I agree that Slack is a productivity-minimizer. However, my deeper qualm is how conversations about Slack (and other tools) inevitably end with someone saying,

I agree that Slack is a productivity-minimizer. However, my deeper qualm is how conversations about Slack (and other tools) inevitably end with someone saying, “It isn’t the tool, it is how you use it.” Malarkey. Tools dictate usage. The phrase people need is, “When all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.” Slack is a tool for communication. But it is helpful to define communication and then to ask what kind of communication Slack facilitates (and thus encourages). Communication is a poor word, because it embeds within the word many slightly different but important meanings. Communication can mean the mere transfer of information. But communication can also mean a successful transfer of information. So really, we can’t simply define “communication”, but must rather define “good communication”. And its definition is simple: transmitting the right information to the right entity at the right time and in the right manner (i.e., in a way the entity can understand correctly). Slack facilitates transmitting any information to any person at any time, and (with the use of plugins) in almost any manner. This is almost the definition of bad communication. Yes, you can try to limit the use of Slack to avoid these problems. But you are working against Slack, not with it. Every tool that facilitates good communication does so by disciplining and focusing the transmission of information. Slack’s mission is the opposite. Slack aims to achieve a riot of information. Slack is information anarchy. Maybe this helps for work that is by nature anarchic, where information flow is more important than knowledge exchange. But for the rest of us, it is a cursed tool.