#403 – Out of Office? Keep Calm & Carry On
Friday Ship #403 | July 12th, 2024
It’s summer here in the US, and these are the months when I see a lot of ‘OOO’ (out of office) on our shared calendars. Besides summer holidays, some folks might be moving, on paternity leave, or dealing with other commitments. Currently, four of my teammates are out. On a small team like ours, we feel their absence.
This is a common situation for remote teams throughout different seasons of the year. How do you continue to make meaningful progress toward your goals? How can the team feel equipped to keep things running smoothly? How can we help teammates feel they can fully step away without worrying about work?
Here are a few things we do to make the most of a calendar full of ‘OOO’ events.
Set Clear Expectations
- Give Plenty of Notice: Inform your team well in advance when you will be out and for how long. This allows everyone to plan ahead. Add these dates to a shared calendar.
- Check-in with Your Team: Ask your team what they might need from you before you leave. They may have questions or tasks you didn’t consider.
- Delegate Responsibilities: Arrange for teammates to pick up your roles while you’re gone. Whether it’s a rotation in customer support, developer support, or leading team meetings, a clear handoff ensures jobs continue to get done.
- Emergency Contact Guidelines: Clarify what qualifies as an emergency and what doesn’t. Share your preferred means of contact and specify when you’ll be available. Let folks know when you might be offline or have limited access to communication.
Leave the Work in a Good Place
- Provide Status Updates: Give a detailed update on your work status and how you expect it to proceed or pause.
- Guide the Team: Help the team understand which parts of a project can continue and how much progress should be made.
- Prioritize the Backlog: Remind teammates how to prioritize work from the backlog if they reach a stopping point on any critical work.
Maintain Good Documentation
- Review and Update Documentation: Ensure key documents are up-to-date and share them with those taking on your responsibilities.
- Prepare an ‘Out of Office’ Document: Write down all the details discussed with your teammates. Include who is taking on your responsibilities, what work you expect to be done, and what can pause. Leave your contact information and emergency plan.
With good planning, communication, and documentation, you can effectively manage seasons when you and other teammates are out of the office. Work on these plans together, support each other, and return the favor when possible. This will help your team feel equipped to keep the organization running smoothly and allow you to fully step away from work and be present during other meaningful times in your life.
Metrics
Metrics continue to be flat or slightly down, which is expected as people head out of the office during summer. However, we have seen an uptick in signups week by week for the past three weeks.
This week we…
…released an enhanced search feature for our templates.
…published a video with tips to improve scrum ceremonies for remote teams.
…began planning our upcoming retreat with the growth team.
Next week we’ll…
…have another social hour where we’ll attempt to use our tool to play games again.
…continue refining and testing our in-progress Insights Feature. If you’re interested in checking this feature out, drop us a message at love@parabol.co.
