Why Has Documentation Become Important Than Ever For Teams?
The level of communication in us Humans has been one of many crucial aspects of evolution. It’s a very important trait that we exhibit, and this is truly phenomenal as we embrace how much time and effort was required for our civilization to get to this level of communication skills.
Teams are built with communication, they get stronger with it and achieve more with it being one of the most crucial pillars. However, amidst this COVID pandemic, we are moving towards the new normal, and Work From Home is not a choice, but a necessity, and thus, the communication in the team, which we had also mastered through a series of evolution has largely been affected.
Try to remember the condition before COVID and Work From Home was a thing. If you had come across a query confidential to the organization, you would have probably tried to figure it out through company’s document, and if you failed on finding it, you would have searched for someone experienced enough then you, probably 3 meters away from your chair, gone towards them, asked for the solution to that query, and would have resolved it.
Now, think of the condition with respect to these days. The same process is one or more messages and then a reply and if it goes as intended then a call, and a screen share (probably), away with the mercy of good internet of course.
Now, remember one more condition before COVID and Work From Home was a thing. If the person you searched for at first was busy, as you could see right in front of your eyes, they are busy with someone else, then probably you would have searched for someone else who was not busy, you would get to them and hopefully get your query resolved.
Now, coming back to the new normal with the same condition you first have to text, then wait for a reply (can take some time if they’re busy), then put a guess on someone else who would probably be not busy, text them, wait for a reply and hopefully if they’re not busy get on a call with them with the mercy of good internet of course.
Earlier, an absence of one document couldn’t have caused many issues, as the transfer of knowledge was just 3 meters away, however now it’s not that.
Yes, we can say that it’s just a message (plus the time to reply with a sprinkle of confusion) or a call (plus the wait for the reply of the message) or a screen share away.
Yes, we are working as a team, but we are working from home. Yes, we are working in the age of Google, but we have things that are confidential to the organization. Yes, we have our sense organs but communication isn’t possible without Zoom or Teams or other 3rd party sense organs (as I call them these days).
Sending a message, getting on a call, or pairing up remotely all adds up in time. Teams can be slower and might be repetitive over the same issues if we don’t document it. Working on a team while being physically together, we often overhear things, and of course, later when we come across the same issue, we know who earlier came across it and who helped to resolve it. Now, we don’t have that overhearing thing, it’s the demand of time that we document things so that as a team we don’t lose time.
Things that were earlier considered trivial should now be asked, will this reduce a Zoom call? Steps that earlier were considered Too Much Information, should now be questioned, will those delineate things, and reduce the wait of a reply message?
We are changing the way we work. Are we changing the way we document things?
