I need to rant about Teams culture

[Blueradiators]

As in, Microsoft Teams.

The constant pinging and "quick" questions are driving me potty. The interruptions!! I can't ever just get on with things because I am in a Teams meeting, or Frank wants to know if I have 2 minutes to call him and refuses to say why and then keeps me on the phone for 40 minutes, or Zainab wants to "quickly" run through the reporting slides cos she sees I have a free half hour in my diary.

Whatever happened to sending me an email? Or scheduling a meeting with an agenda so that I have time to think and prepare? Why does everyone feel entitled to an immediate response?

I am in my 30s and I genuinely don't know how this has become my life. It seems to have crept up and suddenly is everywhere. Is this just my company or are others suffering like this too? What can be done?

And if you're one of those on the offending side, WHY do you do it?!

I don't think I've ever witnessed such passion on MN! 😲

I have all notifications turned off and my calendar blocked out as busy at all times for the next 6 months. If people want a meeting I tell them I can't unless I like them.

People are still accountable for their actions whichever platform they use. Employees will still have objectives, will still have to answer to their chain of command and still be accountable for the actions and decisions they take.

whether they decide to communicate by email or Teams or slack or whichever platform the enterprise chooses, their colleagues still get to tell them that numerous unplanned random demands for meetings or actions don't work for them and that the colleague's urgency isn't necessarily their problem.

nobody is "more available" unless they make themselves more available.

You can use these tools to be organised. Block out time in your calendar when you need it and book meetings. I’d be very wary about coming across as inflexible because these are pretty normal interactions at the end of the day. If I was in the office I’d have people “borrowing” me, or getting me at the water cooler etc. How are you with these kinds of interactions?

I use Do Not Disturb a lot. But this isn't new, as everyone has said - I'm still grateful I don't have a phone on my desk anymore 😂 I used to have an external client who would ring and keep me on the phone for over an hour (she was too important to tell her to go away).

I don't reply to Teams immediately either, they're not more urgent than email and I get a ton of both, so I have to structure my time dealing with them or I'd spend all day pinballing between things. I check Teams first in the morning, then email, then get on with anything urgent, and I don't tend to look at Teams again until after lunch or if I see something urgent pops up. If someone sends me a 'Hi X' without telling me what they want, I ignore it until they expand on their message or I have time.

What I really hate is file storage in Teams. We have multiple chats and channels and I can never bloody find anything. It's better since we got Copilot, but how ridiculous that we need to use AI to find stuff that could just be saved in nice neat folders with naming conventions, like we used to.

Oh thank god - I thought it was just me being dim.

I cant find anything on Teams as it seems to be arranged in such a haphazard way. There's no logic or structure to it at all.

This.

when in the office I expect to be disturbed several times a day - it’s no different.

You reply pop some time in my diary - can you include an agenda?

I never really understood why people moved to Teams not email. I very slowly started to understand that people thought it got them a quicker response, though I never understood why. All it does is give me something else to check. It doesn’t give them a quicker response as I forget to check it. I only check once or twice a day.

I preferred it when we were in the office and people came to your desk. It’s nicer to have a human interaction and quicker too.

Yes! I’d forgotten that!

The last place I worked (contract) I notice some people used Teams to chat (non work related) with other staff members and wave people away with the words, 'I'm in a meeting.' The woman I was seated next to, had a bestie in accounts and would message her daily and spend a couple of hours a day chatting about their children, plans for the weekend, kitchen refurbishment, etc. Then they'd meet up to go for lunch. LOL

Agree.
When everyone worked in the office most of the time I used to constantly have people coming up to my desk with a "quick question". It's part of working together. Back then I used to schedule some WFH days if I needed to focus. But equally I accepted we are part of one organisation and need to be talking to each other

Um you do know that Teams isn't exclusively for home use?

I guess the difference is that people can look and see how "available" you actually are. You show green on teams and you could be engrossed in something that is really complicated or reading the staff newsletter and no one can tell. Face to face, people can look at you and see whether you've got your concentration face on and if they should come back later.

I turned notifications off messages off in teams years ago. There’s two reasons: I’m a manager and I don’t want messages on some topics appearing on screen when others can see it, and so that I can focus. I check teams regularly (it’s often fully visible on my second monitor) but t there are no popups distracting me

But you can switch your status to busy if you are concentrating

It drives me mad too. If I email a colleague with a question, he will reply with ‘I’ll call you to discuss this’. I end up on a call for 30 mins, which inevitably ends up on different topics, when he could just have sent me a 3 sentence reply. I think it’s that many people need to talk to people and wfh means they feel lonely/alone so they create reasons for face-to-face interaction. I understand this, but I still find it annoying!

That's what I do.
If i need to concentrate, I set myself to busy and ignore all teams messages. My notifications are off already.
If it's important they'll call

Sorry but you need to manage these people better. If someone really needs to speak to me “for 2 minutes” I start the call with “ok I am pretty busy so you do in fact only 2 minutes” then stick to it. Word soon gets round and they go elsewhere.

TBH I much prefer Teams than having a phone on your desk. Back then the phone was ALWAYS ringing and couldn't really be muted. Now on Teams I just ignore every message until I feel it's a good time to reply them.

I just close Teams when I need to get my head in something. Nobody needs to be available all the time.

I hate it too, OP.

I think people use Teams to “jump-the-queue” in your inbox. I check my emails 3 times a day so i always respond in 24 hours - so noone should need to queue jump except for a real emergency (or my boss!)

But often it is someone with a vague concern or request they cant be bothered articulating into an email who wants immediate reassurance as this is the piece of work that they are currently looking at. And then you get the 30-minute brain dump monologue.

I mute the prior offenders so I dont see their messages. Theyll get a response immediately - but not faster than email.

I have no experience with this Teams culture.
What industries is this common in?
I can’t image always having to feel like I should be immediately available for anyone and that if I’m not it would be classed as being slack.

If people ask for 5 mins I ask them to put it in an email or message so I can give my full concentration to their query at a time I can focus on it.

But people who call you on teams with no warning - absolute psychopaths 😆

Pre Teams we all had a phone on our desk and the rule was that we had to answer it within 3 rings! Plus people would just come to your desk and made it harder for you to say 'Not now'!

At least with Teams you have the ability to screen things first. I much prefer Teams, I can screen out non urgent stuff and set a time for catching up on all that later.