Noise comes to us on a daily basis — text messages, slack notifications, team popups, ad-hoc calls, scheduled calls, requests for help, requests for coffee, etc, etc — the list is lengthy.
As a leader, that noise is amplified the number of members on your team and the number of projects and other groups you interface with. Easily it can become an oncoming stream of “dings” all day long.
It’s here that it becomes easy to confuse the bad noise for good noise (perhaps because of it’s urgency) and the good noise for the bad noise (because it’s one more ding).
If you’re stuck trying to identify which is which, here’s your guide (feel free to add to it).
Good Noise
- Getting asked for help by your immediate team — this is what you are there for.
- Bug inquiries — is it a bug? Who knows, but if it saves your team time, these are great for you to take on.
- Requests for meetings with your team from other groups — they need your guidance.
- Answering questions from other teams — see bug inquiries — this can be a great time saver for your team.
I work with a group currently where we have 3 meetings a week and maybe a smattering of other meetings, in total — maybe 5–6 meetings a week, and it is AMAZING.
