#IXD302 Week 3 – Studio Etiquette

To start of the class today Daniel asked us to go onto Menti with the question being ‘considerations for the workplace’. Daniel then asked us a few questions like –

“What would be good working practice for a days work?”

  • Time management
  • Preparation
  • Positivity
  • Cooperation
  • Knowledgeable
  • Formal

“What would my responsibilities be?”

  • Time keeping
  • Conversations / communications
  • Idea starter / Innovator
  • Paperwork / Organisation
  • Creative
  • Feedback
  • Sketches,  brainstorming, researching

“Learn from mistake of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself” – Eleanor Roosevelt

Conducting myself in the studio:

  1. Be pleasant and enthusiastic.
  2. Be on Time.
  3. Dress appropriately.
  4. Noise levels. (use earphones and be mindful of others)
  5. Don’t gossip.
  6. Respect the surroundings, keep areas clean.
  7. Avoid smelly food.
  8. Offer tea/coffee, shows consideration.
  9. Don’t be afraid to ask questions.
  10. Remember the colleagues are people too.

Organisation:

  • File work properly.
  • Saving iterations.
  • Labelling work appropriately. (Especially if saving to a server where others will use the work)

Respect:

  • Acknowledgement – call someone by there name.
  • Make eye contact.
  • Ask before borrowing.

Workspace:

  • No workspace is alike.
  • Contribute as much as possible.
  • Familiarise yourself with the workspace.

Conducting myself in meetings:

Clients 

  • Greet others and introduce myself at the door (if unfamiliar with people).
  • Offer tea / coffee / water, helps settle people in to the meeting space.
  • Pay attention, helps confidence when it’s my turn conducting meetings.
  • Be on time.
  • Come prepared.
  • Take notes, acknowledge vital information.
  • Be mindful of body language and present myself well.
  • Keep focused, don’t zone out.
  • Don’t be afraid to contribute an idea.
  • Choose the appropriate time.
  • Try to be natural, professional and respectful – all great qualities.

Conducting myself during phone calls:

  • If phone call is ringing for a while, be the one to answer it.
  • Greet the phone call with  “Hello”, “Good morning” or “good afternoon” – be formal and presentable.
  • State the company name when introducing.
  • Say my name followed by “speaking”.
  • However, if not phoning for me, ask “Can I tell them who’s calling?” – or something similar
  • However, if not present take down their message and number and leave it at their desk.

Conducting myself during emails:

  • Write a good subject line (subject is about email content, nothing generic in-case they need to search later).
  • Use the right tone of voice. (Remember who it is that you are emailing, someone you know well or someone you’ve never spoken to before?)
  • If the email is unfinished always draft and save it for later to check for errors, etc.
  • Address people by name. Say “Hi …….., “ before starting.
  • Never use a casual linguistic register.
  • If it’s the first time meeting someone establish a connection, (How do I know them?”) – Repeating connections ask how they are doing.
  • Don’t waffle.
  • Only one topic per email.
  • Be enthusiastic and passionate in my language.
  • Break up paragraphs, headings, structure emails.
  • Make it clear to what you are wanting to know.
  • Things to sign off with – Many thanks – Thanks – Best – Regards – Best wishes – Thanks again.
  • Include details in my email signature.
  • Attachments with reasonable file signs and viewable.
  • Pace myself between emails – don’t reply right away unless urgent or don’t leave it too long.

“The simple act of paying positive attention to people has a great deal to do with productivity.” Tom Peters, American Writer

One of our values is comfort with ambiguity. That’s a really hard one when you start off at IDEO because— maybe it’s just human nature—we want someone to answer the question, ‘What am I supposed to do? Just tell me.’” The way that you define your contribution is an iterative thing because you have to put something out there and see if it works with the chemistry of skill sets that are on the table,” Dana Cho, IDEO

 

Task

For our task, we had to write a mock email using one of the 6 boxes as a reference.

My Email (Number 6)

Dear Tracey,

I hope this email finds you well. I’m writing to you today to schedule a meeting in regard to reviewing our current project progression. I believe this would be a great chance for us to discuss important aspects for progression, such as the projected timeline for completion, budget, and any other questions you may have.

If it is convenient, I would suggest meeting via Zoom on Monday 17th January at 11am.

Please reply to this email to confirm your availability and preference if you’d like to change the date or time, and I will adjust accordingly.

Kind regards,

Cormac McCann

 

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