Communication - 7 Tips to Help in Your Work
Autor: Eduardo Sauner | Publicado: 2015-05-26T15:33:00-03:00



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:&nbsp;


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&nbsp;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&nbsp;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.&nbsp;


1 -&nbsp; Do not Spend Too Much Time on Resolving
 Issues You are not Responsible ForIf 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 ToolThis 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.&nbsp;

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

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




​
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&nbsp;the message. Refer to bullet 1.5
 - Respect the Customer's Process and HierarchyPeople 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&nbsp;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&nbsp;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!