Communication

As a company, a large part of our ethos is around clear, open communication. This is even more important as a fully remote operation. Here are our guiding principles for effective communication across any channel.

Guiding Principles

• When on calls, writing messages, or creating tickets, always think of the receiver. Give them as much information as possible while being clear and concise.
• To protect people's time, do not make them do the work. Cut the fluff and get to the point.
• We want direct communication. Feedback is not personal. It saves time and helps everyone improve.
• Before communicating, use previous discussions, your knowledge of the topic, and your experience to enrich your output and ensure you are adding value.
• If written, make it as easy to read as possible, including bullet points to break down text blocks, and limit the use of formatting unless it adds value.
• Link to anything referenced.
• Tag the relevant people in the message or ticket so work does not get missed.
• If communicating a time then include the timezone as many team members and clients are across multiple locations.

Our main communication tool is Slack which, when used well, is great for instant messaging, collaboration, and asynchronous communication. If certain principles are not followed it can get unwieldy.

Asynchronous communication is where there is a time between one person posting a message and others offering a response when the subject is not urgent. This enables people to focus on their work and allows others from different timezones to contribute.

Slack Specific Principles

• Always use open channels rather than DMs unless there is sensitive information.
• Open channels allow others to learn and contribute where necessary and there is less chance of things going wrong.
• Think about the correct channel to post your message. Failure to do so leads to confusion and important information being missed.
• When posting actions, the person responsible for the action must always be tagged.
• Use threads to keep discussions together, making them easier to find and reference.
• Emoji respond to all messages that are relevant/specific to you, including posts in #general that are for the whole team.
• Remove previews when using links as they are noise.
• Do not start a new channel unless the request has been posted in #business-operations and agreed.
• It is your responsibility to keep up to date by adding yourself to relevant channels.

Where to Post

Storyteller Slack is made up of channels and we use 4 main types:

• Teams, for example #sales-and-marketing or #delivery
• Internal channels per client for internal discussion, for example #uefa-internal
• Shared channels per client for communication with clients directly, for example #uefa-shared
• Issue reporting, for example #bugs or #on-call

Shared channels are direct lines to the client so be very careful what you post there. We must be professional at all times.

Example of a Good Message

Message posted in #business-operations

@here Notes from our Business Operations Standup

- Recording of meeting is here
- Agreed new date and time of meeting, moving to 12:00 each Wednesday
- Shared the new Business Operations Airtable and discussed its purpose
- @rob_larmour confirmed he will request new agenda points by EOP Tuesday

cc: @bob

Other Channels

Our preferred method of communication between the company and with our clients is Slack. Only use email if it is absolutely necessary, such as:

• A longer form of communication is required, for example a detailed project scope
• The client has specifically requested email
• Multiple attachments are needed
• The topic is more formal such as HR or legal

Guidance on writing documentation that will be visible to the company is outlined in the Writing and Documentation page.

For internal video calls we use Microsoft Teams with guidance on calls and meetings in this section.