• Most of communication at iDeveloperNetwork is performed by email and various issue/task trackers. Instant messaging applications are used where realtime communication is necessary. Voice communication is used very rarely.
  • If IM/Voice is used, then it is good practice to send outcome of discussion by email, or add it to appropriate issue/task/wiki page.
  • No titles should be used in internal communication.
  • Polite communication is highly appreciated. Never become personal or demonstrate your superiority.
  • All employees should keep old email history as well as IM communication logs
  • Early response is highly appreciated, especially due to distributed structure of iDeveloperNetwork. Always keep in mind, that your answer may be necessary for somebody to continue his work. If you expect that answering an email will take significant time – just send an update, saying e.g. “I’m going to answer by tomorrow morning”
  • When you ask a question, and expect some probable answers – write your expectations and your reaction in such case. E.g. “Do you have access to production server? If yes – can you send me login/pw, or add my public key (attached) to authorized_keys, if no – will it be ok if we deploy on our stage server or should we wait for access to production?”
  • Always add CC for those, who may be interested.
  • Plain text messages are preferable over HTML.
  • Do you mix many topics in one email. It is much easier to process several smaller emails then one big. Send different types of information in separate emails, e.g. internal questions, questions for customer, daily reports, technical discussions. If email contains several requests, then these requests should be numbered.
  • Emails should be as short as possible.
  • Before starting to write a reply, make sure you have completely read original email
  • Before sending a reply, make sure that you have answered all questions that were asked in original email
  • When quoting, make sure that you clearly highlight quoted text, and that you leave an empty line between any quoted and any your text. If your mail app fails to highlight quoted text, then do it yourself by adding a ‘>’ in front of each line, or ‘====*’ or ‘—’ after quote
  • If your email contains information, that should be forwarded (to customer, to tech support, to 3rd party) – then write this part of email so, that your recipient can simply copy it.