Axelerant is a remote organization, and we must be deliberate about communicating. This guide is our attempt to normalize our communication types at Axelerant.
| Table of Contents |
|---|
How
...
do I use this document?
Regularly skim this guideline to remind yourself what kind of communication we use. And , feel free to link to multiple sections of this guide when in conversation with an intent to either:
Define standardized behavior, OR
Improve this communication charter
When you think any of these sections could use improvement, go ahead and edit this page. However, be them. Be mindful that you are improving the document and not bringing in contrasting views without discussing it with the team first.
...
We acknowledge that we are not perfect communicators. We can neither convey our message with a universally consistent meaning nor claim that we can understand what the other person is saying correctly.
Therefore, we should always do our best to clarify and support our message with examples that make the intent of our message obvious.
...
Work Towards Alignment
When you find yourself responding respond for the third time or more, give strong consideration to consider changing the communication type into something that will to allow more clarity between stakeholders. Like , like shifting from email or Slack threads to a quick Zoom call to speed up alignment.
...
It is far easier to reason about tools that fall neatly in into the category of asynchronous communication or synchronous category than those in the middle of the spectrum. As such, this document will dwell more on the hybrid forms of communication, which, not surprisingly, form a bulk of the communications volume at Axelerant. But getting the more uncomplicated cases out of the way is easiermore manageable.
Asynchronous communication
This communication style is characterized by longer Longer messages and gaps between responses and topics characterize this communication style.
The classic example of asynchronous communication is Email Emai,l, which is seldom used at Axelerant.
...
Regardless of the frequency of usage, standard conventions apply to the email, language, and format structure. As with letter writing, structure your email into clear paragraphs not exceeding three. When your email is longer than three paragraphs, rethink whether it should be a document or some other form of a post.
...
In the case of Google Docs or Confluence, be careful how you edit other’s other documents. In most cases, highlight what you want to change and make suggestions rather than direct edits. The standard exception would be when the author already understands the changes you are about to make. Don’t make the author go to “differences between versions” to understand what you changed in their document.
...
Watch the mute button. No one likes reminding you that you “are on mute,” and you wouldn’t like repeating everything you said. We know stuff happens, but do try to keep this in mind. The flip side is also trueproper. Keep yourself mute when you have to begin a side conversation or just a lot of background noise.
To improve remote conversations with better interpersonal connection and comprehension of body language, we encourage to keep keeping the video mode on except when there are bandwidth issues (let the person(s) on the other side know this) or a psychological safety concern (discuss the safety concern with your Coach). The latest Zoom version has blurring virtual backgrounds.
...
Slack is Axelerant’s primary communication platform. Almost all types of conversations are initiated on Slack, and most end there. Apart from discussions, Slack is also used for #announcements, updates, and other notifications, making it asynchronous. Given the wide variety of uses and capabilities, it is not surprising unsurprising that Slack is easily misused or not optimally used.
...
Since Slack is our primary tool for communication, it makes sense to document guidelines at the top level of the document rather than four levels down. Besides the following, there are more Slack guidelines.
Lean towards asynchronous communication.
Even though we could use Slack for real-time conversations, always begin your messages as if you were writing a letter (or an email). You should not send “Hi” to start a conversation and wait for a reply. Write down the entire message and give all the necessary context.
When the person replies shortly, this may become a conversation. Otherwise, the person has everything they need to handle your message.
Lean towards open communication.
At Axelerant, we value openness as one of our core values and strive to begin open in many aspects of our work. For this reason, most of our channels are available to join for anyone in Axelerant (public). As such, we Wee recommend sharing in open channels rather than private channels or direct messages. For example, our policy discussions are available, and channels begin with the word “disc-.” Use private channels for sensitive discussions only, not something that could be useful to the rest of the team. We should use direct messages only for dialogue that is strictly 1-on-1. Project communication is not a 1-on-1 discussion, even if there is only one other person on the project.
...
Let’s get this out of the way, as this is unimportant. Every message you send might potentially notify someone. However, we see notifications as the responsibility of the receiver. This means we choose over-communication even though it might mean there could be a lot of notifications. Slack provides various tools to manage notifications, and ; we expect everyone to set them based on their preferences.
Relevance
Please send your message on to the channel which is most relevant to it. Sometimes, there might be two or more channels that could be relevant, in which case you can cross-post. Many channels are intended for a specific use case, and you should strive to use the channel for its intended purpose. For example, we have an #internal-support channel for seeking support (which you should use whenever you’re stuck). We also have various “guild” channels for discussions and sharing links related to a specific topic. Our project channels generally begin with the word “eng-” indicating that only project-specific discussion happens in the channel (apart from any notifications). There are many other miscellaneous channels, such as #humour# humor, #cool-stuff, #happy-hours, etc., and you are encouraged to find those.
...
Especially in channels, reply to a message by threading it rather than in the channel. This makes it easy to find all relevant past conversations for a particular topic and feasible to have parallel conversations in a channel without cluttering it. You may or may not choose to thread in direct messages, as there is little chance of similar discussions.
...
It’s handy to remember a catchy acronym to communicate better using asynchronous modes of communication, but especially hybrid. The acronym is CATTE, and this is from an Alice Ko podcast.
C - Context: Did you give the context?
A - Answer: Did you answer the question?
T - Timeline: Did you give the request a timeline or turnaround time?
T - Transparent: Were you transparent?
E - Emoji: Did you add an emoji for emotion? (See Poe’s law on why this is important.)
Channel Map
Use this to quickly determine which form of communication you want to use depending on the context.
Channel | Primary Use | Norm |
|---|---|---|
Slack (all channels) | Day-to-day communication | Response within working hours in 1-2 business days. |
For non-urgent requests (such as non-urgent support from the people-ops team) | Response within the SLA of the requestee. | |
Phone | For emergencies | |
SMS | For emergencies, if not reachable by phone | Respond ASAP. |
Project channels on Slack | Day-to-day project-related communication | Project channels typically begin with the prefix |
Guild Channels on Slack | Conversations related to a specific topic | Guild channels typically begin with the prefix |
Service Area Channels on Slack | Announcements, async meetings, and service area updates | Avoid using these channels for conversations and prefer guilds. They typically begin with the prefix |
Other channels on Slack | Conversations not related to any topic but following a context | Find a relevant channel such as #internal-support, # humor, and #cool-stuff to post your thoughts. If you can’t find anything relevant, post in #general. See #we-have-a-channel-for-that for a list. |
Jira | Project or initiative conversation | Use a relevant issue within your projects’ Jira to update meeting decisions, discussions from calls, and Slack conversations. |
Confluence | Documentation, project notes | Use a relevant Confluence space to document meeting notes, conversations, project documentation, etc. Use the Axelerant Handbook for organizational documentation. |
Zoom | Audio/Video calls | Use this to quickly resolve conversations when text conversation isn’t enough (or when Slack is down; see next section on Emergency Chat). |
...
Navigate to the appropriate Slack channel or direct message.
Use
/callto trigger a call.You may need to give permission permit if it’s the your first time you use using Slack calls.
Once service is restored, go back to Zoom.
...