Communication has evolved with technology, but many of those now IMing colleagues cut their teeth writing internal memos on typewriters. Cultural and generational clashes are both common in distributed collaboration, and more damaging than they might be if the working relationships had a face-to-face component.

Many have discussed email etiquette, but for the average web worker, the notion of politesse can seem archaic — or even counterproductive in some circumstances. Here, then, are five golden rules for respectful, productive digital communication, whether you’re using email, IM, video chat, phone, or other communications tools like document sharing and time tracking systems.

1. Have an agenda, and meet it

To keep digital exchanges functional, set an agenda. Whether it’s a one-line email, or a one-hour video conference, your interaction will be more productive if you stay on track. Your colleagues will appreciate it, because it shows respect for their time. And it’ll let you identify any part of the exchange that’s off-topic, and end it — perhaps suggesting an alternative time to address it — before it gets out of hand.

Having an agenda helps cut down on time-wasting, but it also encourages responsiveness, since your collaborators know what you need, and don’t need to wade through the waffle to give it to you.

2. Don’t spam

In this context, spam is any form of unwanted or unnecessary communication. It doesn’t need to involve multiple recipients: leaving your colleague a phone message, then sending a text, and following up with an email, is example of spam. Sharing your new document with a colleague who’s on your team, but doesn’t need to use it, is an example of spam.

Spam overwhelms us. It makes us stressed and cranky, and it makes maintaining focus difficult. Be astute in working out what to share with which team members, and learn to differentiate between information for information’s sake, and necessary communication.

3. Respect time constraints

Having respect for the time constraints of your colleagues governs a range of collaborative behaviors.

Give collaborators time to receive your communication, digest it and formulate a reply around the other work they’re doing before you bug them for their response. Prioritize your communications points so that colleagues know what’s most important, and tell them if something’s urgent. Conversely, don’t earmark a task or communication as urgent if it’s not. As well as indicating the reason for your communication, identify your expectations of a response timeframe, so your colleague can prioritize your request.

Remember: while digital communications tools may seem immediate, we’re only human, and none of us can be in two places at once.

4. Be clear

Clarity and directness underpin digital collaboration. But, particularly in written or very short communications, choose your words carefully. Short can very easily come across as terse. Speak in a way that’s appropriate to your colleague, and your relationship with them, as well as the communications medium your using.

Choosing the right tool for the job can influence your ability to communicate what’s needed. Limits on length, or attachments and other inclusions, can hobble communications, so make sure you choose the medium that suits your needs best. Don’t try to wedge a phone conversation into a voicemail, for example — your garbled, rushed message will just add to the “noise” to your colleague’s day. Instead, just explain why you’re calling and ask them to call you back. Explain the details in person when they do.

Being clear is particularly important in shared, multi-party systems like document sharing and contact management systems. Stick to the guidelines your team has set for aspects like naming and storage conventions — it’ll reduce confusion and communications noise, and generally make life easier for your colleagues.

5. Be open

Digital workers can end up hiding behind a smokescreen of task managers, email autoresponders, and voicemail all too easily if they feel overwhelmed. Lead by example. If you’re asking a team member for something, be available to answer their questions about your request. Be diligent about responding to colleagues in an appropriate way using the foundations outlined here.

Accept that good digital collaboration takes time and mutual understanding — it is, after all, communication between people. Relegating a colleague whose communications approach annoys you to the back of the queue is rarely productive; the best way to encourage others to collaborate with you in the way you want is to take the time to explain your preferences to them.

That conversation could eradicate the kind of uncertainty that undermines good distributed working relationships, and cement the foundations for ongoing productive collaboration.

Image courtesy stock.xchng user JR3.

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The key to remaining productive is to not let distractions sidetrack you from your primary job. Here are a few tips for taking charge of your day and kicking a few of the most common distractions to the curb.

1. Social media. Turn it off when you need to focus. Seriously. Shut down your Twitter client and log out of Facebook and other services for at least part of the day when you really need to focus on your work. If you can’t turn them off, you can still disable notifications so that you aren’t having them pop into view constantly. This doesn’t mean that you can’t check social media while you work, but you can minimize the impact by only checking in periodically. Maybe you look at Twitter and Facebook once per hour, or when you finish one task and are moving to the next. But really, if you are checking Twitter every few minutes, are you really going to get as much work done as you would if you weren’t checking it?
2. Visitors. Whether you work in an office or at home, people will drop in and distract you. I’ll admit it, I often listen to music or put my headphones in just to signal to people that I am not available. If people see that you have headphones in, they will at least think twice about bothering you. Leaving your phone headset on can also work. You might try “do not disturb” signs or shutting your office door, if you are lucky enough to have one. I’ve even had pretty good luck with hiding and working in a super secret location until I finished a piece of work that needed focused concentration.
3. Unnecessary or unproductive meetings. I’m a big fan of not attending meetings that aren’t valuable in some way. Now, this probably doesn’t mean that you can blow off your manager’s staff meeting or important meetings with clients, but you can probably skip a few meetings. I’ll often look at the agenda for a meeting, and if there isn’t anything particularly relevant for me, I’ll send the organizer an email to let them know that I won’t be attending. On the flip side, you should be considerate when scheduling your own meetings. Cancel them if you don’t have anything important for the meeting, and always send an agenda in advance to let people know whether or not they need to attend.
4. Email. Most of us get more email than what we can possibly read anyway, and it just keeps coming in! You could probably spend all day just responding to email, but then you would never get any work done. The first thing to do is turn off any pop-up notifications that you get every time someone sends you an email. Next, set up some filters and color code email from important people to help you notice the ones you care about while ignoring the rest. Now, the hard part. You have to actually ignore your email and focus on other work without that distraction. You can occasionally glance at your email on a regular schedule or between tasks and look for anything critical. If it’s not critical, ignore it for a bit until you are ready to spend a little chunk of time focused on doing email.
5. Instant messages. For really serious work, you might think about logging completely out of your instant messaging client. For most of us, we can use custom status messages to signal to people how urgent their request should be before they interrupt you. I recently set my status to “cranky, interrupt at your own risk”, and I don’t think I had a single IM during that time. I also use the generic, “busy – priority interrupts only” status, and you can get pretty creative with these to let people know that they really should think twice about interrupting. It is also perfectly acceptable to not respond immediately to an IM. If a friend or co-worker sends you a message on a topic that isn’t going to be critical, ignore it until you get to a good stopping point or when you are ready to take a break and respond when it makes sense for you.

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Since I last wrote about VoxOx, it has improved considerably. The basic functionality works well. Incoming calls work fine; outgoing calls are available at competitive rates.

It’s been rebranded, and its screens are no longer the hideous and hard-to-see colors that they were in the last version. Managing one’s contacts has improved, and the service has some cool new features, like:

• A free iNum, which is a special toll-free number that can be called globally.
• The ability to share files of up to 100MB via chat, SMS or email.
• A “universal translator” for translating instant messages on the fly.

Unfortunately, with an app that does this much, I suppose it’s inevitable that there will be shortcomings.

• There is still no integration with my existing contact lists from Google, social networks, or the Mac Address Book. In fact, there is still no way to import or export contact information.
• VoxOx doesn’t yet let you port your existing phone number to its service.
• While VoxOx supports Skype messaging, you must have the Skype software open for this to work. That’s a limitation of Skype, and not really VoxOx’s fault.
• While the interface is definitely more readable than it used to be, the Mac version doesn’t use native font rendering, so screen text is poorly displayed.
• VoxOx doesn’t use oAuth or equivalent systems, so you must give the program your login information for the IM and social network accounts you add.
• VoxOx is pushy. The software registers itself to start automatically on boot, and although you can turn this setting off, it should ask before adding itself to autostart. And whenever you add an account to the program, the option marked “Invite my contacts to VoxOx” is checked by default. I unchecked it, only to find that it was checked again the next time I entered that preference screen.
• Surprisingly, there are no mobile apps for Android or iOS, and there isn’t even a mobile-friendly version of the VoxOx website. Apps are said to be in development.

I could live with many of these issues, but the inability to import and sync contacts is a deal-breaker for me. There’s no way that I can enter 1,600+ contacts!

VoxOx has promise, but I don’t think that it’s quite ready for professional use yet. Maybe by version 3 I’ll be able to use it regularly.

Have you used VoxOx? How do you manage your communications?

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Since I’m already a Gmail and Google Apps user, synchronizing mail, calendars and contacts to the EVO was a snap. And the phone comes with well-designed apps for Facebook, Twitter, Google Maps, Google Talk, and Google Voice. There’s also a multi-service social network client for Facebook, Flickr and Twitter called FriendStream.

But there a bunch of other Android apps available, both paid and free. So if you or a loved one are in line to get an Android phone for the holidays, here are some apps to get you started.

Communication and Social Networking

• Multi-protocol IM apps eBuddy and Nimbuzz are worth trying. Nimbuzz also offers international calling at low rates, comparable to Skype and Google Voice, but I find eBuddy’s IM interface richer and easier to use.
• Scott and I have both found Gist useful, and the Gist Android app does a pretty good job of presenting a lot of information in a small space.
• The DroidIn app keeps LinkedIn users connected from their Android phones. The app isn’t as complete as the official LinkedIn app for iOS, but it does the basics well.
• HTC’s built-in Twitter apps (Peep and FriendStream) are fine for basic needs, but if you want to manage multiple Twitter apps, use a specific service to shorten URLs, or to post images and videos, you might want to check out Seesmic. There are lots of others, too, including such well-known cross-platform apps as HootSuite, which I don’t care for, but others like. And if you like using Ping.fm to post to a bunch of services simultaneously, try the AnyPost app.

Internet

• One of the nice things about Android is the large choice of web browsers. In addition to Android’s native Webkit-based browser, there are half a dozen alternatives, including Opera, Dolphin and the beta version of Firefox Mobile.
• Unfortunately, there isn’t yet a simple way of syncing bookmarks from desktop browsers. Since I’m an Xmarks user, and it seems that the sync service will now remain in business, I’ve decided to make Xmarks’ “My Bookmarks” page my home page in the Android browser.

News and Weather

• The EVO comes with an RSS news reader app (just called News). It’s nice, but for some reason, it doesn’t have any way of importing feeds via an OPML file. Since I don’t want to have to re-create the several hundred feeds I already have in Google Reader, I looked for an RSS app that syncs with Google Reader. So far, I’m finding the unofficial gReader app quite adequate for news reading.
• The phone’s native Weather app is pretty, but doesn’t include many details. If you live in a place with interesting weather like I do and want more info, check out WeatherBug. It uses data from Weather Underground’s extensive network of local weather stations, and is available in ad-supported or paid versions.

File and Idea Management

• We’ve written about Dropbox many times; it’s one of our favorite file sync services. The Android app seems to work as well as its counterparts for other platforms.
• The Android app from another favorite, Evernote, syncs smoothly with other locations, too.
• I rather like Toodledo, the cloud-based to-do app. Toodle Droid, the Android version, is actually nicer-looking than the service’s web interface.

Password Management

• I can’t do without 1Password to manage and sync passwords. It can be used with Dropbox to make your password data available on multiple machines.
• And since it doesn’t hurt to have multiple backups, I also use LastPass.

Utilities

• As a web worker, I tend to need to get “under the hood” of my Android devices more than some users. If you’re in the same category, you might need the App Installer, which allows you to install apps other than those found in the Android Market.
• I’ve also added AndExplorer, a file browser app, which lets me get into the phone’s file system.
• For sending files, there’s AndFTP, a surprisingly nice FTP client.

I’m sure that I’ll be adding apps in the days and weeks to come. For instance, I haven’t yet found a solitaire app to match Awesome Solitaire for iOS, so recommendations are welcome!

What Android apps do you recommend for newbies?

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Adium, the open-source multi-protocol instant messaging client for Mac OS X, which is well-liked by a number of our writers, has been updated to version 1.4. I’ve been using it in beta for what seems like an eternity, but the delay in its release is hardly surprising, given the huge number of new features included in the new version.

In addition to support for pretty much every instant messaging system on the planet, including IRC (which I don’t use) and several protocols I’d never heard of, Adium now supports one or more Twitter accounts. Twitter integration is interesting, as when a new tweet from someone you’re following is added, a popup window appears, just as if you’d gotten a new IM. Frankly, I follow enough people that I find the constant popups annoying. But if you have enough screen room, or are using Spaces, you could leave the window open all of the time.

I find Adium’s implementation of Facebook Chat to be very helpful, especially since it allows me to review past conversations through Adium’s chat transcripts; something that I don’t believe can be done through Facebook’s own system.

Adium’s real strength is its integration with Mac OS X, including the Address Book. It continues to support Growl notifications, and an extensive list of themes and add-ons, so you can customize the program in lots of ways.

Adium has also improved its group chat function, which is very useful since I find it to be an excellent tool for collaborating with my colleagues, including those who use Pidgin or other IM clients on their PCs.

Let us know what you think of the new Adium below.

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There are plenty of chat tools out there, but using one that is purely meant for internal business communication has its benefits — at the very least, your team won’t be distracted by friends and family on one of the broader networks. HipChat is a group chat tool built specifically with companies and project-oriented teams in mind.

More Than IM

If HipChat were just a simple instant messaging client, it might not be that useful, but it also includes video and voice chat. Robert Dippell, who uses HipChat at Praetorian Group, says, “We have used generic chat services in the past that really only allowed us to send messages back and fourth to supplement longer emails or a phone call. HipChat doesn’t supplement those mediums, it streamlines our communication and in many cases even replaces the desire to send a long email chain or hold a conference call when the same goal can be accomplished and archived using the service.”

HipChat integrates a variety of other features beyond voice and video chat: records of past chats, file transfers and even an API to allow automatic notifications of what your team is doing. Dippell notes, “We use the service often to not only share but archive different files such as images, PDFs, word files, spreadsheets and miscellaneous links. By posting any of that content within a personal chat or room the content is stored there to refer back to down the road. It’s easy to see the progression of a project when you look through the archive and can open past files to review progress…We’ve encouraged our different departments to open and participate in rooms specific to their duties. For example, our production team gets a lot of questions from account managers and sales about inventory availability and scheduling. Rather than send an email to multiple people they can simply pop into the Production room and ask their question directly to the team members available to help them.”

Getting the Most Out of HipChat

Dru Nelson uses HipChat in his work at Brightroll. The engineering team there relies on the IM tool to keep everyone in sync. Nelson is careful to point out that the usefulness of a chat tool and HipChat in particular depends on an organization’s workflow and whether you some time is invested into using it effectively: “We tried introducing it to other groups, but it didn’t make sense for their workflow. One easy thing for companies to learn now is how to properly use online chat rooms within teams. There are many articles online talking about the benefits. Regardless of your organization size, the sooner you learn how to use these tools, the better.”

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It’s a busy space, Goober competes with desktop multi-IM programs like Pidgin, Adium, Trillian and Digsby; web-based services like Meebo; mobile apps like Fring and Beejive; and programs that add social networks to the mix, like Socialite. It also wants to compete with services that add voice and/or video chat functions, like VoxOx and Nimbuzz. The elephant in the voice and video communication arena, of course, is Skype, which has just rolled out a Windows-only beta of group video chats. Google Talk already offers video chat, and its acquisition of Gizmo5 will certainly result in upgrades to Google Voice. And Goober also gets to compete in the silly name contest.

So why do we need another multi-protocol communication service? Goober claims it has the following advantages over Skype and other VoIP providers:

• Users can call more countries (277), although Goober doesn’t offer incoming landline calls like Skype and Google Voice.
• Users can chat with users of protocols including ICQ, MSN, Google Talk, Jabber,
  AOL, Yahoo and QQ.
• The program integrates with Facebook and Twitter.
• Goober will offer six-way video conferencing on both PC and Mac (during the beta, conferences are limited to four).
• Outgoing call costs are 25-50 percent less, with calls in the US and Canada offered at a “record low” $.01 per minute.

I’ve tried the Mac beta, and while it’s usable, it’s not as elegant as the app from Nimbuzz (although it beats VoxOx’s ugly interface by a mile). The cluttered interface is not enhanced by obtrusive, animated banner ads.

Entering one’s IM and social network accounts is simple enough, although one must provide passwords, as there is no support for oAuth or Facebook Connect. It is possible to enter more than one account from the same service, but I wasn’t able to use Google Apps credentials to add Gtalk accounts.

Its tools for managing contacts are limited. Goober allows users to create groups, but if a contact appears twice (for example,  as a Gtalk and Facebook connection) the entries can’t be merged. One can’t sync or import address books, either.

I’m disappointed that Goober doesn’t support Growl, having opted instead for non-standard on-screen notifications. Goober also has mobile and web versions, but these are really different products with less robust feature sets.

For Mac users, Goober offers video conferencing options not (yet) available on Skype. For daily IMing, though, I’ll probably continue to use Adium.

Goober is offering the first 5,000 people to download the beta of Goober 3.0 a free voucher for $5 in credit. Try it, and let us know what you think in the comments.

The study got me thinking about my own IM habits, and upon reflection, I realized that my experience was in line with its findings. A few years ago, I used IM nearly constantly, but nowadays, I mainly use Facebook and Twitter to keep up to date with my friends, using IM almost solely for work. And given the number of excellent collaboration tools now available, I don’t even use IM at work as much as I once did.

Interestingly, the study points out that while IM usage has declined, email usage has remained steady, accounting for around 7 percent of online time. Such a finding also corresponds with my own experience (and if you’d like to read more on why email’s sticking around for a while yet, see my post “Email: The Reports of My Death are Greatly Exaggerated” (sub. req.) on GigaOM Pro).

But I’m wondering about the wider WWD readership: Has your IM usage dropped in the past few years, and if so, why?

Photo courtesy Flickr user somegeekintn, licensed under CC-BY-20

If you’ve used 37Signals’ Campfire, HipChat (which launched in January) is very similar, although it provides a greater range of access options — from your desktop, you can use the nicely designed web site, or the slick Adobe AIR desktop client (which works on Windows, Mac and Linux). The company has also just rolled out additional mobile access options: optimized versions of the site for both the iPhone and Android devices, and you can also use SMS messages to interact with the service. Setting up an account for your team is easy and takes just a few minutes.

As well as group and one-on-one chat functionality, HipChat offers a few useful additional features, including chat rooms (so you can make rooms specifically for teams or projects — private rooms are available on the more expensive plans), searchable message history (so you can see who said what, when — and colleagues who log in midway through a chat can look back over the whole thing), and customizable pop-up notifications of chat activity. HipChat also includes a file-sharing and storage service, which provides a quick and easy way to get feedback on documents and collaborate with colleagues in the cloud (if you’re interested in cloud working, you should check out our Structure conference in June).

Here’s the demo video, which gives a good overview of the app’s features and a feel for the interface:

HipChat’s pricing plans are pretty much on par with Campfire’s, and range from free (for up to four users, 25 MB storage, no private rooms) to $99 per month (for as many as 100 users, 20 GB of storage, private rooms). A full-featured 30-day free trail is available.

Let us know what you think of HipChat in the comments.

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The Frost & Sullivan report, “Meetings Around the World II: Charting the Course of Advanced Collaboration,” sponsored by Verizon and Cisco, surveyed 3,662 decision-makers in organizations in 10 countries. It found that 44 percent of organizations had deployed collaborative tools (VoIP, document sharing, videoconferencing and IM). The study found that as businesses invest more in these technologies, their return gets proportionally greater.

While the study shows that companies investing in top-of-the-range telepresence and telephony systems get the most return, even organizations deploying just basic collaborative tools (like IM and web conferencing) reap a return on collaborative investment of over two times. The study suggests this is because teams using collaborative tools can benefit from a network effect — the more users on a network, the more value is realized from it.

The study revealed some other interesting findings:

• Collaboration technologies can help reduce stress. More than half of respondents say collaboration tools allow for greater balance between work and personal life and help them gain more control over their busy lives.
• Confidence in virtual meeting is growing. More than half think conferencing tools are a good alternative to visiting business contacts face-to-face.
• Telecommuting is becoming more popular. Almost half (47 percent) of respondents report having a formal telecommuting policy in place. However, less than a third (27 percent) telecommute at least once a week, and 22 percent telecommute on a daily basis. This tallies with the numbers in a Forrester study, which reported that one-third of workers telecommuted at least some of the time.
• The environment is top of mind. More than half (53 percent) say reducing an organization’s carbon footprint and other environmental concerns are important factors in determining collaborative technology requirements.

This report shows why businesses need to move with the times, start taking advantage of the technology and tools that are available, and improve on those numbers that I reported on last week. The good news is that more than 80 percent of organizations surveyed that have not adopted collaborative tools plan to deploy some form of them in the next two to three years.

Does your experience tally with these figures — has investing more in collaborative tools had a positive impact on your business?

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