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. Lab members should manage their own notification schedules to ensure they can maintain healthy work-life boundaries. We do not expect lab members to respond outside of normal business hours (unless there are special circumstances). Because of the nature of our work across time zones, frequent travel, and international collaborations, there are no set working hours. Team members are not expected to reply to messages outside their own working hours, even if a message arrives outside of those hours.
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. - If you are unusually busy (e.g., preparing for QE/grant deadline, taking two exams) or on vacation please alert the team in advance so we can expect you not to respond at all / as quickly as usual. Please 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 a work day when you are directly addressed in an email. Again because we work across many timezones, this means responding within a work day in your own timezone. If you’re on vacation, you’re not expected to respond until the end of your first work day back (or possibly longer, if you’ve been out for a while and have a backlog).
- As noted above, if you are unusually busy or on vacation please alert the team in advance and via an away message, so we can expect you not to respond at all / as quickly as usual.
3.3 Managing Notifications and Work-Life Balance
Lab members should actively manage their notification schedules, especially if they receive work email or Teams notifications on their phones.
- Block notifications outside of work hours: It’s important to configure your devices and applications to prevent work notifications during non-work time. We all need uninterrupted rest and relaxation time in order to stay healthy and productive in the medium and long-terms.
- Sending messages outside work hours: There’s no expectation to only send emails or messages during normal work hours. Feel free to send messages whenever you compose them—don’t spend effort scheduling messages for later delivery. Recipients will manage their own notification schedules, and they may be working different hours or want the information sooner.
3.4 Setting Away Status and Autoresponse Checklist
When you’ll be away from work (vacation, conference, sick leave, etc.), please help the team stay coordinated by setting appropriate away indicators:
3.5 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 Teams & Planner: For general lab tasks and personal task management. Lab leadership may assign tasks through these tools, which integrate with Microsoft Teams. Lab members are expected to set up a Teams page for important degree requirements (QE) and projects (grant proposals, papers, etc.). Invite both Dr Morrison and Aiemjoy to the Teams page and assign them to review tasks with the deadline you need the review by. We appreciate 2 weeks’ notice for letters and larger review projects.
- 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.
3.8 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.
3.9 Code Review
When submitting code to or reviewing code from colleagues, use best practices to provide and receive constructive feedback:
- Tidyverse code review principles (Tidyverse Team 2023): Best practices for reviewing R code, including what to look for and how to provide constructive feedback.