I had an interesting conversation today with a coworker about why projects tend to fail at organization and meeting key milestones. One point we touched on was communication, or lack thereof. Are daily standing staff meetings enough? Or should there be a better policy the team should follow to ensure decisions, ideas and issues are properly shared and recognized by the entire team? Too often does the left hand not know what the right hand is doing. Team members simply aren’t on the same track.
I know it may sound obvious or preachy but this is a KEY reason IMO why team members need to be on site the majority of the week. Whether it be passing by someone’s office or next to the coffee machine, it’s much easier to spark up a quick conversation rather than play phone tag or have your simple, one-line question buried in someone else’s inbox. Even with all the fancy telepresence we have today, face-to-face time is still much more valuable than hiding behind a computer, webcam, telephone etc. It saves time and helps the entire team stay on the same wavelength. I agree, this concept has been so belabored that it’s lost absolutely all meaning. But implementing effective communication practices in reality is actually quite difficult and takes a coordinated, collective effort by the entire team; which is why few teams actually succeed at it.
