Module 4 checkpoint: communication tools and norms

You have roles, deadlines, meetings, and agreements. The last piece is the communication tools — and the norms that keep them from running your life.

Pick the smallest set of communication tools that covers the work. A typical community project: Slack (or WhatsApp) for real-time team chat, Email for external stakeholders and weekly recaps, a shared Google Drive for documents, and a calendar for meetings. That is four. You probably do not need a fifth. You almost certainly do not need a sixth.

For each tool, write a one-line norm: "Slack DMs respond within 24 hours on weekdays, urgent goes to phone." "Email is the system of record for external partners." "Google Drive is where decisions live; if it is not in the Decisions Log, it did not happen." Norms turn tools from sources of anxiety into sources of trust.

A specific recommendation for projects with members or volunteers in WhatsApp: use WhatsApp for individual messaging and for opt-in updates. Do not use WhatsApp as the project home — files get lost in the chat and decisions disappear. The project home stays in the shared Drive or PM tool.

Set quiet hours for the project as a team agreement: "No work messages between 8pm and 8am, weekends opt-in." Hold the line yourself first. The team takes its cue from the PM.