- Separating urgent messages from routine ones
- Agreeing a channel, a checking time and a fallback
- Trying it for a week and reviewing misses and load
The short answer
Before cutting notifications, decide where urgent messages will arrive. Once the urgent channel is clear, you can switch everything else to being checked in batches without worrying as much about missing something. Then reduce the duplicates, where the same message reaches you in several places.
What counts as urgent depends on the person
Urgency varies with the work and the role. For example, a payment confirmation matters right away to someone in accounts, while a client inquiry matters right away to someone in sales. Recommending the same settings to everyone may not work.
Start by splitting the messages you receive into two groups.
| Type | Examples | How to handle |
|---|---|---|
| Needs action now | A same-day schedule change, an urgent client request | Look when it arrives |
| Routine | Company announcements, shared documents | Check at set times |
Agree on a channel and a fallback
For urgent messages, agree on three things as a team.
- Channel: where urgent messages go (for example, a phone call or a specific place in your chat tool)
- Checking time: roughly when routine messages will be read
- Fallback: if there is no reply, how long to wait and how to try next
Some business chat tools (chat services used for internal communication) let you adjust notifications for each topic area, often called a channel. If yours does, you can keep alerts on only for the urgent ones.
Three things a team agrees on for urgent messages
- Where urgent messages go
- For example, a call or one chat channel
- When routine messages are read
- Everything else in batches
- If there is no reply
- How long to wait, and how to follow up
Reduce the duplicates
The same message sometimes arrives both by email and as an app notification. For example, a calendar invitation may come by email while the calendar app also alerts you. If noticing it in one place is enough, check the service's settings to see whether the other can be reduced.
Do not switch off notifications related to safety, medical matters, disaster response or system monitoring on your own judgment. If they need to change, get permission from the person in charge or an administrator.
Try it for a week, then review
After changing your settings, leave them for about a week. Then look back at two things.
- Did you miss any message, or notice one too late?
- How did the interruptions and the load feel?
If something was missed, look at where it came from and adjust the channel or the setting.
Personal settings alone do not always solve it. If everyone posts in every channel, or messages do not make clear whether they are urgent, the team's way of communicating needs a look too. Notification settings also depend on things like the device's state and signal, so settings alone cannot guarantee that an important message gets through. For urgent matters, have a way to confirm it was received.
In summary
Checklist
- Have you separated messages that need action now from routine ones?
- Does the team share where urgent messages should go?
- Is there an agreed fallback when nobody replies?
- Have you checked for notifications duplicated across email and apps?
- Have you left on any notifications that must not be switched off without permission?
- Have you scheduled a review of misses and load after one week?
One thing to check today
Check where routine messages and urgent messages are each supposed to reach you.