Slack And Beyond: Internal Communication For Distributed Companies

“Distance will die,” the British economist Frances Cairncross predicted while observing the spread of the Internet in the 1990s. Distributed companies are defeating distance on a daily basis by using several tools and adapting them to our needs.

In this session I have explained how internal communication for remote companies can be effective, and shared how you can implement the same strategies to communicate with the rest of your team—while reducing issues related to different time zones, cultures and lifestyle.

Transcript

1. internal communication for distributed companies @franzvitulli SLACK AND BEYOND #wcnl
3. london nuoro
5. large-scale wordpress websites wordpress.com vip partner agency distributed team with ~35 humans
8. london, boston adayofrest.hm online outofoffice.hm
9. THE WAY WE COMMUNICATE IS UNIQUE.
11. LANGUAGE = COOPERATION
12. SPEAKING 100% sync communication.
13. VISUAL COMMUNICATION
14. WRITING 1-to-1, 1-to-many async communication
15. LONG DISTANCE SYNC COMMUNICATION phone, radio, etc.
16. NO MORE BODY LANGUAGE NO MORE FACIAL EXPRESSIONS
17. THE INTERNET CHANGED EVERYTHING.
19. HOW DO WE REPLACE THIS?
20. SOFTWARE.
22. SOFTWARE ALONE DOESN’T DO ANYTHING.
23. SYNC HYBRID ASYNC
24. SYNC
25. HAVE A MEETING AGENDA 1
26. KEEP IT SHORT AND SWEET 2
27. TAKE NOTES! 3
28. SYNC / ASYNC (…and other group chat apps)
29. “Group chat is like being in an all-day meeting with random participants and no agenda.” –Jason Fried (CEO at Basecamp)
31. SUPPRESS @HERE @CHANNEL
32. MUTE CHANNELS!
33. ⭐ starred channels regular channels @channel & @here suppressed muted channels CHANNEL HIERARCHY
34. USE DO NOT DISTURB
35. YOU’RE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR OFFLINE TIME
36. ASYNC
37. HANDBOOK? DOCUMENTATION? README’S? MEETING NOTES? EVENT REVIEWS? EMAILS?
38. A WRITING WORKFLOW.
39. 1 ALWAYS USE THE SAME APP.
41. 2 ALWAYS USE MARKDOWN.
44. <h1>header 1</h1> <p>lorem ipsum</p> <h2>header 2</h2> <p>lorem ipsum</p> <ul> <li>bacon</li> <li>eggs</li> <li>toast</li> </ul> <h2>header 2</h2> <p>lorem ipsum</p> <ol> <li>lunch</li> <li>dinner</li> </ol> <h2>header 2</h2> <p>lorem ipsum</p>
45. 3 CREATE & USE TEMPLATES.
47. 4 ALWAYS REVIEW BEFORE PUBLISHING.
48. IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT GRAMMAR.
49. CULTURAL / GENDER NEUTRALITY
50. “I’m so glad we’re hiring a new marketing manager, looking forward to working with him!”
51. “I’m so glad we’re hiring a new marketing manager, looking forward to working with him!”
52. “I’m so glad we’re hiring a new marketing manager, looking forward to working with them!”
53. TECH NEUTRALITY
54. “If you need to get in the zone, feel free to cmd+q Slack”
55. “If you need to get in the zone, feel free to cmd+q Slack”
56. “If you need to get in the zone, feel free to quit Slack”
57. WHERE IS INTERNAL COMMUNICATION GOING?
58. WHERE IS INTERNAL COMMUNICATION GOING?
59. CLIENTS? CONTRACTORS? INTERNS? SUPPLIERS? they’re all part of the greater team.
60. OPENNESS real news > good news
61. CONVERSATIONAL BOTS get ready, they’re taking over.
63. VIRTUAL ASSISTANTS not quite like Jarvis, still exceptional helpers.
65. BRAIN TO MACHINE COMMUNICATION we have the technology, maybe it’s not necessary yet.
66. THE REVENGE OF NON VERBAL COMMUNICATION
67. EMOJI ☺☹ ☕✅☀⛈
69. MICROINTERACTIONS
70. LIKE A P2 POST? • I’ve seen it • I actually like it • thanks! • a passive-aggressive reaction?
71. THE MEANING IS IN THE CONTEXT
72. LET’S RECAP…
73. ASYNC > SYNC BE INCLUSIVE DEVELOP A WRITING WORKFLOW
74. KEEP OPTIMISING DON’T AIM FOR PERFECTION SPEAK YOUR MIND BE RESPECTFUL
75. BEDANKT! @franzvitulli join the fun! http://hmn.md/is/hiring