Communication Expectations and Email Signature
Communication. I want to be the best communicator I can be. I want to be a voice of clarity in a world of fog, a voice of reason in a world of chaos. Communication is why we are human. It’s why relationships form and why they they fail. It’s why people can live and work together without conflict.
Being a good communicator helps more than it hurts. Being a great communicator is the ultimate skill that I want to cultivate as a human being. Of all the things I can master, and I can master many with enough practice, being a great communicator is the hardest. That is why I wish to master it.
Tools
There are many tools we can use to communicate, here is the list we use in order of effectiveness at getting in touch with someone.
- Phone Call
- “PUTP” – Pick Up The Phone
- The expectation is that you pick up the phone call or return the phone call as soon as possible unless you contact the person another way.
- Highest urgency
- Phone Text
- The expectation is that you reply to the text message as soon as possible unless you’ve gotten in contact with the person involved in another way.
- Medium-high urgency
- Slack
- https://anantco.slack.com
- Medium-low urgency
- Pigeon
- Only for emergencies
- Just kidding
- Email
- Lower priority items are generally better to convey over email so that the receiving party can take care of it at the appropriate time.
- Low urgency
General Expectations
As Anant is now almost completely remote, it’s especially important to maintain good communication practice. Above and beyond the information included in the slides below, it’s crucial to acknowledge (or even over-acknowledge) that you have received messages, emails, or general communications sent to you by sending a simple response or reaction.
Email Signature
To see how to properly format your email signature, follow the instructions to this Confluence page.