Communication
How we communicate at SixPivot
Asynchronous Communications
At SixPivot, we embrace asynchronous communications. Simply put, asynchronous communication is when you send a message without expecting an immediate response. For example, you send an email. I open and respond to the email several hours later.
Asynchronous communications provide the following benefits
Control over the workday leads to happier and more productive employees
Incentivizes higher-quality communication over knee-jerk responses
Better planning leads to less stress
Deep work becomes the default
Documentation and greater transparency become automatic
Collaboration across time zones is seamless
Puts in-office and remote employees on the same footing
Synchronous (or real-time) communications (especially in a remote environment) introduces the following problems:
Leads to constant Interruptions
Prioritizes being connected over being productive
Creates unnecessary stress
Leads to lower quality discussions and sub-optimal solutions
The different communications tools we use
Slack
Slack is our default company communications platform. It supports asynchronous comms very well.
Everyone is expected to be contactable over Slack when working. We expect replies within the day to any messages. If you're not at your computer, update your status🍴🗓🤒
We have a #movements channel for sharing our status and whereabouts, this can be used to share if you're working in the office or interstate. Updates on this channel should be for exceptions, not micro-updates, we don't need you to tell us if you're going for lunch or to a doctor's appointment.
Teams / Zoom
We generally use Teams for our internal company-wide meetings and scheduled meetings because it syncs well with Outlook and calendars. Many of our clients use Teams as well.
Teams and Zoom also support closed captioning and that's important to us for people with accessibility needs.
Video
We generally use all three (Zoom, Slack, Teams), everybody has their own preferences. Some prefer the camera on, some prefer the camera off - we don't enforce, we know video fatigue is a thing. However, we encourage the use of video since it promotes higher-fidelity communications and encourages participants to be present during the meeting.
Email
For stuff that doesn't need urgent attention and is good for documenting.
Phone
Pick up the phone for anything urgent or if you want a chin wag everybody's phone numbers are in their Slack profiles.
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