Professionalism

Here we talk about how we carry ourselves in the work environment in order to work effectively with others and to make a strong impression on others.

• Punctuality
  
  We try to be 5 minutes early for meetings.
  If, for whatever reason, we will be late, we let the people in the meeting know in advance. We also provide them with a conservative estimate of how late we’ll be. If we think we’ll be 10 minutes late, we say 15. We provide the reason for being late without being asked and we always apologize for it because we respect the time of our colleagues and customers.

• Responsiveness
  
  We reply to any mail within 24 hours, even if it is only to say that we have seen the mail and that we will send a more complete response later and we try to say in how long the said response can be expected.
  We use WhatsApp texts and calls for more urgent communication, and we try to answer these as soon as possible, usually within the hour.
  Internally we use GChat for communication, and we are available on GChat during business hours.

• Communicate pro-actively, especially when failing to meet expectations
  
  
  Sometimes we know we will not be able to meet the expectations that we set with our colleagues or clients with regard to when we will have a task completed. This is not great, but it happens to all of us sometimes. 
   
  The important thing is that if you are aware that you will fail to meet an expectation, that you pro-actively (out of your own) reach out to the person or people that have the expectation and (a) say that you won’t be meeting it, (b) why you are unable to meet it and (c) when you would be able to meet it and (d) in some cases, what you would need to be able to deliver it faster or at all. 
   
  You should do this sooner rather than later, at the point where it has become clear to you that you won’t be able to meet the expectation.
   
  If the day comes when they expected the task to be complete, and you find they are the ones asking you, you have failed on this standard of professionalism.

• Meeting administration
  
  When meeting with Clients, we send calendar invites at least one day ahead of time. These invites contain all necessary practical information like where the meeting will be and a link if it is a remote meeting. The invite also includes a meeting Agenda. After the meeting we write up short meeting but effective minutes to share with the other attendees. These minutes should be reviewed at the start of the next meeting. At the end of a meeting, a quick recap should always be done of (a) decisions taken during the meeting and (b) tasks assigned: who has been assigned what tasks and when should these be completed. These two points are the most important to include in the minutes. Also, a final agenda point should always be “when is the next meeting” ?

• Attention to Detail
  
  We get the basics of presenting ourselves right, even at a detail level. When corresponding with customers we don’t make spelling mistakes, things that ought to be aligned are aligned, attachments that should be attached are and our corporate identity is consistently presented.

• Healthy Email Habits
  
  We don’t write lengthy mails. If there’s a lot to say about something, we have a call. This saves everybody time and clears the air much better. If we receive emails with multiple questions, we answer every question, not just the first one or the one that trigger us. We answer concisely and don’t bury the recipient under a wall of text. Where necessary we invite the user to ask for clarification. If there are two relatively unrelated things that we need to talk to someone about, we send two separate mails.

• Note-taking
  
  In meetings we take notes because we know we are human and prone to forgetfulness. We take notes with pen and paper because it is a very effective way to demonstrate that you consider the words of the speaker important.

• Auto-aways
  
  When we are away from work we set up an auto-responder on our emails. These responses state the period during which we will be away from work, and provide a person (hopefully one who is at work) to contact for urgent matters.

• Email signatures
  
  We use email signatures that provide at least our contact details including email address, phone number and website.

• Client meeting dress code
  
  During meetings meetings with clients we dress smartly. This means no T-shirts or hoodies. Preferably buttoned shirts and neat jackets, jerseys or equivalent. During internal meetings you are more than welcome to wear whatever you feel comfortable with.

• Neat Profiles
  
  For our work we need to register profiles on many platforms: from your email account to github to Confluence. Always fill out your name, surname and other details neatly and add a professional profile picture. Here is a guide on how an appropriate profile picture looks.