Information has varying degrees of relevance over time
While those degrees of temporal relevance span a spectrum, it is practical to divide that spectrum into two categories: ephemeral and persistent
Ephemeral information has immediate value and is rarely needed in the future
Persistent information has significant long term value
Streaming Communication Solutions
Overview
Streaming communication solutions are well suited for ephemeral information and impractical for persistent information
Messaging
Messaging applications are an excellent means of communicating ephemeral information
Good messaging applications also maintain a history of messages, enabling searching for past communication when needed
While message history provides a form of persistence, message history is not a practical substitute for dedicated persistent communication solutions
The main reasons why messaging systems are impractical for persistent information is:
They contain significant noise and are not an optimal digest for old information
Message history is mostly immutable and cannot be practically refined and maintained
Messaging is ideal for quick exchanges that are completed within a few minutes
Messaging becomes less optimal as the length of a discussion increases
Meetings
For longer discussions, meetings are superior to messaging
Meetings are the optimal method for batching topics, integrating collaborator input, and reaching consensus
Meetings add a healthy personal touch to communication
Agendas
Meetings with agendas are more efficient than meetings without agendas
Depending on the topics and participants, some meetings are useless without an agenda
Meeting Persistence
It can be useful to record meetings, but recordings are not a practical digest of information
Meeting notes are a superior means of persisting meeting information
Structured Communication Solutions
Structured communication solutions are well suited for persistent information
While many structured communication solutions include streaming communication features (such as comments), structured communication solutions are not well suited for ephemeral information as messaging applications and meetings are
Documents
Documents are one of the best means of communicating persistent information
Documents value increases when documents are cross-linked
The World Wide Web is built upon the paradigm of cross-linked documents
Documentation needs maintenance in order to stay relevant and reliable
Commenting
Most collaborative documentation solutions include a commenting feature
Document comments are ephemeral—they are intended to be resolved and are not intended to store long-term information
Persistent comments should be stored within the actual content of the document, using annotation styling when available
Document comments are inefficient for initial document composition—meetings are a superior method of integrating initial input from multiple people
Once a document is established and only periodically updated, document comments are much more useful, where the comments can act as deferred tickets that may not need immediate resolution but are tagged to the document so they aren't forgotten
Issue Tracking Software
Issues are a middle ground between ephemeral and perpetual information, in that issue relevance usually persists longer than a message, but issues are still intended to be ultimately resolved and closed
Issue tracking software is not well suited for Information that is intended to be indefinitely relevant
For such information, a document is superior
Unlike messaging applications, issue tracking software employs a more structured, cross-linked data model, resulting in superior management and reporting of historical data than messaging applications provide
Commenting
Like documentation solutions, issue tracking software usually includes a feature where users can comment on issues
For a new team, it is usually impractical to rely heavily on issue comments
As a team grows and becomes more established, it is usually more efficient to move much of the communication from messaging applications to issue comments
This way, discussions become closely associated with the issues they relate to, resulting in better grouping and management of ephemeral information
The transition to relying more on issue comments is dependent on critical mass—the more team members comment on issues the more worthwhile it becomes to watch issues and keep track of issue comments
Participant Optimization
With the advent of the information age, it has become increasingly easy to get drowned by noise
Conversely, with the advent of the information age, one of the greatest challenges is finding the information that is needed
For each communication forum within an organization, there is a delicate balance in selecting the participants of that forum
When people who are not needed are participants in a forum, it adds unnecessary noise to their work and wastes their time
When those people are also vocal within that forum, other people's time is wasted as well
When a forum lacks essential participants, time is wasted for everyone within that forum and everyone dependent on the output of that forum