Off.
If they really needed something that quick, they would call. The reality is few things are really that important or urgent. There's just something about the psychology of the Instant Messenger, that they'll just pop on, dash off an IM, and then expect instant response. It's become a case of the tool influencing the message and the process. Not IM, but an interesting corollary is there was a case study done following the Columbia accident that implicated PowerPoint for hindering rather than enhancing communication. Not that the PowerPoint itself did anything, but that the style of communication it fosters allowed the important message to get lost in the sea of bullets without background.
We don't have control over the settings; those are centrally managed. In fact, the we don't have the full version of Teams. We have a handicapped version with some of the features friends on the commercial side tell me about disabled.
If they really needed something that quick, they would call. The reality is few things are really that important or urgent. There's just something about the psychology of the Instant Messenger, that they'll just pop on, dash off an IM, and then expect instant response. It's become a case of the tool influencing the message and the process. Not IM, but an interesting corollary is there was a case study done following the Columbia accident that implicated PowerPoint for hindering rather than enhancing communication. Not that the PowerPoint itself did anything, but that the style of communication it fosters allowed the important message to get lost in the sea of bullets without background.
We don't have control over the settings; those are centrally managed. In fact, the we don't have the full version of Teams. We have a handicapped version with some of the features friends on the commercial side tell me about disabled.
Odd that your Settings menu is disabled. I work for a bureacratic F50 company that has me 2FA'ing ten times a day, enforces 60 day password changes, and browser won't even work when not on VPN.
I still say you need to guide their expectations. Not blow them off altogether but slow roll the responses a bit and perhaps suggest that - for *their* benefit and to better ensure a quality response - that tasks should be sent by email.
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