The Weavy Guide to Internal Communication

The how, where, why, and when we communicate. What are the various communication methods we can use? Is it long-form and asynchronous, real-time chat, in-person, video, verbal, or written? The challenge lies in keeping everyone informed without getting overly involved in each other's affairs. It's all in here.

Guidelines and overarching principles

Below you'll find a collection of general principles when communicating. They aren't rules, but they serve to create boundaries and shared practices to draw upon when we do the one thing that affects everything else we do: communicate.

1. You can not not communicate. Few things are as important to study, practice, and perfect as clear communication.
2. Communication is, by default, open. Never secret.
3. Relevance is fluid. Information shared today might not have any relevance to anyone but might be crucial in the future for everyone.
4. Real-time sometimes, asynchronous most of the time.
5. Focus on communication based on long-form writing or recording rather than a tradition of meetings, speaking, and chatting with the goal of reducing meetings, video conferences, calls, or other real-time opportunities to interrupt or be interrupted.
6. Meetings are the last resort, not the first option. Even more last resort? Weekly scheduled meetings for follow-ups.
7. Meetings should be ad-hoc and to quickly resolve, discuss, or present something. If you need to prepare a meeting, you're doing it wrong.
8. Five people in a room for an hour isn't a one-hour meeting; it's a five-hour meeting. Be mindful of the tradeoffs.
9. Writing solidifies, and chat dissolves. If it's essential, critical, or fundamental, write it up, don't chat it down.
10. Speaking only helps who's in the room; writing or recording helps everyone. This includes people who couldn't make it or future employees who join years from now.
11. If your words can be perceived in different ways, they'll be understood in the way it does the most harm.
12. If you want an answer, you have to ask a question.
13. Never expect or require someone to get back to you immediately unless it's a true emergency.
14. Communication shouldn't require schedule synchronization. Calendars have nothing to do with communication.
15. Where you put something and what you call it matters. When titling something, lead with the most critical information.
16. Ask if things are clear. Ask what you left out. Ask if there was anything someone was expecting that you didn't cover. Address the gaps before they widen with time.

Communicating day-to-day

Since communication often interrupts, valuing each other's time and attention is a critical consideration. Keeping people in the loop is essential, but asking them to follow along with everything is a distraction.

What we use

98% of communication happens in our HQ - that means all company-wide discussions, social chatter, project-related work, sharing of ideas, internal debates, automatic check-ins, status updates, policy updates, and all official decisions and announcements all happen in HQ.

We don't use email internally (we do externally), we don't use separate chat tools like Slack or Teams, and we (should) rarely have in-person meetings.

You're free to use whatever tool you want that simplifies and supports your everyday work - Trello, Confluence, etc. but company-wide sharing always happens in HQ.

Daily: What did you work on today?

Before wrapping your day up, Weavy will notify you at 4 pm and ask, "What did you work on today?" Whatever people write is shared with everyone in the company. And if you have a question about anything, you can comment on anyone's post and keep the conversation in context.

This routine is about loose accountability and strong reflection. Writing up what you did every day is a great way to think back about what you accomplished and how you spent your time.

Some just jot down a few bullets. Others write multi-paragraph stories to share — and document — the thinking behind their work. There are no rules here. Just write in your own style.

Weekly: What will you be working on this week?

Every Monday morning, Weavy will notify you at 8 am and ask, "What will you be working on this week?" This is a chance for everyone to lay out the big picture of their week. It's not about individual tasks or diving headlong into the details of the week. It's generally just your 10,000-foot view of the week ahead. It sets your mind up for the work ahead, and collectively, it gives everyone a good sense of what's happening across the company this week.

Whenever relevant: Announcements

When we have something to announce company-wide, we post it on our HQ. This means everyone sees the same thing, hears the same thing, and knows the same thing — including future employees who are yet to join.

Who can post? Everyone. What can you post? Everything that's worthy of an announcement. New hire. New client. A major achievement, professionally or personally.