Communication Best Practices

GitHub should be used for…

  • GitHub Issues – please put all decisions (including relevant discussion) related to a GitHub Issue in the GitHub Issue – never leave behind a detail in slack or email.

 

Slack should be used for…

Project Channels

  • Project discussions
  • Meeting coordination
  • Asking questions about the project, client, or a specific deliverable
    • Please do not put in Slack what is already tracked via a GitHub Issue
    • Discovery related tasks/deliverables are suitable for Slack discussions, as they are not in GitHub Issues
  • Project reminders
  • Team + Relationship building, celebrations, weather related discussions (hurricane playlists, videos of puppies enjoying their first snow)

Private DM’s

  • 1:1 or subgroup dev chat/debugging.

(Final decisions should be documented in the appropriate platform: GitHub or Smartsheet.)

 

Email should be used for…

  • Non-project related communication
  • Important non-project information that needs be saved in a place that’s easy to go back and reference
  • Client feedback

If to Key Stakeholders, Leadership

  • Design concepts and background summaries for feedback
  • Status, hours, burn rate, and schedule, communicating.

 

Smartsheet for project scheduling…

  • Task assignments and deadlines
  • Estimates per task (where it makes sense; does not apply to many development phases)
  • Client Meetings and Review periods

 

Zoom for facilitating scheduled or confirmed meetings…

  • Project discussions.
  • Morning check-ins.
  • Team meetings.
  • 1 on 1 mentoring.

 

ServiceNow for client correspondence…

When someone at the university finds a bug but isn’t working on a project with us, that ticket comes in through our helpdesk, which uses ServiceNow. I.D. creative director Jon Brousseau, your project’s creative director, or project Management may resource and assign a ticket to you if it’s critically urgent. Remember to coordinate resolving ServiceNow tickets in the #servicenow-bugfixes channel. If you’re unsure if something’s a bug or a feature request: reach out to Kristen Ibbitson.

  • You are to be professional and cordial in tone when corresponding with clients and helping resolve their bug issues.

 

Google Drive/Dropbox…

  • Always double-check where you’re saving to.
  • Check with another project’s manager before saving files to or over another projects files.
  • These documents should be created in the Interactive Design team drive, instead of your personal Google Drive account or folder.

 

Phone…

  • For emergencies/edge cases, please refer to the “How to Access Your BU Phone/Voicemail” section of the Working & Teaching Remotely page to set up office-phone forwarding to your personal number and checking your office phone’s voicemail.