Communication

Communication values

⁠

Assume positive intent. Always coming from a position of positivity and good intention.

Form an opinion. We strive to build a psychologically safe environment at Hatch. We want to know your thoughts, opinions, and feelings on things.

Start by asking Why. Don’t default to telling someone how to accomplish something. Come from a perspective of trying to better understand their decision.

Feedback is essential. Help everyone up their game in a direct but constructive way. We practice

Radical Candor⁠

at Hatch.

Golden rules

⁠

It is 100% OK to ask as many questions as you have - Please ask in public channels! If someone sends you a handbook link, that means they are proud that we have the answer documented - they don't mean that you should have found that yourself or that this is the complete answer. If your answer is something you feel like should be in the handbook, please make a #request in Slack for it be added.

When someone asks for something - Reply back with a specific timeline + action. Answers like: 'will do', 'OK', or 'it is on my todo list' are not helpful.

When something goes wrong. Focus on what has actually happened, not on whose fault it is. Assigning blame is not productive.

Giving & Receiving Good Feedback

Be as specific as possible with your feedback. An example can help give the recipient context.

If your feedback concerns behaviour, focus on the behaviour itself and its impact on you rather than attacking the person’s character. For example, ‘When you do X, it makes me feel Y. Would you be willing to do Z instead?’

How to define effective feedback:

Includes at least one specific example for context [Situation]

Cites behaviours or skills of the recipient [Behaviour]

Explicitly references the impact (positive, negative, or both) of the recipient’s contributions [Impact]

You do not have to accept all feedback! However, it’s probably worth reflecting on it, rather than reacting in the moment. There is a difference between acknowledging feedback and disagreeing with it.

Reinforce Positive Feedback. We should always try to reinforce and affirm things we want that person to keep doing! Do you really appreciate it? Think about leaving a

Kudos [⭐️ Updated 24/3]⁠

for them.

Communicate Often

⁠

We work very cross-functionally at Hatch so often your teammates and other teams have no clue what you're up to, or whether you're stuck, or if you need help. They will know if you tell them.

There's no such thing as too much communication at Hatch. If you feel like you're over-communicating, you probably aren't.

Now, you don't need to post a Slack message every time you step away from the keyboard or to feed your dog (but you can share dog photos). We don't need an hourly status update.

Good indicators on when you should communicate more

⁠

🤔 Let people know when you're stuck on something. Even if you don't need any help and are confident, you can solve it. Share it anyway. You don't want to spend half a day figuring out why the new product engineering roles are not syncing with the Company Page. Something was still in staging.

😍 Let people know when you start work on something new. Maybe someone is actively doing something similar in that space or knows of something coming up that may affect you. Perhaps they'd like to help.

🗺️ Let people know your plan. As you figure out how you will do something, share it. If you spend all week going in the wrong direction, it sucks for everyone - you'll have wasted your time, and your team will feel bad telling you that you missed something important.

Even if your plan is perfect, by sharing it, you'll get some thumbs-up, and you can proceed more confidently (and probably faster than if you had any nagging doubt.)

🥅 Share a summary of your day or your goals for the day. Maybe you worked on something someone else is interested in, or maybe something's taking longer than you planned.

As a rule of thumb, you may not be communicating enough if you've spent more than a few hours stuck on something or more than a day without letting people know what to do. And it can lead to a downward spiral.

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