Stack Overflow has announced enhanced integration with Microsoft Teams the same week a ‘Future of Work’ report highlights that hybrid working is here to stay.
Over the past six months alone, Stack Overflow says that it’s seen a 137 percent increase in Microsoft Teams usage among its Enterprise customers. With clear benefits and the future still uncertain, many businesses are increasing their support for hybrid working rather than roll back the progress they’ve made over the pandemic.
According to this year’s edition of Riverbed and Aternity’s Future of Work survey, 89 percent plan to invest in technology in the next 12-18 months to support a hybrid workforce, 94 percent agree that it helps with recruiting talent, and 42 percent say more than half of their workforce will be hybrid.
Collaboration is vital for any team’s success, which is why tools like Microsoft Teams exist. However, the so-called “collaborative overload trap” can often come into play.
The often-used example for collaborative overload is something many of us have experienced: when meetings are scheduled in a bid to be more productive but end up displacing focus time and harming productivity. A study found that it can take us over 23 minutes to get fully back on task after an interruption.
An abundance of apps is also expected to this overload, contributing to burnout, wasted time, and a general energy drain that can affect an entire company. Employees often have to dig around multiple apps to find the information they need.
By integrating Stack Overflow for Teams natively into Microsoft Teams, the company hopes to overcome this problem.
“Stack Overflow for Teams integration with Microsoft Teams is nice because this is mostly where I do my day-to-day work. I don’t have to leave Microsoft Teams to go to another site,” said Brandon Camerer, Senior User Experience Designer at CloudFit Software.
IDC estimates that Fortune 500 companies lose ~$31 billion a year by failing to share knowledge within their business.
“With the integration between Microsoft Teams and Stack Overflow, I’m just super excited to have one place where I can see my questions in an area where I already do a lot of my work today,” commented Laura MacLeod, Program Manager, Developer Services Division at Microsoft.
In addition to the native integration, Stack Overflow for Teams is making four key enhancements:
- Minimise context switching – Users can now search the Stack Overflow for Teams knowledge base from within a chat channel in Microsoft Teams. Existing knowledge can now be re-used by viewing a filterable list of Questions or Articles within a channel’s tab.
- Knowledge capture – This feature has been enhanced with the ability to convert posts within Microsoft Teams to a question with Stack Overflow for Teams, the capture of additional details through an ask modal which displays in Microsoft Teams to prevent switching apps, and the ability for colleagues to help fill out questions.
- Personal application – Personalised for each user, the personal app links directly to important knowledge including bookmarks, followed Questions, and a user’s own Questions and Articles.
- Automated notifications – Notifications are now automatically sent to alert users of new or updated knowledge, all within Microsoft Teams. Users can create new notifications or edit existing notifications quickly by interacting with the channel bot within Microsoft Teams.
Version 2 of the Stack Overflow for Teams integration with Microsoft Teams can be downloaded here.
(Image Credit: Stack Overflow)
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