Catalog
concept#Product#Delivery#Governance#Reliability

Communication

Communication denotes the systematic exchange of information and meaning within teams, across units and with external stakeholders to foster clarity, alignment and decision-making capability.

Communication is the deliberate design, exchange and interpretation of information within teams, across departments and with external stakeholders.
Established
Medium

Classification

  • Medium
  • Organizational
  • Organizational
  • Intermediate

Technical context

Instant messaging platforms (e.g. Slack, Mattermost)Issue trackers and project management tools (e.g. Jira, GitLab)Documentation platforms (e.g. Confluence, GitLab Wiki)

Principles & goals

Transparency over assumptionsClear roles and responsibilitiesFeedback as a learning resource
Iterate
Enterprise, Domain, Team

Use cases & scenarios

Compromises

  • Information loss due to wrong channel choice
  • Delayed decisions when escalation is unclear
  • One-sided communication creates silos
  • Short, focused meetings with clear agendas
  • Written summaries of decisions
  • Regular feedback cycles and retrospectives

I/O & resources

  • Roles, responsibilities and escalation rules
  • Defined communication channels and tools
  • Metrics and feedback mechanisms
  • Agreed communication protocols
  • Recorded decisions and action lists
  • Improved stakeholder alignment

Description

Communication is the deliberate design, exchange and interpretation of information within teams, across departments and with external stakeholders. It includes channels, roles, norms, escalation paths and feedback loops as well as clear decision rules to foster alignment, transparency and timely, traceable decisions. Effective communication reduces misunderstandings and improves organizational adaptability.

✔

  • Fewer misunderstandings and rework
  • Faster decision making
  • Increased transparency and alignment

✖

  • Requires discipline and maintenance of routines
  • Not all information is suitable for open channels (confidentiality)
  • Over-communication can consume time resources

  • Average response time

    Measures the median time between a request and the first meaningful response.

  • Misunderstanding rate

    Share of tasks that required rework due to lack of clarity.

  • Communication clarity score (survey)

    Subjective rating of understandability and relevance of information in periodic surveys.

Introducing a daily stand-up in a distributed team

A team reduced coordination errors via a short fixed meeting and transparent agenda; blockers were addressed faster.

Release communication with impacted departments

Dedicated channels and release owners ensured ops, support and customer success were informed.

Crisis team with clear escalation rules

Defined escalation levels and notification paths significantly shortened response times during outages.

1

Conduct an audit of current communication channels and practices

2

Define roles, responsibilities and escalation paths

3

Introduce standardized templates and checklists

4

Provide training on feedforward/feedback and moderation

5

Establish regular reviews and metrics for governance

⚠️ Technical debt & bottlenecks

  • Outdated, unstructured documentation
  • Missing integrations between communication and ticketing tools
  • No standardized templates for coordination processes
Single communication ownerMissing channel standardsUnclear escalation paths
  • Making important decisions in chat only without records
  • Constant interruptions by notifications instead of asynchronous communication
  • Bypassing escalations instead of resolving formally
  • Confusing transparency with disclosure of confidential information
  • Overloading channels without prioritization
  • Assuming the same words mean the same to everyone
Clear written and verbal expressionModeration and feedback skillsConflict resolution and escalation management
Transparency requirements for stakeholdersSpeed of decision makingScalability of communication channels
  • • Data protection and compliance requirements
  • • Limited time resources of participants
  • • Technological channel limitations