About Microsoft Teams
Updated on March 28th 2020 to clarify that this relates to the teams part of Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams is not a new product, but theres still quite a bit of confusion about what it is, and how it can improve workplace productivity. Some people think that it is just a chat app. Some think that its just an upgraded version of Skype for Business. The truth is that Microsoft Teams is an extremely powerful application that can be used to enhance teamwork through enriched collaboration and communication. Unlike other Office productivity applications that have a legacy to preserve and millions of users to consider, Microsoft Teams is built from scratch with the modern workplace in mind. This also means that Microsoft Teams introduces a new work behavior, that many people especially those that are used to email might find difficult. Teams in Microsoft Teams explained
How can you explain the teams part of Microsoft Teams in a way that your organization can quickly understand? When I describe teams in Microsoft Teams, I use an illustrative analogy that most people can relate to. For those of you who have Storyals Lite or Storyals Pro, you will see me explain this in the Enhance teamwork introduction video. For the rest of you, Ill share my description in this blog. 1) Think of a team as a house
In Microsoft Teams you work in different teams. You can think of each team as a house where you work together with others. Everyone who is a member of the house will be included in everything that goes on in the house.
Microsoft Teams is free with Office 365 and includes group chat, web conferencing and chat features. The program, which helps people communicate and collaborate, is expected to grow in popularity, with research revealing that the number of companies using Teams is expected to double in the next two years.
Microsoft Teams is available to users who have licenses with following Office 365 corporate subscriptions: E1, E3, E5, Business Premium, and Business Essentials. In the education plans, it is available in the A1, A1 Plus, A5, and A3 subscriptions. Plans are in place to roll out Teams in the government cloud.
Collaborate for free with online versions of Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and OneNote. Save documents, spreadsheets, and presentations online, in OneDrive.
Even if you can walk between different houses, its a bit confusing and tiring. Similarly, in Microsoft Teams you dont want to create or be a member of too many teams. For organizations that dont have any governance in place, or for end-users that havent received any guidance, the number of teams created can easily grow out of proportion. This is not good for end-user productivity. When you start using Microsoft Teams you should think through how various groups within your organization collaborate with one another. Think through how to create teams so that the collaboration will be as efficient as possible. 2) Think of a Channel as a room
When you first build your house it only has one room. In Microsoft Teams this corresponds to the General channel.
In this room, you can hear what everyone says -whether or not you are in the room at the point in time it is said. Everything is noted down. In Microsoft Teams this relates to Posts. Conversations, announcements, replies, everything is visible in the Posts window. Everyone in the team sees everything in the channel posts.
You are not limited to just talking to each other in the room. You can use facial expressions and body language! In Microsoft Teams you do this using reactions, emoticons, GIFs, memes, stickers and much more. By being able to express yourself more freely in the digital workplace, its easier for people to let their personalities shine through. You can create a more fun and inclusive culture, where the ones not physically located in the same place can still feel involved and as part of the team.
As you start working on more projects and more initiatives, different constellations of people in your house will break out and start working in different rooms. In Microsoft Teams a new room corresponds to a new Channel. As of November 2019, you can select if a channel should be Standard or Private. You can think of a Private channel as an invisible room that only selected people in your house can see and have the key to enter. 3) Think of the Activity Feed as the hallway
In the middle of the house you have a hallway. You can stand in the hallway, open the doors to the rooms you are most interested in, and hear all the conversations going on in the various rooms without leaving the hallway!
In Microsoft Teams, the hallway corresponds to the Activity Feed. Opening the door to a room corresponds to turning on Channel notifications.
You dont have to worry about missing out on anything that is being said in the rooms with closed doors. At any time, you can walk into the room and get up to speed on everything that has happened in the room. In Microsoft Teams, this corresponds to going to a channel and seeing whats been posted in the Posts window. Also, if someone in a room wants your attention even if the door is closed, they can just get your attention using a megaphone. In Microsoft Teams, this relates to an @mention. Whenever someone @mentions you, you will see it in your Activity feed whether you have turned on channel notifications or not. 4) Think of Chat as private conversations by the coffee machine
Sometimes you might want to have a private conversation with one, or a few people in your house. A conversation that is not heard by everyone else. In Teams you do this using Chat or Calls. Whatever you write or say here is only for the ones present. If you frequently have private conversations with a group of people, you can create a group chat.
Private conversations are great for social talk or for things that arent of interest to the others in the room. Such as, Im running late, or shall we meet up for lunch?
But its important that you dont use private chats for business-related discussions that could be of interest to others in the channel. Those discussions should be in the channel posts where they are visible to others. 5) Think of Tabs as posters pinned on the wall
In your various rooms, you can pin things on the walls. This helps the ones in your room focus on whats most important and it helps them find what they need. In Microsoft Teams this corresponds to Tabs. Here you can pin things of importance such as Excel spreadsheets, shared notes and other apps. Succeeding with Microsoft Teams
Understanding how Microsoft Teams works is an important step in order to succeed with your Microsoft Teams adoption. But its important to acknowledge that Teams drastically changes the way people work, and changing behavior is difficult. I recommend you read our previous blog post or see the video, How to succeed with Microsoft Teams to get more insights, and also check out our other blogs on Teams. Good luck with your adoption and feel free to reach out to us if you need help! Or click on the Book a demo button below if you are interested to see Storyals in action!
Unless you lived in a cave for the last year, I am sure you heard about the new Office 365 darling Microsoft Teams . Even if you did not read any news on it, I am sure you noticed a new tile appearing in Office 365 app launcher . Just like Planner and Yammer, Teams is the new offering that is part of Office 365 subscription. With this post, I would like to highlight several features that, in my opinion, give Teams advantage over classical communication methods, like email and SharePoint team sites . What is Microsoft Teams?
Teams is a chat-based collaboration product that is part of Office 365 suite. It allows organizing chats by teams (projects) and various channels (different topics and audiences within a team). What are the major features of Microsoft Teams? Channels About Microsoft Teams Meeting
Channels themselves are a great and innovative feature. It is almost like a dedicated distribution list for a subset of members within a team. At the moment (as of the writing of this post), all channels share same security as the team, but private channels (with unique security) could be there in not too distant future. Channels minimize silos within team communication as well as improve transparency.
By default, each Team has one Channel called General . But you can create additional channels as you wish. Tabs
While chats themselves occur within channels, Teams also allows you to add Tabs to other properties and URLs. You can connect ( Add a Tab ) to different things a document, some SharePoint Site, external website, Power BI Report, etc.
Once added, Tabs are prominently displayed in the top navigation of each Channel. In other words, different channels have different navigation/tabs. Connectors
Unlike Tabs , Connectors allow you to connect to other 3rd party software and bring in the content inside of the Channel ! Since there will be a direct interface between Teams and that other software, when you add a Connector, you have to authenticate and provide software credentials to connect the two.
Learn About Microsoft Teams
For example, say you wanted to bring in the tweets with hashtag sharepoint from my Twitter account @gregoryzelfond into a Management Channel for a SharePoint Migration Team, so the members can stay up to date with all the SharePoint tweets/news. So you would just add Twitter, authenticate /configure communication and then enjoy the tweets right inside of the channel. Bots
Another cool and innovating feature of Microsoft Teams is an ability to communicate with Bots . Bots are artificial intelligence applications which can complete tasks using chat-based commands . Learn About Microsoft Teams
You can access Bots via built-in Bot directory . For example, you can add a Kayak bot to a Team and inquire about ticket prices right within a channel, without leaving Teams and going to a Kayak site to search for airfare.
A screenshot of Bot Directory in Microsoft Teams Avengers endgame amazon prime.
An example of a query/chat with Kayak Bot within a channel in Microsoft Team Mobile App What Is Microsoft Teams Exploratory
Of course, lots of communication these days takes place on mobile devices. As such, Teams has its own Mobile App. Moreover, it also has a separate desktop app as well.
Microsoft Teams is not a new product, but theres still quite a bit of confusion about what it is, and how it can improve workplace productivity. Some people think that it is just a chat app. Some think that its just an upgraded version of Skype for Business. The truth is that Microsoft Teams is an extremely powerful application that can be used to enhance teamwork through enriched collaboration and communication. Unlike other Office productivity applications that have a legacy to preserve and millions of users to consider, Microsoft Teams is built from scratch with the modern workplace in mind. This also means that Microsoft Teams introduces a new work behavior, that many people especially those that are used to email might find difficult. Teams in Microsoft Teams explained
How can you explain the teams part of Microsoft Teams in a way that your organization can quickly understand? When I describe teams in Microsoft Teams, I use an illustrative analogy that most people can relate to. For those of you who have Storyals Lite or Storyals Pro, you will see me explain this in the Enhance teamwork introduction video. For the rest of you, Ill share my description in this blog. 1) Think of a team as a house
In Microsoft Teams you work in different teams. You can think of each team as a house where you work together with others. Everyone who is a member of the house will be included in everything that goes on in the house.
Microsoft Teams is free with Office 365 and includes group chat, web conferencing and chat features. The program, which helps people communicate and collaborate, is expected to grow in popularity, with research revealing that the number of companies using Teams is expected to double in the next two years.
Microsoft Teams is available to users who have licenses with following Office 365 corporate subscriptions: E1, E3, E5, Business Premium, and Business Essentials. In the education plans, it is available in the A1, A1 Plus, A5, and A3 subscriptions. Plans are in place to roll out Teams in the government cloud.
Collaborate for free with online versions of Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and OneNote. Save documents, spreadsheets, and presentations online, in OneDrive.
Even if you can walk between different houses, its a bit confusing and tiring. Similarly, in Microsoft Teams you dont want to create or be a member of too many teams. For organizations that dont have any governance in place, or for end-users that havent received any guidance, the number of teams created can easily grow out of proportion. This is not good for end-user productivity. When you start using Microsoft Teams you should think through how various groups within your organization collaborate with one another. Think through how to create teams so that the collaboration will be as efficient as possible. 2) Think of a Channel as a room
When you first build your house it only has one room. In Microsoft Teams this corresponds to the General channel.
In this room, you can hear what everyone says -whether or not you are in the room at the point in time it is said. Everything is noted down. In Microsoft Teams this relates to Posts. Conversations, announcements, replies, everything is visible in the Posts window. Everyone in the team sees everything in the channel posts.
You are not limited to just talking to each other in the room. You can use facial expressions and body language! In Microsoft Teams you do this using reactions, emoticons, GIFs, memes, stickers and much more. By being able to express yourself more freely in the digital workplace, its easier for people to let their personalities shine through. You can create a more fun and inclusive culture, where the ones not physically located in the same place can still feel involved and as part of the team.
As you start working on more projects and more initiatives, different constellations of people in your house will break out and start working in different rooms. In Microsoft Teams a new room corresponds to a new Channel. As of November 2019, you can select if a channel should be Standard or Private. You can think of a Private channel as an invisible room that only selected people in your house can see and have the key to enter. 3) Think of the Activity Feed as the hallway
In the middle of the house you have a hallway. You can stand in the hallway, open the doors to the rooms you are most interested in, and hear all the conversations going on in the various rooms without leaving the hallway!
In Microsoft Teams, the hallway corresponds to the Activity Feed. Opening the door to a room corresponds to turning on Channel notifications.
You dont have to worry about missing out on anything that is being said in the rooms with closed doors. At any time, you can walk into the room and get up to speed on everything that has happened in the room. In Microsoft Teams, this corresponds to going to a channel and seeing whats been posted in the Posts window. Also, if someone in a room wants your attention even if the door is closed, they can just get your attention using a megaphone. In Microsoft Teams, this relates to an @mention. Whenever someone @mentions you, you will see it in your Activity feed whether you have turned on channel notifications or not. 4) Think of Chat as private conversations by the coffee machine
Sometimes you might want to have a private conversation with one, or a few people in your house. A conversation that is not heard by everyone else. In Teams you do this using Chat or Calls. Whatever you write or say here is only for the ones present. If you frequently have private conversations with a group of people, you can create a group chat.
Private conversations are great for social talk or for things that arent of interest to the others in the room. Such as, Im running late, or shall we meet up for lunch?
But its important that you dont use private chats for business-related discussions that could be of interest to others in the channel. Those discussions should be in the channel posts where they are visible to others. 5) Think of Tabs as posters pinned on the wall
In your various rooms, you can pin things on the walls. This helps the ones in your room focus on whats most important and it helps them find what they need. In Microsoft Teams this corresponds to Tabs. Here you can pin things of importance such as Excel spreadsheets, shared notes and other apps. Succeeding with Microsoft Teams
Understanding how Microsoft Teams works is an important step in order to succeed with your Microsoft Teams adoption. But its important to acknowledge that Teams drastically changes the way people work, and changing behavior is difficult. I recommend you read our previous blog post or see the video, How to succeed with Microsoft Teams to get more insights, and also check out our other blogs on Teams. Good luck with your adoption and feel free to reach out to us if you need help! Or click on the Book a demo button below if you are interested to see Storyals in action!
Unless you lived in a cave for the last year, I am sure you heard about the new Office 365 darling Microsoft Teams . Even if you did not read any news on it, I am sure you noticed a new tile appearing in Office 365 app launcher . Just like Planner and Yammer, Teams is the new offering that is part of Office 365 subscription. With this post, I would like to highlight several features that, in my opinion, give Teams advantage over classical communication methods, like email and SharePoint team sites . What is Microsoft Teams?
Teams is a chat-based collaboration product that is part of Office 365 suite. It allows organizing chats by teams (projects) and various channels (different topics and audiences within a team). What are the major features of Microsoft Teams? Channels About Microsoft Teams Meeting
Channels themselves are a great and innovative feature. It is almost like a dedicated distribution list for a subset of members within a team. At the moment (as of the writing of this post), all channels share same security as the team, but private channels (with unique security) could be there in not too distant future. Channels minimize silos within team communication as well as improve transparency.
By default, each Team has one Channel called General . But you can create additional channels as you wish. Tabs
While chats themselves occur within channels, Teams also allows you to add Tabs to other properties and URLs. You can connect ( Add a Tab ) to different things a document, some SharePoint Site, external website, Power BI Report, etc.
Once added, Tabs are prominently displayed in the top navigation of each Channel. In other words, different channels have different navigation/tabs. Connectors
Unlike Tabs , Connectors allow you to connect to other 3rd party software and bring in the content inside of the Channel ! Since there will be a direct interface between Teams and that other software, when you add a Connector, you have to authenticate and provide software credentials to connect the two.
Learn About Microsoft Teams
For example, say you wanted to bring in the tweets with hashtag sharepoint from my Twitter account @gregoryzelfond into a Management Channel for a SharePoint Migration Team, so the members can stay up to date with all the SharePoint tweets/news. So you would just add Twitter, authenticate /configure communication and then enjoy the tweets right inside of the channel. Bots
Another cool and innovating feature of Microsoft Teams is an ability to communicate with Bots . Bots are artificial intelligence applications which can complete tasks using chat-based commands . Learn About Microsoft Teams
You can access Bots via built-in Bot directory . For example, you can add a Kayak bot to a Team and inquire about ticket prices right within a channel, without leaving Teams and going to a Kayak site to search for airfare.
A screenshot of Bot Directory in Microsoft Teams Avengers endgame amazon prime.
An example of a query/chat with Kayak Bot within a channel in Microsoft Team Mobile App What Is Microsoft Teams Exploratory
Of course, lots of communication these days takes place on mobile devices. As such, Teams has its own Mobile App. Moreover, it also has a separate desktop app as well.
