How to scale communication?
How do we introduce processes for communication? When should we scale communication processes? What mistakes should we avoid?
How do we introduce processes for communication? When should we scale communication processes? What mistakes should we avoid?
Avoid premature communication processes
The biggest mistake I see is trying to impose a premature process. It starts with good intentions - the current state might be disorganized, so we go to the extreme and introduce a process too early.
The problem is that the process we’re trying to introduce too early might be the wrong process.
Instead of introducing a process prematurely, we should firstly OBSERVE the current communication pathways:
What are the roles involved?
Who is communicating with whom?
What are the scenarios for communication?
Which types of communication are most frequent?
To what extent are the responses able to be “proceduralized“?
Avoid premature scaling of communication
When building an MVP, you focus on the value first and the scalability second. This means in your first version, you’re NOT building a product that will be scalable.
A similar concept applies in communication - don’t start at scale.
The problem manifests as follows: when we define our process, we might want to spread it across the entire company immediately. This can be dangerous!
When introducing a process, firstly apply it at a small scale, treat it like a process MVP… get feedback, and then start scaling. As you do scale the process, do it incrementally, each time refining your process as you scale.
How far do you go with processes?
The higher the frequency of repetition of some communication activity, and the lower the variation in our responses, then the higher the value you’ll get from introducing processes.
A great example of this is vacation approval. Instead of employees randomly choosing whom to contact for vacations, sometimes via Slack or email or other mechanisms, it then makes sense to introduce a vacation approval process (and preferably to automate).
However, the more creative activity is, the harder it will be to introduce a process. Indeed, introducing a process might even be detrimental there. For example, the communication involved during architectural and technical decision-making.
How I scaled my communication?
After receiving thousands of comments and hundreds of DM's on LinkedIn, I’ve classified the communication and set up a lightweight process on my website valentinacupac.com
How I created the lightweight process:
I classified the types of messages I was receiving
I analyzed what the goal of the communication was
I analyzed to what extent the communication was proceduralized
The key outcomes were:
I received messages from Tech Founders & Engineering Managers regarding technical coaching & consulting. So, I use the Calendly tool to help streamline call booking.
Some messages I received were from developers who were asking me technical questions. This was one of the reasons why I created Optivem Journal, to help provide scalable knowledge.
Some messages I received were highly repeatable, such as “What are your recommended books?“ And in that case, my response is procedural
You can visit valentinacupac.com to see how I classified the different communication streams. I waited for several months before setting up this procedure so that the right communication processes can emerge over time.
Your experiences?
What are your experiences defining (and scaling) communication processes across your teams?