3 Everyday Scenarios to Get Started with Microsoft Teams

Some of you probably already started using Microsoft Teams. Some might have heard the tool will be available in your organizations soon. In any case, you are busy trying to get your work done. Learning to use new technologies is not exactly part of your priorities. You have no time to deep dive into Teams. The amount of your deliverables is increasing. Therefore you see the need to try out new ways of working to achieve more and save time. That is exactly where the following 3 everyday use cases come in: Showing you typical everyday situations and how you can master them using Teams.

First, what is Microsoft Teams after all? Microsoft Teams is a cloud solution part of Office 365. The tool is very flexible, therefore it can be defined in different ways. Wikipedia defines Teams as a unified communication and collaboration platform, while Microsoft defines Teams as a hub for teamwork. To me Teams is that and more. I personally define Teams as the tool that allows me to communicate, collaborate and coordinate with my teammates in a way that all three actions pretty much fuse into the act of achieving common goals regardless of the geographical situation, time zone, organisational structure, or even language. Teams has became very quickly the center of my work, allowing me to use other applications (i.e. Office Apps) without switching the context.

Let's go through the everyday scenarios to get you started with Microsoft Teams.

Scenario 1: You need help from a specific colleague in order to solve a problem now.

1. Chat one-on-one with your colleague to get a quick response. With chat, you have different possibilities to communicate: send a message, initiate a video/audio call, and/or start sharing your screen.
2. Start a new chat with your colleague or continue a conversation from the chat list. To initiate a new chat click on the "new chat" icon on the top bar, type your colleague's name and write your message. It is helpful to pin frequently used contacts to your chat list.
3. I advice you to check the presence status of your colleague to confirm if the person is currently available. Your colleague might not be able to assist you, if her/his presence status does not appear as available.

Scenario 2: You have a question. The answer may be relevant to other teammates.

This is a perfect scenario to use the conversation of an appropriate Team channel. The question and the answers will be available to every teammate. Asking loudly in a channel increases the chances and speed of response, you may get the answer from a teammate you did not even think of. The conversation thread will continue to be available for all teammates in the future, i.e. it can even serve as a simple knowledge repository.

Two more hints to master this scenario:

• In case you have a teammate in mind who may answer to your question, use the mention functionality using "@" to tag her/him. Mentioning is a powerful tool, if used correctly. Use mentions to call the attention of your colleague.
• You might be the one getting such a question via chat. In this case, ask your colleague to post the question which might be relevant to others in the conversation of a Team channel. You can then reply to the conversation with the answer.

Scenario 3: You have a meeting outside the office. On the way, you need to check the PowerPoint presentation for last modifications.

1. Teams is the place to store and edit all your collaboration files! You and your colleagues can work on the same file simultaneously. So don't miss this feature!
2. There is a powerful Teams mobile app to connect with your Team from anywhere. Use it, if you are on the go.
3. Open the appropriate channel in your Teams mobile app and go to the files tab. Click on the PowerPoint file to open and edit.

I hope these 3 scenarios help you to get started with Teams. If used correctly, Teams can save you time and help you achieve more!