This past summer overwhelmed our part of the planet with extreme heat (for example, I live in Croatia and Serbia), fall seems to be following suit, and it’s harder to get things done when it’s hot everywhere. Research confirms that when it’s hot, we’re less productive. For instance, Harvard experts have concluded that good weather hinders productivity, while cloudy weather, on the contrary, boosts concentration. Surveys of office workers show that almost half of the participants admit that they’re more distracted at work in hot temperatures and spend more time taking lunch breaks. Then we come to remote workers who can allow themselves to work with a laptop on the beach or in a beautiful cafe with an inspiring view. It’s hard to stay focused at times like these, right?
What to do when you have to keep working, but it’s a struggle to get to your colleagues in a global remote environment? This is when I got the idea to describe our experience of how to correctly remind colleagues about their tasks. Thankfully, it works at any time of the year. Here are a few rules that will help make communication easier and more productive, whether you work in a crypto company or in the rocket industry.
Rule #1: Clear Terms of Reference
Remember that a detailed terms of reference that specifies your objectives, important aspects, metrics, and formats reduces the amount of questions and chances that a person will forget or postpone your unclear requests for later.
Go one step further and include in the terms of reference not only deadlines but also the pings of your colleagues involved in the process. For example, write in the description that you’ll DM your colleagues or comment on their task in Jira (or whatever you’re using) and remind them about it on such-and-such a day.
Rule #2: Understandable Reminders
It’s essential to not only reach an agreement but also to correctly remind a person that there’s a task that needs their attention. Don’t just throw a reminder into the chat. Instead, attach a repeat of your ToR, a link to the task, or a brief description. The type of reminder depends on the channel you use for communication.
An example from the Media: we’ve come up with a new social media rubric that highlights popular NFT projects. In order to better understand the audience’s reaction to it, we need two formats: video and cards with descriptions. The person behind the idea assigns the task in advance to the writer, the motion designer, and the graphic designer to run a test over the next week.
By the way, our editorial team has task templates for such processes, which speed up and systematize the algorithm of TOR setting.
Rule #3: Keep Things in Mind
Note that people can’t read your mind and also have a tendency to forget things, especially those that don’t fit into the usual routine. Be polite to your colleagues and lead to help effectively solve problems for the benefit of the project. You’ll soon see that people will be drawn to you. So, don’t be lazy when it comes to describing everything you have on the task in as much detail as possible, spell out the specifics, and don’t miss important metrics that will need to be considered in production. Otherwise, someone may not finish the task or misunderstand it, you end up getting a huge long read that took many hours of work time instead of an easy set of short tips with pictures on social media. Communicate with your colleagues, don’t be lazy when attending calls, and carry out regular checkpoints on tasks and questions.
Conclusion
A lot of interesting stuff happened over the summer in the Media. We released our first NFT drop, dedicated to our memories of 90’s pop culture. CP Media is changing, and the website is becoming more intuitive. We’re about to get an official redesign. If you have any questions, write to me at ekaterina.palianova@coinspaid.com or reach out to me here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ekaterina-palianova.
From September 19-21, the CoinsPaid team will be at SBC Summit in Barcelona. If you plan to be there too, let’s meet and chat over a cup of coffee.
