(Or at least ThoughtWorks India)
Rarely does one ever hear the sound of phones ringing in the office. I didn’t realize this until this afternoon when an office phone rang…a sound that was oddly unfamiliar to me.
My hypothesis is that all the interaction is either happening in-person or over instant messenger, rendering the telephone relatively useless. TWIers, any opinions?
Communication between people in the office definitely happens by yelling across the office which contributes to the TWI office being very noisy.
But, a while back there was a discussion about reducing the phones ringing in the office (often with irritating polyphonic ringtones). Whatever we decided apparently it worked.
But, as far as the direct communication I think I heard of a TW team decide not to use phones or IM to communicate and actually make the effort to actually walk over and have a face-to-face and from what I hear it was really successful.
I think most important phone conversations are happening via conference calls, behind closed doors. Often with conference calls both parties dial up to the system at an agreed upon time. No ringing there, but your observation is still an interesting one.
I had this discussion at work last week. At my previous job I would get 20-30 emails a day and a majority of communication within our group (pretty much everything outside of our weekly meeting) would happen over the email.
At my current job I get maybe 3-4 emails a week, and I have yet to receive an email directly related to my job. Maybe a charge number or a link to a folder, but only after I’ve asked for it in person or on the phone.
Both have their benefits. I really like emails and IM because of the paper trail. Everything is recorded and nothing can be disputed later. But a phone workplace does go much faster. There is no need to wait for a reply or guess if the recipient is ignoring you or is just out of the office.
I haven’t been able to successfully email at my current job. I’ve tried send out a few serious work related emails instead of calling and had never received a reply. I called or stopped by the office and got whatever I needed right away.
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