Stop Getting Interrupted 🤬 How To Manage Notifications In Microsoft Teams Tutorial 2021

Stop Getting Interrupted

Getting interrupted whilst you are in 'the zone' is the worst 🤬

In fact, research has shown that on average we get interrupted at work every 3 minutes...and it takes 23 minutes to 'get back into the groove!' 😳

That's right, if you don't have any strategies to avoid distractions you are at the mercy of chance (or at least your co-workers) on whether you will ever get up to full productivity today 😔

But you can take control! 💪

If you have watched my previous video on being overwhelmed with emails (How To Use Outlook And Microsoft ToDo) then you will already be free of the distractions from email 🙌

Moving all internal communications to Microsoft Teams is a massive time-saver, but some people think this increases interruptions 😱

Au contraire mon frère, you should still be finding time for deep work and just need to know the best way of managing the notifications in Teams effectively 😃

So, by the end of this video, you will know how to manage notifications in Microsoft Teams in 2021 including the little known option to mute a specific conversation thread so stick around to the end for that 👍

Do you keep getting interrupted by Microsoft Teams and can't get anything done?

By the end of this video, you'll know how to manage notifications in Microsoft Teams in 2021, including a little known tip to mute a specific conversation thread.

So, stick around until the end of the video for that one.

I've got new videos on Microsoft Teams coming out every Tuesday, so make sure you hit the subscribe button and the bell icon to get notified every time I release a new video.

I'm Gavin Jones, a former transformation manager for a Fortune 500 company. I now help organizations of any size with modern workplace transformations.

And if you are interested in working together, then stick around until the end to find out a little more.

Part 1: How To Use Do Not Disturb In Microsoft Teams

Okay, so let's dive into Teams and have a look at the different ways you can manage your notifications so you don't get overwhelmed with pings when you're trying to do some work. So the first best friend is like we did in the last video, come into your status and change it to Do Not Disturb. That says your status is set to Do Not Disturb, you'd only get notifications for urgent messages and from your priority contacts. I think calls will still come through. And if you're using the Teams app you might still see red things pop up but it's going to stop banner popping up in the bottom or top right-hand corner of your screen when you're working on other things, at least. So if you live in the 21st century in 2021 or beyond, you will have to be at some point okay seeing red dots places and not click them, that is down to you. But the noise and the intrusive thing popping up and blurring your vision at least in the bottom or the top right-hand corners, will go by turning that on. So at least that's one thing.

Part 2: Chat Only During Meetings You Attend In Microsoft Teams

The second biggest thing about getting pinged, is if you're the meeting organizer. There's some settings you can do to help with pinging other people before and after the meeting. So one of the annoying things which Microsoft has fixed, is people chatting in a meeting before you've joined and you've not been invited to the meeting. I had the chat going throughout the meeting and people chatting after the meeting. And you actually didn't even attend that meeting. So by default, unless you go into that meeting and attend it, the chat will be muted for you already. But further than, is if you click on the meeting options, either in that link in your Outlook calendar invite or in, via Teams, you'll come out to this web page where you can then say Allow Meeting Chat. And if it's enabled, that's chat before during and after the meeting. And if it's not a channel meeting, where you might be just working as part of the normal team. If it's just a normal calendar, Outlook invite, you can say In Meeting Only. So you can only chat about that meeting once you're in the meeting. And if you join the meeting and it finishes you won't then be getting pinged about stuff. If people talk about the meeting before, again you won't be pinged about stuff because they won't be able to chat anything there. So that is one way that you can turn that off. So if getting interrupted in Microsoft Teams resonates with you, go ahead and hit that like button to let me know.

Part 3: Mute Meeting And Chat Threads In Microsoft Teams

If you're not the meeting organizer, and there's stuff going on. You can still mute that entire meeting thread by clicking on the three dots next to it and clicking on mute. And then you won't get pinged about anything that's going on in the meeting. Similarly, any chat. Either one-to-one or group, you can mute. And obviously you're more likely to want to mute a group chat because anytime anyone replies in a group chat, you will get pinged. Just like WhatsApp or any other consumer app.

Part 4: Mute A Specific Conversation Thread In Microsoft Teams

But the main benefit of Teams, is obviously the Teams bit of Teams. Were you've got proper threaded chat @mentions personal and channel @Mentions. And if we come into the Teams bit of Teams, that's when you might end up with a long conversation thread. And the default is, if I scroll up to, this one's that got 18 replies, although most of them from me. If you have commented in that conversation thread the default is that you will get notified anytime anyone then replies underneath you. So if you've ever commented on a thread and the thread been going for ages, and it's not really relevant to you anymore, you can then come up to here, click the three dots and then turn off notifications just for that particular thread which I think is not that well used. So if you're going to train people in your organization that, that is available, then you need to make sure you're really hot on, @mentioning anybody or the channel. Again, anytime that someone then wants to bring people into that thread. So say that Ramneak or Richard down here had commented and they don't want to get pinged every time that we then keep that thread going, they would need to then, go to the top of the thread click the three dots and then say mute. But then if I knew that Ramneak or Richard was likely to do that and I'm assuming when I reply that they are going to see it, like I did in this one actually, I should then remember to @mention Richard, just in case he's muted that conversation thread. He won't get notified and stuff is likely to get lost. But that is a good little tip that people don't use that often. So if you're getting interrupted a lot by Microsoft Teams, it might be because your organization has not got a well thought through structure of their teams to enable more productivity. If you've not yet saved hours per person per week, by moving onto teams. Then you've probably not landed it effectively yet. If you want to find out more about how it can help you do that, and unlock all of those benefits of moving onto Teams, then book a call with me in the link below to find out more.

So check out these videos next, remember to give the video a like, subscribe and if you really like the video, consider supporting the channel by buying me a beer. It really does help support the channel. But thanks for watching so far and we'll see you in the next video.