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Thanks! I mean it, THANK YOU! We were using HipChat at a previous company (2013, I think), and I never understood the switch to Slack. I was like: Wait, but wh

Thanks! I mean it, THANK YOU! We were using HipChat at a previous company (2013, I think), and I never understood the switch to Slack. I was like: Wait, but what's the difference? Everybody knew about Slack, and no one about HipChat. I also don't think they introduced a new category of software, they just spent an absurd amount of additional money in marketing. That's it.

phlakaton 7y ago
My company switched from HipChat to Slack around 2015. I won't say hype didn't play into the decision, but IIRC there were two other motivations: 1) more reliable performance, 2) better integrations with Google Docs. At the time it was claimed that this was really a whole new way to organize data and work. In practicality, not that much changed from HipChat. Pinned items and the ability to rifle back through conversations saved my bacon a few times, but looking back on it, I don't think they outmatch properly-organized documentation and wikis.
- anbotero 7y ago
  We were kind of heavily invested in Atlassian stack, which means we used Confluence a lot. We had a good system for creating and looking for documentation in our wiki system, so I hope that was not a selling point for Slack. Unfortunately we (Tech) never really knew why we switched. EDIT: Also, on the performance side, we were there for the beginning of both systems, and both had their good amount of issues initially. By the time we switched, I don't remember that many HipChat outages. I remember a lot of Slack outages starting up as well, and these days I have issues with Web interface connectivity at least once a week (native works).
  - ismail 7y ago
    I can tell you my experience of having witnessed some companies move to “slack”, “Jira” etc. There were multiple similar cases. It went something like this: “We are now ‘agile’ Ok what are all the cool agile dev ops companies using? Aha Jira&Slack. Ok let’s use that” From there it gets even more crazy. The tools get included as a standard question for evaluating vendors on RFP’s. Vendors that use a similar toolset are rated more highly. When you question why. The response is along the lines of: “Oh if they are using Jira/slack/other tool, it must be an agile/dev ops/chat ops shop” Put another way sometimes these tools end up being used as a “signal” to others rather than intrinsic value. The value is in the signalling, driven by social proof. If one can pull this of when marketing your product you have a win. Effectively you have associated a movement (I.e agile) with your product (I.e Jira). So the buy decision is driven by the need to show they are doing {x}. There must be some basis Of this and reading on how this is done? The broad topic would be marketing but what specifically? Notes: * This is merely an observation. I am not judging the accuracy of the statement that using a specific product = demonstrating some property. These associations may not be applicable in all markets and I have seen them change over time.
    - chrisweekly 7y ago
      equal parts sad and funny cargo cult driven marketing
- crdoconnor 7y ago
  My company switched around the same time. Hype was primarily why we switched.
scoopertrooper 7y ago
At least when I was using hipchat, there was no way to 'tune' down the notifications, so the bloody thing was super annoying. I basically begged my company to make the switch to Slack after a quick trial.
astrodust 7y ago
My experience with group messaging was MSN Messenger -> Basecamp -> Campfire -> HipChat -> Slack. Slack's "good enough" for most communication and has better integration with most products, so it stuck. Others always failed in some way. It's not that Slack is irreplaceable, if anything it's more vulnerable than ever, but that it has momentum. Other platforms like Campfire or HipChat always fell short of expectations.
novok 7y ago
Hipchat performed horribly at my last company and had a bunch of bugs and issues. Hipchat handed the market to slack basically.
dalyons 7y ago
you have a different memory to me. I remember switching from hipchat to slack, and it was night and day, obviously better. Slack had more features, a better UX, and wasnt buggy as hell like hipchat

phlakaton 7y ago

My company switched from HipChat to Slack around 2015. I won't say hype didn't play into the decision, but IIRC there were two other motivations: 1) more reliable performance, 2) better integrations with Google Docs. At the time it was claimed that this was really a whole new way to organize data and work. In practicality, not that much changed from HipChat. Pinned items and the ability to rifle back through conversations saved my bacon a few times, but looking back on it, I don't think they outmatch properly-organized documentation and wikis.

anbotero 7y ago
We were kind of heavily invested in Atlassian stack, which means we used Confluence a lot. We had a good system for creating and looking for documentation in our wiki system, so I hope that was not a selling point for Slack. Unfortunately we (Tech) never really knew why we switched. EDIT: Also, on the performance side, we were there for the beginning of both systems, and both had their good amount of issues initially. By the time we switched, I don't remember that many HipChat outages. I remember a lot of Slack outages starting up as well, and these days I have issues with Web interface connectivity at least once a week (native works).
- ismail 7y ago
  I can tell you my experience of having witnessed some companies move to “slack”, “Jira” etc. There were multiple similar cases. It went something like this: “We are now ‘agile’ Ok what are all the cool agile dev ops companies using? Aha Jira&Slack. Ok let’s use that” From there it gets even more crazy. The tools get included as a standard question for evaluating vendors on RFP’s. Vendors that use a similar toolset are rated more highly. When you question why. The response is along the lines of: “Oh if they are using Jira/slack/other tool, it must be an agile/dev ops/chat ops shop” Put another way sometimes these tools end up being used as a “signal” to others rather than intrinsic value. The value is in the signalling, driven by social proof. If one can pull this of when marketing your product you have a win. Effectively you have associated a movement (I.e agile) with your product (I.e Jira). So the buy decision is driven by the need to show they are doing {x}. There must be some basis Of this and reading on how this is done? The broad topic would be marketing but what specifically? Notes: * This is merely an observation. I am not judging the accuracy of the statement that using a specific product = demonstrating some property. These associations may not be applicable in all markets and I have seen them change over time.
  - chrisweekly 7y ago
    equal parts sad and funny cargo cult driven marketing
crdoconnor 7y ago
My company switched around the same time. Hype was primarily why we switched.

scoopertrooper 7y ago

At least when I was using hipchat, there was no way to 'tune' down the notifications, so the bloody thing was super annoying. I basically begged my company to make the switch to Slack after a quick trial.

astrodust 7y ago

My experience with group messaging was MSN Messenger -> Basecamp -> Campfire -> HipChat -> Slack. Slack's "good enough" for most communication and has better integration with most products, so it stuck. Others always failed in some way. It's not that Slack is irreplaceable, if anything it's more vulnerable than ever, but that it has momentum. Other platforms like Campfire or HipChat always fell short of expectations.

novok 7y ago

Hipchat performed horribly at my last company and had a bunch of bugs and issues. Hipchat handed the market to slack basically.

dalyons 7y ago

you have a different memory to me. I remember switching from hipchat to slack, and it was night and day, obviously better. Slack had more features, a better UX, and wasnt buggy as hell like hipchat