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Microsoft Teams¶

Etiquette suggestions for Microsoft Teams.

Meetings¶

The same rules for Outlook meetings apply to Microsoft Teams meetings
Book a room with good AV capabilities if you have multiple attendees in the same location as well as remote attendees
Use video where devices and connectivity allow
Make use of screen share to share a presentation or desktop
Use the chat window associated with the meeting to share links and comments
Mute yourself if you are in a noisy location
If possible, join meetings from a static location and not while on the train or driving
Join meetings using the Mobile App - it will fail over to dial in if connectivity is bad and dial-in details exist in the meeting
Use Background Blur to hide your surroundings

Do Not Disturb (DND)¶

Change your status to DND when you are presenting or cannot be disturbed
Check the status of other people before pushing them for a response
Remember to reset your status if you set it to DND

Planner¶

Use Planner to track task assigned in relation to the Microsoft Teams assigned to members
Agree the labels and buckets that will be used as a team and document them with an Announcement in the Channel where the Planner is visible
When adding a Planner Tab and creating a new Planner, name it as “ - ” so that when the Planner name is displayed elsewhere, such as in the native Planner site, or in Microsoft To-Do, it has context
Once a Planner Tab has been created, rename it to “Planner” so it is clear what it is

Team Owners¶

Ensure that there is a description for the Microsoft Team
Ensure that at least one other person is an Owner of the Microsoft Team

OneNote¶

Use OneNote to store notes within a Microsoft Team
Add sections for each Channel
Add the sections as a Tab to each Channel
Rename the Tab to OneNote to make it clear what it is

Limitations of Private Channels¶

I need to be able to manage tasks using Planner - Create a standard Channel as Private Channels do not support Planner

I need to be able to create and manage Microsoft Forms and Power Automate Flows and share them with my team - Create a standard Channel as Private Channels do not support group ownership of Microsoft Forms and Power Automate Flows

I need to be able to schedule meetings in a Channel and record them - Create a standard Channel as meetings cannot be scheduled to Private Channel

Should I create a Microsoft Team, a Channel or a Private Channel?¶

I have a team of people working on a collection of shared objectives or projects: - Create a Microsoft Team with a Channel for each objective or project - Create a separate Planner for each Channel - Create a separate OneNote section for each Channel

Should I create a Microsoft Team, a Channel or a Private Channel?¶

I have a project with different areas of focus, e.g. Development, Sales, Marketing, Support - Create a Microsoft Team for the project - Create a different Channel for each area of focus - Create a single Planner and use labels to allow the tasks to be filtered for each area - Create a separate OneNote section for each Channel

Should I create a Microsoft Team, a Channel or a Private Channel?¶

I manage a team of employees (less than 30) - Create a Microsoft Team - Create a Private Channel for each employee - Add the employee to the Private Channel - Add an HR representative as an Owner of the Private Channel - Store files in the Private Channel that the employee is allowed to access - Communicate in the Private Channel in relation to objectives and HR activities

Respond to Posts¶

Use emojis in the top left of a Post to indicate acknowledgement, approval or appreciation of a Post

Reply to Posts¶

Most posts have the option to reply at the bottom of the post
Make sure you scroll to the bottom of the screen to ensure the reply option is visible as it can be easy to create a new post instead of replying to a post
If you accidently create a new post, delete it and put your response in as a reply where it should be

Profile Picture¶

Upload a profile picture so that people recognise you
The profile picture is used in chats, posts and during meetings
If you don't have a picture, your initials will be used

Posts¶

Click the "Compose" option for rich text and additional options such as importance and posting to multiple Channels
Use the subject line for Posts
Use importance sparingly so as not to "cry wolf"
Use Announcements for increased impact of messages
Don't expect an immediate reply - use Chat for a more immediate response
Use the attach capability to add a link to a file that is in the Microsoft Team
Drag a file directly into the Post to simultaneously upload it and attach it to the Post
Use GIFs and Stickers in accordance with the general mood to the Microsoft Team

Mentions¶

Use @[User | Channel | Microsoft Team] to ensure that the right audience sees the post
Users will need to be showing the Microsoft Team and have notifications configured correctly but these are set by default
Use backspace or delete to remove the surname of a user (if they are displayed as "forename surname")
Use @ sensibly as if it is overused people will stop paying attention to it
Try not to use @ with the Microsoft Team name or the General Channel, instead consider which Channel the post should be in and whether everyone needs to be notified or not

Guest Users¶

Don't invite guest users into a Microsoft Team without letting the members of the Microsoft Team know first
Guest users will be able to see all content within a Microsoft Team including historical Posts

Activity Feed¶

Regularly check the Activity Feed to see activity that has taken place in Microsoft Teams and Channels
Use the filters to quickly see important activity

Offline chat¶

Keep to slightly longer messages so the person is not bombarded when you/they go back online
Definitely don't just say hello and wait until they reply
Don't make it as long email, that is what email is for

title: "Mobile chat" author: Alan Eardley tags: - By Service - Teams source: Internal Contribution audience: End User strength: Should

Mobile¶

Use Chat in the Microsoft Teams Mobile App in the same way you would use WhatsApp
Set Out of Hours to mute notifications when you are not working

Group Chat¶

Additional users can be brought into a chat to create a group chat
Give the group chat a name if it relates to a specific subject

1-2-1 Chat¶

Chat should be ad-hoc and not related to decisions that affect a team. If this is the case consider moving from Chat to Posts within a Microsoft Team

General Channel¶

Keep this for announcements and Posts that don't fit in the other Channels

Channel Management¶

Keep the number of Channels to a minimum to avoid confusion
Agree the naming convention for Channels when the Microsoft Team is created
Do not rename Channels as the underlying folder in the SharePoint document library will not be updated with the new name

Source

Internal Contribution