Managing constant MS Teams messages at work

[BeachOrBeech]

I think my question is in two parts.

1. What is your workplace policy /custom / normal practice with Teams messaging. Are you expected to respond immediately? Is there an unspoken rule about what is sent by Teams, and what by email?

1. How do you manage constant Teams messages? It used to be that we used it for quick things - the equivalent of stuff you used to just say out loud to someone in an office eg where can I find document x, remind me what the accounts lady is called etc. Stuff that didn’t really interrupt you much. However proper work that you need to stop and spend time on (eg review a document) or refer to later (an agenda for a meeting in a week’s time) was sent by email/calendar invitation. These are increasingly coming by teams. I had good email organisation - flags, categories, filing etc. I could keep track just about, and the outlook search function has issues but is better than Teams for finding stuff. Now something is sent, then there is a discussion about something completely different and the big request is way back in the thread and can be overlooked, forgotten or just a nightmare to find to go back to.

This is just normal Teams chats/small grouos - not channels etc

Before you call me a dinosaur, say this is the way of the world etc - I get that, it is why I’m asking. I need help adapting! Any ideas welcome.

We tend to use it for chit chat and quick questions, plus doing things like flagging an urgent email request etc. Thankfully we don't have a culture of using it to issue work!

Our chats are deleted after 30 days so that probably helps encourage proper use of it.

The Pavlov's dog ping of death

Your time is precious. Be ruthless with protecting it. Check your messages in the morning and then unless you’re in a Teams meeting turn it off - just turn it off. Same with email. Check again after lunch, and then an hour before you go home. This applies to email as well.

I use Microsoft to do - I can add to it straight from outlook and teams so every “to do” goes straight on there.

But I am also known to reply to a teams message or on a phone call to say “can you send me that on an email” and no one has complained about it yet!

I think Microsoft To Do would have done exactly what you needed, as I’m pretty sure it pulls from both Planner and Outlook Tasks (I’m not 100% sure as I don’t use tasks or planners, but I think my to do items are all there)

I was going to suggest this. And if you have CoPilot then that's an easy way to find things that are buried in teams chars

You and everyone else is in the same boat, it isn't sustainable at all. DH says the same, he can hardly get his actual work done for dealing with constant messages and requests. He tried blocking out some time when he was unavailable but was then advised he needed to be available to answer questions from more junior staff and other departments at all times.

Teams was meant to replace email.

in your dreams, Microsoft!

My boss has a status message that says:

I manage my workload via email. Any requests for action must be sent via email and will not be picked up from Teams.

Starting to be picked up and more and more people are copying her.

I/we use teams way more than email. I’d say 90% of work is on teams. Work together on group chats to complete docs, answer questions, collaborate tag people etc. Set up teams sites for projects/programmes.

hate email it’s just full of performative copying in of senior management and admin noise.

Mine is same as this

I mainly work from home so I love teams! I helps me to feel well connected to my team and I use it every day, but I appreciate others can find it distracting.. I use it for general chit chat, calls, anything that is urgent. I tend to use email if I need a task completing that doesn't have a deadline, or if I have a lot of info to convey. Sometimes the group teams can get too distracting when I am working on certain tasks but I just mute the chats .

It’s annoying that it does that in the desktop version but not the Teams app.

My recommendation is to use 'do not disturb' for periods when you want to focus. This should stop notifications and people will be able to see you are on DND rather than ignoring them.

Anyone I regularly have to contact, I ask whether their communication preference is Teams or email, as it varies.

If it’s a “to do” type message I create a task. If it relates to an activity I add it to the planner. Teams has loads of useful tools to manage your workflow.

Our whole business is run on teams.

zero internal emails.

channels for business functions, projects, meetings, chats etc.

It took some getting used to but it works really well now.

Teams goes off non stop at my work, unless it a chat or specifically tagging me then I don’t really pay attention.

Which is great until there's a serious P1 incident, your expertise is required ASAP and you're out of contact on the channel agreed in your contract.....

Because I never ever manage to press the right 'x' when I've finished reviewing an attachment on Teams I'm eternally accidentally closing Teams. Quite the blessing.

I think if I were you I’d mute all chats then designate 1/2 hour in the middle of the day and 1/2 hour at the end of the day to read them all, create tasks or add to to do list and respond saying « I’ll come back to you ».

be strict with how often you’re checking it because honestly how urgent is the request going to be? You aren’t doing open heart surgery. It can wait a couple of hours.

Senior staff at my workplace have started doing similar. One director has a Teams status message saying ‘If you need me to review a document or report, please send by email’

You can set a out of office on them managing expectations if that helps you

Hate teams - can never find anything!!

Sending a document by email is like going back to the dark ages. Unless what that person meant was to send a link to the source document for review.

I don't pay any attention to Teams messages. The whole system is a mess, it takes ages to find anything I want. The file management side is infuriating.

Teams wants people to "collaborate" and doesn't help people who actually have work to do. Emperors new clothes and all that.