Using forums for internal communications?

Question

Has anyone used forums for team communications?

I work at a test lab and with many simultaneous projects and three shifts, communications get rather cluttered. Emails concerning multiple projects are usually sent to everyone, many of whom are not involved with the project (at that point, at least). Email searches provide a list of past communications but this is not seen in the context of each communication. I have been considering using a forum to replace communications that are public to the entire lab and am trying to think of potential pitfalls. I've spent some time Googling this and the best references I've found are related to teams based around the country/globe. Has anyone had a good experience using this in a single lab/office environment?

Thanks for any info,

David

krw · Accepted Answer

Sure, forums have been used for team communications for decades. There are some shortcomings of Usenet style forums, however. There really isn't any good way to index them easily. You might take a look at something like an "Issues" database for this.

A single site working three shifts is quite like a project being done around the world. Once time shifts come into play communication gets more difficult. Forums work fine for time offset "chat" but for more formal communications like problems, working status, work-arounds, and resolution you really need something more powerful.

Using forums for internal communications?

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