Articles · Psychology of technology in business · Batumi
Work chats without burnout: rules for the team
A work chat is handy while it has five people and ten messages a day. Then it turns into noise: important things get lost, people get nervous and reply at night. A few rules bring back order.
Signs that chats are wearing the team out
- Important things have to be dug out of a hundred messages.
- Employees reply late in the evening and at weekends “just in case”.
- The same questions are asked five times.
- Voice notes several minutes long that have to be replayed.
Rules that work
- Working hours. After a set time messages wait until morning; urgent things — by phone call only.
- Different chats for different things. Announcements (only the manager writes), work, and a separate informal one.
- One message — one task: what, who, by when.
- Voice notes — under a minute or in text; tasks — text only.
- The outcome of a discussion is summed up by one person in a short message.
- Documents — in a shared folder, not in the chat.
Technically
- A pinned message with the rules in every chat.
- Do Not Disturb outside working hours on work phones.
- A shared cloud for files with clear folders.
The manager sets the tone
If the manager writes tasks at 11 pm, the team will answer at 11 pm. Scheduled sending in the messenger and email solves this: you write when convenient, the employee receives it in the morning.
How I help
I set up a shared cloud for documents, employees’ phones and computers, notification modes, and help move tasks from chats into a simple system. Office IT support →
FAQ
Questions and answers
Do we need a separate task app?
For a team of up to 5–7 people rules and a shared spreadsheet are often enough. Larger — think about a simple task system.
How do we introduce rules without offending anyone?
Discuss them with the team and agree together: rules people suggested themselves are followed better.
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