Microsoft TEAMS — how to use Posts

A lot of people use TEAMS, but few of the people I know use the “Posts”-feature. This is a shame, because it has the potential to improve communication tremendously, especially if most people on your team are working from home. Here are a few tips on how to use it productively.

Organize your posts

I organize my posts so each post is the subject of a discussion. I am a project manager and work with building design, so some of the posts I use are

• Contract
• Time schedule
• Organisation
• Building permit
• Fire issues
• Roof
• … you get the point

Set up your posts

I want to make it easy to find my posts. Especially if my team grows after I have posted, my team members should be able to find relevant discussions quickly. That is why I use the following method:

First I post the subject in capital letters. Nothing else on the first post.

Everything from then on is replies to the subject line.

First reply (=second post) is a list of recipients. Use @ before their names, so they get a notification about your post.

Second reply is where the discussion begins. Yes, you have to wait that long before posting what is on your mind.

The basic structure of a post that will be easy to find for your team members.

Use this methodology every time, and you will have a limited amount of posts containing vast amounts of easy-to-find information.

You can attach files to your posts. I prefer entering links to where documents are saved (to ensure you have the correct version).

The effect

I had 2 similar projects, separated by a couple of months.

In the first project, we used email. I received approximately 1200 emails — total overload. Needless to say, I spent tons of time looking/searching for relevant information, yet my team was poorly informed.

In the second project, we used a Yammer-board, which is basically the same as Teams’ Posts-function. My emails plummeted from 1200 to 7, for the entire project. At the same time, my team was much better informed.

Vital: participation

The Posts-function only works if everyone on your team participates. If someone refuses, she will not get relevant information, so collaboration won’t work. If you want to give it a try, make sure you have everyone on board (which can be a challenge).

Good luck, and I hope this post can improve your productivity and help you enjoy your work more.