3  Communication and coordination

Adapted by UCD-SeRG team from original by Jade Benjamin-Chung

One benefit of the academic environment is its schedule flexibility and autonomy. This means that lab members may choose to work in the early morning, afternoon, evening, or weekends. That said, we do not expect lab members to respond outside of normal business hours (unless there are special circumstances).

3.1 Microsoft Teams

  • Use Microsoft Teams for scheduling, coding related questions, quick check ins, etc. If your Teams message exceeds 200 words, it might be time to use email.
  • Use channels instead of direct messages unless you need to discuss something private.
  • Please make an effort to respond to messages that mention you (e.g., @username) as quickly as possible and always within 24 hours.
  • If you are unusually busy (e.g., taking MCAT/GRE, taking many exams) or on vacation please alert the team in advance so we can expect you not to respond at all / as quickly as usual and also set your status in Teams (e.g., it could say “On vacation”) so we know not to expect to see you online.
  • Please thread messages in Teams as much as possible.
  • Don’t wait for meetings to ask questions. As soon as a question comes up, write it out in Teams. This benefits both you (by clarifying your thinking, as discussed in Chapter 22) and the team (by getting the conversation started earlier).

3.2 Email

  • Use email for longer messages (>200 words) or messages that merit preservation.
  • Generally, strive to respond within 24 hours hours. As noted above, if you are unusually busy or on vacation please alert the team in advance so we can expect you not to respond at all / as quickly as usual.

3.3 Task Management

We use a combination of tools to track and manage project tasks:

  • GitHub Issues and Projects: For code-related tasks, feature requests, and bug tracking. Lab leadership will assign issues and organize them in GitHub Projects. Issues are prioritized within projects, and you can track your assigned tasks there.
  • Microsoft To-Do and other M365 task tracking tools: For general lab tasks and personal task management. Lab leadership may assign tasks through these tools, which integrate with Microsoft Teams.
  • Generally, strive to complete assigned tasks by the date listed.
  • Use checklists to break down tasks into smaller chunks. Sometimes leadership will create these for you, but you can also add them yourself.
  • Update task status as you make progress so the team can stay coordinated.

3.4 Google Drive

  • We mostly use Google Drive to create shared documents with longer descriptions of tasks. These documents may be linked to in GitHub Issues or other task tracking tools. Lab leadership often shares these with the whole team since tasks are overlapping, and even if a task is assigned to one person, others may have valuable insights.

3.5 UC Davis Box and SharePoint

  • Human subjects data for research studies are generally stored in UC Davis Box or SharePoint. Please check with lab leadership about whether there are special storage and transfer requirements for the datasets you are working with for each study.
  • You can access Box via your UC Davis credentials. For more information, visit UC Davis Box Support.
  • SharePoint is also used for collaborative document storage and team file sharing. Access SharePoint through your UC Davis Microsoft 365 account.

3.6 Meetings

  • Our meetings start on the hour.
  • If you are going to be late, please send a message in our Teams channel.
  • If you are regularly not able to come on the hour, notify the team and we might choose the modify the agenda order or the start time.

3.7 Code Review

When submitting code to or reviewing code from colleagues, use best practices to provide and receive constructive feedback: