Microsoft-Teams: do you use it in your day-to-day-work!?

[thedhubs]

good day dear friends,

...in the last few months, Microsoft Teams has become the central communication tool in many organizations almost overnight – whether in home offices, in hybrid teams, or as a new basis for collaboration within companies. What started as a stopgap solution for many – e.g., during the coronavirus pandemic – has now become part of everyday life – with both ups and downs.

So – I'm curious: How do you experience using Teams – in your organizations, projects, or in exchanges with colleagues?

 

What surprised you – both positively and negatively?

I'm especially interested in:

• Which features do you use most intensively and extensively and why?
• Where are the problems in your day-to-day work, what annoys you about Teams and its use?
• Are there any tricks, workarounds, or settings that really improve your day-to-day team life with Teams?

In short, what's your experience with Teams?

[Nick H. Supervisor]

I used it when I worked for a previous company, but that was many moons ago so it's probably changed too much for my opinion to have any meaning. When I did have to use it though, I tried to avoid it as much as possible. The only real usage was for team meetings when I was working away from my team. Everything else was done either via email or a phone call.

These days I'm using Slack for Neowin stuff, Discord for gaming stuff, and WhatsApp for my current consultancy and upcoming business. I was using all three in the past, the only irritation is WhatsApp now being used for business and personal chats. I've had to mute so many group chats to preserve my sanity...

[FloatingFatMan]

I work for a large software developer in Ireland and the UK that produces bespoke software crossing many industries and government departments. We've been using Teams pretty much extensively since Covid and no longer use other tools such as Slack for team communications and project coordination.

I wouldn't say we have problems as such, but many of us don't like the more recent UI changes Microsoft have been making, seemingly for no reason other than for the sake of it.

[binaryzero]

Yeah, every day... It's fine.

[Steven P. Administrators]

We use Slack at Neowin, but they keep taking away features in the free tier  Our group is small so we don't need (or can afford) a business tier.

We could probably get a better experience with Discord but it's also the hassle of having to move features/plugins/everyone over.

[+InsaneNutter MVC]

We used Teams for video calls with external parties during the pandemic, day to day within in the company it's never used.

The company I work for is pretty traditional, it's email, phone calls or walking up to someone's desk here. We did finally get rid of fax a couple of years ago!

[grunger106]

Yeah, all the time

[ad47uk]

We have it at work, I refuse to install it on my phone, I have a peak now and again to see what is happening using a browser. i understand how useful ti can be if you work off site, but not int he same building. 

[+BudMan MVC]

yup every single day.. I work full remote and all meetings are using teams - and then just chat with colleagues, and all voice calls are via teams as well.

Use it more than email to be honest.

Have it on my phone as well, not just the work laptop.

Even if stuff is better discussed over a phone call - the availability option of teams showing if person you want to contact is busy or away is helpful - and almost always hit them up with teams, you up for a call before etc..

[+Warwagon MVC]

I use it to audio call my parents couple times a week. I only use teams for that because they got rid of Skype.

[Steven P. Administrators]

On 27/05/2025 at 14:55, Warwagon said:

I use it to audio call my parents couple times a week. I only use teams for that because they got rid of Skype.

Why not WhatsApp?

[+Warwagon MVC]

On 27/05/2025 at 08:05, Steven P. said:

Why not WhatsApp?

Well usually we just use telegram now. The audio quality use to be dog sh*t but now it's better.

We've all been communicating on telegram for years now.

[Nick H. Supervisor]

On 27/05/2025 at 12:44, BudMan said:

yup every single day.. I work full remote and all meetings are using teams - and then just chat with colleagues, and all voice calls are via teams as well.

Use it more than email to be honest.

Have it on my phone as well, not just the work laptop.

Even if stuff is better discussed over a phone call - the availability option of teams showing if person you want to contact is busy or away is helpful - and almost always hit them up with teams, you up for a call before etc..

I remember setting my status to "away" almost all the time. When I was doing first/second level support I didn't want people contacting me directly - they should phone the helpdesk number - and when I went into Management I didn't want people contacting me for yet another meeting.

 

On 27/05/2025 at 14:05, Steven P. said:

Why not WhatsApp?

I might have an answer for that. My Grandma doesn't use WhatsApp because she doesn't have a SIM card for her device.You might be able to use it without a SIM card these days, but she's ok with FB Messenger or FaceTime. Or given the fact I now live just round the corner from her, a drop-in for a slice of cake and some tea.

EDIT: Oh, I stand corrected.

[FloatingFatMan]

On 27/05/2025 at 09:18, InsaneNutter said:

We used Teams for video calls with external parties during the pandemic, day to day within in the company it's never used.

The company I work for is pretty traditional, it's email, phone calls or walking up to someone's desk here. We did finally get rid of fax a couple of years ago!

Traditional, or prehistoric?  

[turinglives]

I use it every day. Works as intended.

[ad47uk]

On 27/05/2025 at 13:55, Warwagon said:

I use it to audio call my parents couple times a week. I only use teams for that because they got rid of Skype.

I use discord for a group of us, we scraped Skype a while ago when the Linux version played up on one of the people in the gorup P.C., Discord is great, but may be a bit much for your parents. The good thing is, it works on all platforms 

[Semon]

I use Microsoft Teams every day at work, mostly for meetings.

[Gromvar]

It's become a central place at my workplace. I use it for meetings, general chatting between employees, and the teams for storing of files to share between people at work. 

[ad47uk]

On 29/07/2025 at 10:24, latakia said:

Microsoft Teams has become essential in my daily work, especially for meetings, chats, and file sharing. I like its integration with Outlook, but it can be slow and buggy at times. Switching between accounts is a hassle, but customizing notifications and using shortcuts helps a lot. Overall, it's useful but not perfect.

We are supposed to use it at work, my view is that we are all in the same building, so if they want to tell us something, then tell use mouth-to-mouth, have a meeting instead of posting stuff on teams or stick it on a notice board.
While there are not many, there are some people who don't have smartphones.

i refuse to put it on my phone, I have a peak on teams online now and again on my computer, just to be nosey.
I was told a few months ago that they are putting something on teams, and they want everyone to like it to show they have read it.  I refused, nothing was said or done. It is not in my contract to use Teams, so there is not a lot they can do.

 

[+primortal Subscriber²]

I use Teams for work (Windows 11) and the only thing that really bothers me the most is it's so slow in comparison to Slack.

[hagjohn]

Yes. We switched almost immediately when Teams came out. I like Teams but it has become so bloated.

[threesixtyflip]

Yes.... unfortunately