Internal communications
Information Ecology's Sample Internal Communications Agreement: https://ecl.gy/comms-agree
- management vs employees
- standardize or not (i.e. letting all teams choose their own)
- Open vs not
- client communication
- internal communication is heart of culture
- internal communication is hot potato
- security adds another layer of complexity
- how does one do ad hoc projects ("flocking")?
- often, internal communcation sucks
- one challenge; teaching people which tools are appropriate for which seeting and situation
- we discussed generalized tools vs specific tools
- some orgs have people who's authority/responsibility is internal tooling
- what approachs work in large organizations vs small organizations/teams?
- how does enforcement of tool use work?
- how does one make best practices clear, and maintain accountablity to the agreement? Needs to be in writing.
- how does one remain inclusive while also serviing open source as a value (when some people's brains aren't compatible with the tool)?
- in person is often important
- pandemic caused "rereckoning" of "why are we here?".
- how does one have non-punative accountablilty?
- Some poeple have boundaries around some technology, and just won't engate with some technology
- executive management often has different tools than everyone else. who enforces with them?
- many organizations copy approaches used by other organization
- need tools for deliberative privacy
- some human elements are both often gendered and not recogized as real work
- should we have a "builtwith.com" for internal communication tool stacks?
- how does one do emotional labor with many of these tools?
- power dynamics often embedded in tooling
- neurodiveranege has become enormous issue
- groundrules (self-enforced norms vs policy )
- (see also "The Love Machine": https://www.informationweek.com/it-leadership/one-on-one-with-second-life-creator-philip-rosedale )
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managing a product team: scrum team in the same room work ok
growing a team within government
high touch p2p communication is difficult to scale
up down the hierarchy
--- groups spend so much time with external comms but not intentional about internal comms
messy within unions and enterprise infrastructure
management (np) is a nefarious, a tension between staff and management
inattention and protocols internally scaling
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wikimedia: lots of opinions about internal documentation tools, FLOSS, UX/usability of tools esp FLOSS/Not
internal wiki for the organization
decision points for internal info vs external info
standardizing tools and processes but how to decide/agree on which standards to enforce, etc
open source software
tech committee for open referral human resources standards
fully remote head strong people how to set boundaries, visibility,
work flows
what are viable open source alternatives that would function
client support: internal and critical element (clients, revenue) how to maintain engagement; silence communicates more than maybe intended
--- internal comms as hot potato
foundation for culture setting, mission delivery, safety
yet is difficult
most important and no body owns
foundational enabling constructs of collaboration of mvt building
--- nonprofit sector the center point is people not just tools
how to put the people in the center is essential
using their language
ensures success of their product
quiet: tool for internal comms
co-founder fight for future
internal chat: was how responded, thought, reacted together
hacking to get access to internal comms
E2E so could be run by 3rd party
user needs - signal doesn't work for teams; group doesn't work for signal
tools that don't require servers; so could work in case servers go down
role of authority / decision making limits in work and how influences
matrix: when we use x tool and y tool and why
culture, clarity of roles,
unionization ---
flocking, temporary collaborations and how to manage work flows and information
mvt attempts to build internal comm tools like crabgrass
project management
institutional histories
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communications coordinator
project coordinators
easy when working with one org
time limited collaborations with and how to bring people together
streamline the function once realize things are crumbling
1 - 100s remote size experiences
internal comms reflect limited ways thinking about distributing power
bringing in subcontracts
internal as a project working on
working open
micro blogging
civiccrm:
position as internal comms
university research institute
IT institute
minor in communication
managing large team is difficult
vision and mission and
head of department:
structured flow of information
when to use an email
call a meeting
follow up to an email that needed processing time turns into
right tool for a team
understanding a team
processes, understanding people
often times for a tasks manager
google sheets as a task manager for a team
dedicated tool might not be appropriate for the job
a more generalized and flexible thing is sometimes easier/more appropriate
how do you enforce tool adoption
how specific do you get
--- efficiency in the flow;
clarifying when is urgent to attend to
not everything has to be an email
accountability
power and how distributed in organizations
more than just
accountability mechanisms without IC hard
explicit policy is essential without leads to organic policy which reinforces
this is what we agree to do : IC contract of how to work together
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a full assessment of the needs of the organization
not about the tool: concept, context of the problem, what is the conceptual discussion
policy is to help correct a problem or create a more equitable playfield
automation
clarity on tools is often about chatting
less clarity around project management work
open project (values aligned)
diverse thinking/participants forced to use other tools that reduces inclusivity
not just the tool but the interactions
meetings
labour of organizing the activities and follow thru
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impact of the pandemic on labour experiences
how to make accountability non punitive
work that is transactional
what are the minimum set of communications that we can expect to
power relationships and dynamics
what can we reasonability expect of leadership and staff
accessibility
--- comm is engagement
documentation that's not used
neuro-divergence
auditing work flows for communication
challenges of US nonprofit section: policy enforcement
power that's not talked about
for compliance reasons: signal is not
guidelines and documentation that is not enforcement
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the difference of size/scale of orgs
being in orgs that want to get things done
dynamic of urgency and just getting things done
reactivity and convenience and just using what is visible and available or modeling what others are doing
privacy
and deliberative privacy; spaces to think together
hacking mentality of stack
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urgency
gendered and care labour of building emotional connection
how to formally name and recognize that
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tool that look at tech stack
social tools and processes that are used within orgs
all hands format of large orgs
awards, recognition
informal
intention
digital therapy
shame/awareness of realities of tools (choices or not)
org culture and communications
org culture needs to be defined just like
policy to create norms and how can also reinforce power dynamics
lack of collectivist grounding
what does it mean do things collectively
example: love machine at Linden Lab
https://www.informationweek.com/it-leadership/one-on-one-with-second-life-creator-philip-rosedale
guidelines online
org work flows, power dynamics
information flows and where power dynamics and silences
neuro-divergence
attention spans
traditional orgs and coalitions have very different needs
diff between ground rules and policy
more personal accountability
how much power has come up
micro changes/existing practices to incorporate into work flows
gendered labour within internal communication
each org has unique needs
large orgs people need structure