Communication - 7 Tips to Help in Your Work

My friends always ask me to write a blog post in English, so here it goes!

I chose to talk about one of the biggest problems every single company has to deal with daily: communication. Oh, yes, this subject again...

This is an item that requires more maintenance from the management's perspective, because there are new people joining the teams all the time and it is important reviewing the procedures when you have new mindsets floating in the current universe.

Therefore, communication is something that was supposed to be simple. It requires only 3 items, basically: 

But, if it's so simple, why does it fail sometimes? The problem here are some factors or assumptions that create noises on the communication and break the process, making the parts do not get the proper message timely.

This is a very important concern raised by some of the customers I worked for. The list below is based on some findings I've got from my experience in the Testing area, from some mistakes I made in the past (everybody should learn with the mistakes as they are really powerful on helping people to get a good understanding about what they are doing and what they should/should not do) and some lessons I've got from those experiences.

When you have distributed teams working together with an ocean of distance, it is really important to make the communication clear and keep improving that skills across the teams. If the customer reports issues on that matter even if you are always working on that, it is a sign that you have to review some concepts or approaches taken along the relationship.

I know and I understand sometimes the communication issues are not only in your side, but there is always something you can do proactively to avoid any kind of misunderstanding and to keep the expectations properly aligned. 

1 -  Do not Spend Too Much Time on Resolving Issues You are not Responsible For

If this is blocking your work, raise the red flag, have the responsible aware of the impacts and let them resolve that. Use a clear message, with the right words. i.e.: "I cannot proceed, can you please help me on resolving this?", "This issue is blocking my testing, do you have any idea about when the fix will be in place?", etc.



2 - Have Your Calendar Aligned With the Customer's

Make sure the time you are arriving at the office is the right one for establishing the communication and getting the proper response times in case the customer needs to reach you, especially if you both work in different time zones. Make yourself available. It increases the perception of trust.



3 - Do not Rely on E-mail as the Main Communication Tool

This is usually the item where people fail most. If you feel it is taking time to get the answer you need, please, call the person or reach he/she on the instant messenger app you use. 

Example: Two e-mails without a proper response =  a call. 

In other words, send the e-mail to get the communication documented, but call the person anyway.

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4 - Do not Assume the Other Side Knows Something About the Communication in Place

Instead, make sure they understand. We use to have the impression the other people are aligned with some deal, but they may not be in fact. Communication is not only about what you are saying, but also about how the other side understands the message. Refer to bullet 1.



5 - Respect the Customer's Process and Hierarchy

People from the Testing area like to reach out other people directly, like developers, BAs, etc. This is what most teams use to do, but some customers prefer that you first reach out the direct responsible to address the question. Do not escalate the question unless you are told to do that.



6 - Be Proactive on the Communication

Instead of waiting for responses from anywhere, try to find out the responses you need. Do not wait too much for raising any questions you have. Also, share with the team the good stuff or important milestones you have accomplished. It makes them aware about your work and the importance you have for the team. Refer to bullet 5.



7 - Focus on the Issue

When reporting feedbacks regarding the work someone else is doing, like test cases that are not correctly written, etc, make sure you are not focusing only on the person, but on the issue and how it is impacting your work. It is strongly recommended in these cases that you come up with some suggestions for improvements, so you are giving the message that you are there for helping them and not for "pointing fingers".

One more thing here. If you have any question on how to communicate something, please, talk to your leader or someone in your team about the related issue. I am pretty sure you can be much more effective in the way you are communicating if you try to do this, so do not hesitate on looking for support or coaching when you need.
I hope these tips above can help on how you communicate with your teams and customers. It was very useful to me when I changed my mindset and started thinking in this way. It is not complicated to apply. In fact, it depends only on your ability to discuss that with your team, so take the mic and speak up!