Internal Communication Software (ZULIP)

Why Zulip

As mentioned previously RoboTeam Twente is a bitlarge complex organization, but also quite chaotic. This is not strange asand, it isbeing a student organizationorganization, aftersometimes all.chaotic Butteam. itThat canmakes hurtreliable theinformation transfer of information between members duehard.

to this. Students are on average driven, but lazy this causes them to take the easiest, but usually not the best option to accomplish a certain task. Communication is one of these, in the past

Historically, updates or specificand technical questions wouldwent bethrough communicatedin-person either in personconversation or on WhatsApp,WhatsApp. This caused manyrecurring problems,problems: thingsmessages would bewere missed when conversationsa becamechat verygot active, its hard to comb throughbusy, old conversations whenwere tryingalmost impossible to findsearch, information, but most importantlyand the attitudenorm people have when usingon WhatsApp is very joking,casual, gifs, stickers, etc.jokes, Iwhich amis notfine saying fun shouldn't be allowed,socially, but buries anything important. Part-time members returning after a few days away had no way to catch up on thesewhat platformsthey itshad more of the norm then the exemption. missed.

Therefore,We inneeded ordersoftware tobuilt keep communicationfor structured and efficient to use specific software that is optimized for workingwork on a complex projects,project. ThereOptions are many options to choose frominclude Slack, Discord, Teamsand etc.Teams. ButWe wechose landedZulip onbecause ZULIP as itIt can be hosted by ourselvesself-hosted, making it practicallyeffectively free while still being professional in contrast to something like Discord. professional.

The structurepoint of Zulip is not that it replaces WhatsApp. It is that its topic threading lets a member open a single subsystem channel and read that conversation from the top, in order, without combing through unrelated messages. That is the specific property WhatsApp and a daily stand-up cannot provide, and it is why the tool was chosen rather than only a change of habit.

(Keep that paragraph — it's the answer to the exact question your assessor raised about why add a tool rather than a practice. It belongs on the page and in Chapter 4.)

How the channels are structured

The channel structure should reflectmirror the structure of the organization as well in order to makeso it feelfeels intuitiveintuitive. toThere use.are
Youtwo canmodels startI withimagined:

a

• By general section that includes announcements, general chat & memos and after it would depend on what you think is more applicable.
  This can be either based on specialization: software, embedded, mechanical, electrical, etc.
  Orcontrol.
• By basedsubsystem: on sub-system: drill, drive train, drill, gripper, human relations,relations.

etc.

We
Eachused specialization. I would recommend a future team to switch, but a team should pick one they belive would be most effective to tackle to scope of that years project.

Every layout starts with a General section containing:

• #announcements: org-wide notices posted by management
• #general: informal chat, the social overflow that keeps the working channels canclean.
• #memos: thenwhere getevery differentGTM topics depending on whatmemo is beingposted worked(see onthe Memos page).

After the General section, one channel per specialization/subsystem. Within each channel, topics are created per piece of work in progress. e.g. in #embedded, a topic like "CubeMars motor integration". Topics are simple; make a new one rather than derailing an existing thread.

Example layout (specialization based)

Posting rules

A tool only helps if people use it consistently. The minimum expectations:

• Technical questions and updates go in the relevant channel/topic, not in DMs or WhatsApp. So the answer is findable at a later date by whoever needs it next.
• One topic per piece of work. Start a new topic rather than reusing an old one for a new issue.
• Announcements that pointeveryone must see go in time.#announcements

  Here(makes sense).

• Memos are posted to #memos within 24 hours of each GTM.

Getting set up

• Hosting: Zulip is anself-hosted exampleat ofhttps://roboteamtwente.zulipchat.com/. aResponsibility specializationfor basedkeeping communicationsthe layout:
  instance running sits with someone from Software or who is most interested in it.
• Onboarding: new members are added and shown the structure during the onboarding week.