Have you ever found yourself talking about a work task, with a colleague, in a Direct/Private Message (DM)?
I certainly have. (And still find myself doing so)
Yet, it is something I struggle with. I get a feeling of uneasiness when this happens, because I am wondering:
Should such discussions really be private?
If we are talking about a work task - i.e. we’re not socializing, or discussing people relations, etc. - does the information we’re exchanging really belong in this communication channel?
If we are analyzing / evaluating implementation options, doesn’t that discussion belong in a shared channel (or, better yet, on the issue tracking system itself) where the rest of the team can benefit from?
If we reach a decision - and the conversation history is the record of how we reached that decision - doesn’t it make sense to share that with everyone else on the team?
If we reject some alternatives, do we really want to keep that information to ourselves ? What stops other colleagues from then reaching out to us to discuss why option X was rejected?
… you get the point! : )
But it is this last example that leads me to the real reason why I feel uneasy when I find myself discussing some work task in a DM:
I will have to repeat myself
Yes, that is It probably means I will have to repeat myself some time later.
That, in itself, is time wasted. And time is our most precious resource. I could be spending it doing something else.
And alas, dear reader, the time wasted is not just the time you will spend repeating yourself. By the time you will have to repeat yourself, you will probably have forgotten most of the specifics of that discussion anyway. So, in order to repeat yourself, you will have to waste more time finding the related discussion in your DM history. If you are lucky, the conversation history about the particular work task will all be in one place. If you are really lucky, you will also remember a good search term and your Instant Messaging (IM) solution offers decent text search options. But, if luck isn’t your thing, please think back to this article the next time you find yourself endlessly scrolling through chat history.
So, do yourself a favour:
Keep discussion on work tasks where it belongs: in the issue tracking system (or, for lack of a decent issue tracking system, in some shared IM channel).
ProTip: Tune notifications
Use the time saved to tune your notifications in that issue tracking system, so that it starts to feel more like IM. This way you’re setting yourself up for success, so you’ll stop forgetting to follow all this - no doubt ; ) - great advice!_
Thanks for making it to the end!
If you have thoughts you want to share with me about this post, please don’t DM me!! Just leave a comment below, where it belongs. ; )