Communication

How we communicate at Blevins Holdings — norms for Slack, email, meetings, and async work.

Our communication philosophy

Good communication is clear, intentional, and respects others’ time and focus. At Blevins Holdings, we default to async-first wherever possible, use the right tool for the right purpose, and write things down so knowledge isn’t trapped in conversations.

Key principles:

• Async-first — Not everything requires a meeting or an immediate response. Default to async for status updates, questions, and non-urgent discussions.
• Write things down — If a decision is made in a meeting or call, document it somewhere others can find it.
• Right tool, right purpose — Use Slack for quick questions and team chatter; email for formal or external communication; meetings for discussions that genuinely require real-time back-and-forth.
• Respect focus time — Before pinging someone, ask whether this could be async. Unexpected interruptions are costly.

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Slack

Slack is our primary internal communication tool for real-time and async messaging.

Response expectations

Message type	Expected response time
Direct message (DM)	Within a few hours during working hours
@mention in a channel	Same business day
Channel post (no mention)	When you get to it — no obligation to respond immediately
Urgent (marked with 🚨 or urgent label)	As soon as possible

You are not expected to respond outside your working hours. Use Slack’s Do Not Disturb settings to protect your personal time.

Channel norms

Standard channels to join

• #general — Company-wide announcements and general discussion
• #announcements — Important company news (low-volume, high-signal)
• #random — Off-topic chat, memes, wins
• #it-help — IT questions and requests
• #hr-help — HR questions
• #[your-team] — Your primary team channel

How to use channels well

• Post in the most relevant channel — don’t shotgun-blast to #general when #it-help exists
• Use threads for follow-up discussion — keeps channels readable
• Don’t start a message with just “Hey” or “Hi [name]” — state your question or topic upfront (no hello)
• Use emoji reactions to acknowledge messages without cluttering threads
• Mark action items and decisions clearly: “Decision: we’re going with option A. @person — can you follow up on X?”

When NOT to use Slack

• Sensitive HR or personal matters → Use email or a direct conversation
• Legal discussions → Use email (legal privilege may apply)
• Formal decisions that need a paper trail → Use email or a document
• Active security incidents → Use email + direct calls, not Slack channels
• Anything that will need to be findable in 6 months → Write it in a doc or this wiki

Formatting tips

• Use bold for key terms or action items
• Use bullet points for lists
• Use code blocks for technical content
• For long messages, consider writing a doc and sharing the link instead

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Email

Email is for formal communication, external parties, and anything that needs a clear paper trail.

Response expectations

Sender	Expected response time
Internal — urgent	Same business day
Internal — standard	Within 2 business days
External (clients, partners)	Within 1 business day

Email norms

• Clear subject lines — State what the email is about and any action needed: “Action needed: Review contract by Friday” is better than “Contract”
• One topic per email — Makes it easier to search and act on
• CC sparingly — Only include people who need to know or act; don’t CC just to cover yourself
• Reply-all carefully — Before hitting reply-all, ask: does everyone on this thread need your response?
• Avoid email for urgent issues — If something is time-sensitive, call or Slack first

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Meetings

When to have a meeting

Meetings are valuable for:

• Decisions that require discussion and back-and-forth
• Relationship-building and team bonding
• Complex topics where real-time Q&A helps
• Situations requiring emotional sensitivity

Meetings are not valuable for:

• Status updates that could be a Slack message
• One-way information sharing (send a doc instead)
• Topics that aren’t ready for discussion yet

Meeting standards

Every meeting should have:

1. A clear purpose — What decision will be made, or what will be discussed?
2. An agenda — Shared with attendees before the meeting, ideally 24 hours in advance
3. The right people — Not too many (5–6 max for decision-making meetings), not people who don’t need to be there
4. A defined end time — End on time or early; don’t go over without explicit agreement
5. Notes and action items — Documented and shared after the meeting

Recurring meeting cadence

Meeting	Frequency	Purpose
All-hands	[Monthly / Quarterly]	Company updates, Q&A, wins
Team standup	[Daily / Weekly]	What’s everyone working on, any blockers
1:1 with manager	Weekly	Priorities, feedback, development
Leadership team	Weekly	Decisions, priorities, cross-team alignment
Retrospectives	[Quarterly]	What’s working, what’s not

Video call norms

• Camera on when practical — it builds connection and keeps everyone engaged
• Mute when not speaking in larger meetings
• Use the raise hand or chat feature to queue up a point without interrupting
• If you’ll be late, send a Slack message to the meeting organizer

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Async communication

We lean async by default. Here’s how to make async work well:

Writing good async updates

• Be complete — Include enough context that the reader can understand and act without needing to ask follow-up questions
• Be clear about what you need — “FYI” vs. “Please review by Thursday” vs. “No action needed, archiving this”
• State deadlines explicitly — “When you have time” means never; “by end of week” means Friday at close of business
• Use structured formats — For longer updates, use headers, bullets, and a summary at the top

When async breaks down

Async doesn’t work when:

• A topic requires rapid back-and-forth between multiple people
• There’s genuine ambiguity that’s hard to resolve in writing
• The situation is emotionally sensitive
• A decision has been stuck in a document thread for more than 2 days

In these cases, set up a short sync call — 30 minutes of talking often resolves what days of Slack threads cannot.

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Communicating in different situations

Sharing bad news or problems

Share problems early — don’t wait until you have a solution. Your manager and team can’t help with problems they don’t know about. A heads-up like “FYI, we may miss the deadline for X, here’s why, and here are my options” is much better than a surprise on the due date.

Disagreement and debate

Healthy disagreement is part of good decision-making. When you disagree:

1. Say so directly, with your reasoning: “I see this differently because…”
2. Ask questions to understand the other view: “Can you help me understand why you’re going that direction?”
3. Separate the person from the idea — critique the approach, not the person
4. Once a decision is made, commit to it — disagree and commit if needed

Escalation

If something isn’t getting resolved at the level it should be, escalate. This isn’t a failure — it’s how organizations work. Escalate to your manager with context: what the issue is, what you’ve tried, and what you need from them.

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Communication and the law

Some communications may be subject to legal privilege, disclosure obligations, or regulatory requirements. When in doubt, contact Legal before putting sensitive information in writing — especially regarding legal disputes, potential violations, or regulatory matters.

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Last updated: [Date] — owned by HR / Operations