Alright, let’s talk about this situation I found myself in, dealing with what I started calling the ‘threesome messages’ problem. It wasn’t about anything weird, just trying to handle communications coming from three main places all at once for a project I was on.
Things started getting messy pretty quick. We had the main team chat buzzing constantly, then there were the official project management updates happening on a separate platform, and finally, important decisions or files often came through email. It felt like I needed three pairs of eyes.
Figuring Things Out
My first move was just trying to keep up. I literally had all three things open all day. My brain felt scrambled bouncing between them. I’d miss stuff in the chat while reading an email, or forget a task update because I was distracted by a chat notification. It wasn’t working.
So, I thought, maybe I can consolidate? I spent a bit of time trying to set up some notifications or integrations. Like, could I pipe the project updates into the chat? Tried that. It just made the chat even noisier, burying the quick questions that chat is actually good for.
Then I tried being super strict with email filters. That helped a tiny bit, but it relied on everyone else using the right keywords or subject lines, which, let’s be honest, rarely happens consistently.
Getting Practical
What actually started to make a dent was less about tech and more about just… talking. I brought it up with the core team involved. I explained how scattered everything felt and how easy it was to miss important info.
We had a discussion, a bit messy at first, but we landed on some simple ground rules:
- Instant Chat: For quick questions, immediate blockers, stuff that needed a fast back-and-forth. If it wasn’t time-sensitive, it didn’t belong here.
- Project Platform: Solely for task updates, progress reports, attaching relevant files to specific tasks. No general chat.
- Email: For the big stuff – final decisions, formal documentation, things that needed a solid paper trail, communication with external folks.
How It Ended Up
We basically had to train ourselves. It took a few weeks. We’d gently remind each other, like “Hey, can you post that update on the project board instead?” or “Let’s keep the chat clear for urgent things.”
It’s not a perfect system, you know? Sometimes things still end up in the wrong place. But the sheer volume of cross-checking I have to do went way down. It feels more manageable now. The key wasn’t some fancy tool, it was just getting everyone to agree on which pipe to use for which kind of water. Took some effort, definitely, but made the day-to-day way less chaotic.
