My Rules for Work
Over the years, I've found some minor things which make work harder than it needs to be. These are my recommendations for working better!
Documentation #
- Follow the Style Guide
- Use the structure features of your wordprocessor - Heading levels especially.
- Don't email files as attachments - use links to SharePoint etc.
- Use version history properly:
- Major versions (1.0, 2.0) are published versions
- Minor versions (x.1, x.2) are development versions
- Include the version number in document footers
- Have a document history table showing all major versions (and minor versions since the last major one)
- Delete minor versions from the version history as appropriate
- Add concise commit comments to versions when publishing.
Meetings #
- Consider whether a meeting is really necessary
- Include an agenda with every meeting invitation
- Schedule an appropriate meeting length
- Include a single online meeting link (is it Teams/Skype/Webex/Zoom? Only have one!)
- Avoid lunchtime if possible
- Start meetings promptly, finish early if you can, don't overrun - reschedule a follow up if necessary.
- Keep to the agenda - arrange a separate meeting if scope increases.
- Book a meeting room in advance if it is a physical meeting - leave the room on time.
- Cancel the booking if the meeting is cancelled
- Once a meeting has started, don't move or delete the invitation. If there is a repeat meeting the next day/week either add recurrence to the original meeting or add another meeting - don't reschedule the one that has already happened.
Email #
- Set a 20 second delay on sending - you can't always recall a message.
- Double check recipient email addresses before sending
- Never use BCC
- Prefix email subjects with 'External:' if third parties are on the distribution list.
- Keep the email concise and to the point - one subject per email if possible.
- Include keywords in the email to aid searching later. Consider whether to include acronyms and their expanded version.
- Use priority flags - if it's urgent, mark it high priority, if it's low priority, set it to low!
Messages #
- Don’t start an instant message with just 'hello' , also include your request. https://nohello.net
- Use voice for synchronous communication (Urgent?)
- Use IM for asynchronous communication (Less urgent)
- Use Email for less time-critical comms, or where you need a record.