Getting organized in Microsoft Teams is important as it basically is in all your work but specially handy when communicating with people in different time zones or working in large teams.
Your unread activity list can build up quickly overnight or when you are offline for a while.
So what can we do about it?
The organization here is a Team effort I believe and starts with actually using some basic features and taking some responsibility when creating a new post/reply.
1. Use the title field and give the main answer/statement/summary as title like “I have chocolate cookies at my desk for free to take” in stead of “Anybody hungry?”. This way it is easier for anyone to decide the post is applicable or not.
2. Use the Important button and only when it is really important, but do use it when it is so others can give this preference.
3. Do not @[user] when it is not really needed. Similar to do not CC people in email if they are not really involved.
4. Properly use the reply button when replying and only start a new conversation when it is a new conversation, this keeps the posts much more structurized
5. Use the like button in stead of adding new replies like “thanks!”.
6. Use the “Stop following” options for channels that are not interesting to you. This works also for auto posts created by apps.
7. Use the “save this message” option to easily find back your pending threats or reference texts.
8. Use the manual Read/Unread option to mark your posts in the activity feed for later followup.
It is a lot about etiquette and thinking also about the people that you want to read your post.
Working quick is nice but lets make it quick for everybody!
Enjoy and lets get organized!
Martinus Consulting 