General Guidelines for Tools on Project Teams

Slack

We use Slack for casual and/or working chats
Slack communications are often asynchronous
To notify someone in particular, type @name with your message
If you want to call attention to everyone subscribed to channel, write @channel
To alert only those in a channel or group who are online, write @here
We default to open, so when in doubt, message the group in the channel (#client-project-name) instead of a direct message
CivicActions can download archival Slack messages if needed
The expected response time for Slack messages is 2-3 hours during working days
Use threading in Slack to keep conversations concise and clear

We prefer Slack over email - generally email is used for communicating with people who are not on Slack, for sending formal deliverables, etc.
We use a list (client@civicactions.com) for emails; this list includes everyone on the team (as well as some additional stakeholders and support staff)
We recommend keeping emails transparent to the team, e.g., anything that applies to everyone
State the name of the person or persons that need to pay attention to email: NAME: Subject or ALL: Subject
CivicActions team members might include a signature that indicates we are contractors to the given organization
The expected response time for email messages is within 24 hours

We track all work (current and planned) in Jira or an equivalent
If we are discussing something that needs to be done and there isn't already a Jira ticket, we will create one
If we are discussing something in Slack or on a call that does relate to a ticket, we make sure the conversation is recorded in the ticket (even if it's only a copy-paste of the Slack chat)
We ensure that tickets are up to date - tickets being actively worked on at least daily (normally more) and doing a pass through all other assigned tickets 2 or 3 times a week

This page was last updated on November 3, 2023.