Last updated · 16 February 2024

Communication

Communication makes or breaks a team, a project and, ultimately, a collaboration.

It's at the foundation of every success and the main culprit for every failure. It is critically important it gets done right. This page is relevant for both clients and team members, as communication should be consistent across all that we do — and done right. This being said, it is important to consider all the angles listed below.

Mother tongue.

Our working language is English. We speak Portuguese at the office, but as most of our clients are not Portuguese speakers, you won't be able to use it elsewhere. If you're not confident speaking English, don't worry, we'll subsidise language classes.

Direct, transparent communication.

We trust you to handle direct communication with clients. You are free (and encouraged) to iterate directly with them, share your work and address ongoing project issues immediately. We trust your judgment to communicate effectively and politely with a problem-solving approach. We're an open book for clients, so don't hesitate to reach out. There's no need to wait for upcoming meetings if a scratch needs itching.

Communicate to alleviate, not to add pressure.

Even though we encourage you to assess any ongoing issues directly, we don't want any extra pressure upon you. If you feel you're getting pushed by a client, let your project manager know. Having pressure is counter-productive. It will affect your performance and your ability to deliver quality work within the established timeframes.

In person.

It's quite simple: nothing beats meeting in person.

Think of all the relationships in your life: the strongest ones have all come through in-person interactions. It's the same with work. Being able to meet, have lunch, strategise, bond, dive into brainstorming sessions and iron things out in person, with a whiteboard at hand, helps see real, rapid progress.

We are happy to travel and meet our clients in person at any phase of the project, but particularly at the start of a project. It helps to get to grips with its demands and build a watertight scope (and connection) that brings clarity for everybody.

Similarly, we are delighted to welcome clients to our office. It is big enough to accommodate everybody.

This is a big part of our R̶e̶m̶o̶t̶e̶ Office-first way of working. We strongly recommend meeting in person to build our relationship and get projects off the ground on the right foot.

Calls.

If in doubt, call it out. Don't hold back on calling a client if it suits the situation. Better make things clear with a silly call than risk leaving things unresolved or making assumptions.

On top of that, we also prefer to address more sensible topics in audio or video calls. Conversations concerning product decisions, planning, timeframes, new developments, overall negotiations, and other sensitive topics are better done as close to face-to-face as possible: a call.

Calls must be privileged at all times. Even at the slightest misunderstanding, suggest a call. Things will get sorted out much quicker.

Afterwards, make sure the decisions and action points are noted and shared with those who need to be kept on the loop. Also, we trust you to know when these are necessary. Having days of back-to-back calls can mean a lot of talk and little action. Meet when necessary, not just because. Be wise.

Slack.

Slack is great!

Internal and external communications, sharing updates, or thrashing things out with individual team members, it's all done in Slack.

Since we are R̶e̶m̶o̶t̶e̶ Office-first, a lot of conversations may take by actually talking “in Person,” as mentioned above. But Slack remains vital to how we communicate. With clients, it's perfect for ensuring we can keep the conversations going, to share deliverables, iterate, and ensure we can easily dissipate any doubts without having to wait until the next meeting.

In short, it helps us move with speed.

Slack with clients.

Keep it transparent and public.

Have all the important conversations on public channels. Private conversations with clients about the project should be avoided. We like transparency at every end of the process. This means things can be kept on the record, and it can avoid unnecessary pressure. It also means everybody relevant to a project can be kept in the loop. If a client tries to chat privately about the project, move the conversation to a public channel. If there isn't a channel for the topic, create one or ask your project manager to do it.

If the back-and-forth spirals, you should jump on a call.

Slack should not be used for extensive back-and-forth decision-making. It should be a place for addressing quick questions and sharing updates and deliverables. If a conversation is getting complex, it's best to jump on a call for clarity. Once this is done, post the conclusion from that call to wrap up the thread so the conversation is neatly tied up and next steps are registered.

Never leave a client unanswered.

Now, this doesn't mean you have to drop what you're doing immediately to answer, but you should address any client questions in an adequate timeframe. We trust you to understand the required sense of urgency from their request itself.

Internal use of Slack.

With many of us here, Slack can sometimes get quite noisy. Here are some real basics to keep things tidy and help focus, ensuring people only get notifications when necessary.

Use threads.

Or face the Thread Police! Reply to messages in threads so that conversations are easy to follow and keep the main channel clean rather than a long, sprawling conversation that distracts everyone and benefits very few.

If your message only needs to be seen by one or two people, message them directly.

No need to bring noise to others, particularly in all-company channels with 30 other people.

Write longer messages to reduce the number of notifications.

No. Need. To. Ping. Someone. Every. Few. Words.

Update your Status.

Sync Slack with your Google calendar so that others know you are busy, out of the office, focusing, AFK, BRB, WFH, etc…

Set reminders.

If you’re deep into something and notifications keep pinging, and you don't want to let something slip, set a reminder to deal with whatever that may be later.

Schedule Messages.

If a team member is on vacation or is out of working hours, let them switch off. If something comes to you that you need to ask/tell someone, make sure to schedule the message for when they come back. This is especially important for both clients and the team: be sure to respect the working hours of all involved in a project.

Archive old channels.

If you’re not active in a channel, either leave the channel or, if you're the owner and it's gone stale, archive it. Keep things tidy, and you'll be more at peace with the world.

Be notified of what matters.

We recommend setting up notifications to Direct messages, mentions and keywords only.

More tips and tricks to make the most of Slack with consideration here .

Join channels.

Looking to join channels?

#pets-only — Brighten up each day with fury friends.

#water — Make sure you keep yourself hydrated with this #reminder-to-drink-water channel.

#sports-and-company — It all gets arranged in this channel for company sports fun, basketball, football, and padel. Get involved!

#pokemon — yep, trade and catch‘em all here.

#book-worms — A place to share recommendations and reviews for all book lovers.

#dad-jokes — You don't need to be a dad to appreciate or share how terrible/awesome your jokes are.

Notion.

There is much more to Notion than simple communication. There's policy making, documentation, and C.R.M., among other things.

However, naturally, communication cannot be an oversight as you can comment and leave notes for the team within Notion. However, it should only be used for collaborating and raising doubt on something documented, not as a default communication tool. Save that for Slack.

Nevers….

Email.

Once a Project Kick-off has taken place, everything should move to Slack. You should no longer need to email.

Whatsapp/SMS/phone.

Personal numbers should not be given out. It's very unlikely you will ever need them anyway, but if it's out of hours and you urgently need to contact a team member, you should contact Rui or Tiago, and we can handle it from there.