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- Leon Bambrick,
 

Instant Messenger made its way into SSW by stealthy means. While I was initially suspicious of its impact on our organization, Messenger grew on me as I became aware of its usefulness. It's perfect for interoffice communication, for quick questions, requests for assistance and notification of phone calls. However, it is not good for any task based requests such as "Please complete the monthly sales reports."

Using Messenger solely for business use means it's become an invaluable tool for running our organization.

Do you agree with them all? Are we missing some? Email me your tips, thoughts or arguments.  Let me know what you think.

Rules to Better Instant Messenger

  1. Do you use your company name as part of your display name?
  2. Do you minimise MSN Messenger distractions?
  3. Do you sort contacts by Offline/Online?
  4. Do you send unnecessary messages?
  5. Do you confirm important chats by email?
  6. Do you know how Messenger can disruptive?
  7. Do you keep history of your IM conversations?
  8. Do you investigate your question for two minutes before asking someone on IM?

  1. Do you use your company name as part of your display name?

    IM Options Name
    Figure: Display your company name

    Using your company name as part of your Display Name has the double advantage or firstly branding, and secondly, indicating to other parties that your IM account is for work purposes.

    And be aware that MSN Messenger doesn't allow you to rename the account... So use your full name. I say this because if you just use "Peter", then I can't distinguish you from the 3 other Peters I have. If you are unable to change your display name, validate your email.

    Note:
        One of the common questions is "Where are you?"

    You can avoid this by putting the square brackets where you currently are eg. [SSW] or [Cisco Melbourne]
        The other common question is "What are you doing?" You can also avoid this by putting the product name you are currently working on eg. "SSW Exchange Reporter" in the personal message section of your MSN name. This can be easily changed, without having to go into your options, at the top of the MSN display.

  2. Do you minimise MSN Messenger distractions?

    Dealing with distractions is a fundamental rule to a successful project. MSN Messenger is a great way to get distracted. Following these options helps you to minimise Messenger distractions:

    • Set your status to Busy - people will think twice before messaging you
    • Don't display an alert when a contact comes online
    • Don't play a sound when you receive an email. Remember - you do need a sound when you receive an IM in case you're not looking at your PC when it arrives...
    IM Alerts
    Figure: Minimise the Alerts you receive

    If you run Outlook to manage email you should also minimise Outlook distactions

  3. Do you sort contacts by Offline/Online?

    If a contact is not signed in, you don't need to see them. Otherwise, they become a distraction.

    IM Sort Contacts Online Offline
    Figure: Sort contacts by Online/Offline

  4. Do you send unnecessary messages?

    Sending an unnecessary Instant Message is a distraction to the person you sent it to. Follow the 5 word rule; if your message is less than 5 words, e.g. "Great work!" or "Thanks!", it's probably not required.

    Exceptions to this rule, of course, is when acknowledgement of the IM is required. We use IM in the office to notify that "John from F1 is on line 1." If the respondant doesn't say "OK" promptly we have to get up and go find them so John isn't left hanging on the line...

  5. Do you confirm important chats by email?

    During the course of a chat a Client or manager may suggest a course of action or a piece of work that they would like completed. It's highly important that such chats are copied from the chat screen, pasted into an email, and sent to the client or manager with a note: "Confirming our IM chat this morning <snip from Chat>", and CC'ing anyone else who is relevant.

    Note to snip the relavent information only, especially when sending the conversation to everyone.

    Having an email record is much more reliable than going through chat logs when it comes to going through a project debrief.

  6. Do you know that IM interrupts? If you don't need it now, email it.

    When somebody sends you an email, they are not in fact interrupting you at all. You have made the decision to read your emails, so email is in actual fact far more polite than IM which is a complete nuisance.

    IM is only to be used if they would like you to do something NOW.

  7. Do you keep history of your IM conversations?

    IM conversations often can be as if not more important than emails, because they are usually only used for high priority issues or issues that need to be resolved now. Therefore it is very important to keep history of all your IM conversations. They can often be used as a reference point, or as a digital log of all the important issues that have been discussed. Infact, you can be guaranteed that you will want to revisit something you have discussed before with other employees.

    The only exception to this rule of course is when youre using a public computer, in which case privacy and security issues arise by keeping IM history on that computer.

  8. Do you investigate your question for two minutes before asking someone on IM?

    When asking a question using IM, always start your conversation with "I have already investigated this problem for 2 minutes....". IM can interrupt a person when they are busy, so make sure that you are well prepared and have tried to find the solution another way first.

Links

  • Windows Messenger Leave Site - Tired of telephone tag? Try Windows Messenger. Learn a new way of communicating with Windows Messenger in this article by Microsoft Press author Ed Bott. See how Windows Messenger lets you communicate in real time, plus get tips on organizing contacts, setting privacy options, and more.