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Oh, they are doing "unprofessional" things in a tool that facilitates informal communication now, are they? Well. It's called chatter. That will either happen

Oh, they are doing "unprofessional" things in a tool that facilitates informal communication now, are they? Well. It's called chatter. That will either happen over the watercooler, or it will happen over text. The only problem is that off the cuff remarks can be part of the permanent record now. But otherwise, they should be harmless. And also... maybe go fix the problems people are "bearish" about? (also what's this stock market lingo doing here) > The problematic employee, the employee who would sit around at the lunchroom and tell people how bad this place is Well, maybe the place IS bad. And if they are bitching about it, they may still care – employees who have "checked out" won't complain nearly as much (or at all), while looking elsewhere. Or maybe they are just venting and had a bad week. Or it's a cry for help. If the place weren't as bad, other employees could help the person. > and it’s amplifying. Oh, so other people agree with the person too? Maybe there is a problem indeed.

parhamn 6y ago
I don’t disagree with some of your other points, but having problems and being inclined to complain about them are often separate things. Like at startups, there are often a ton of problems, naturally. At some startups people complain a lot. At some they’re good at fixing or ignoring problem for some greater goal. Aiming for the latter (I.e not amplifying) should be a goal as well while you reduce your problems.
9nGQluzmnq3M 6y ago
> The only problem is that off the cuff remarks can be part of the permanent record now. I don't think you appreciate the scale of how many headaches this can create for a large company. Previously, A says something mean about B at the watercooler, even if somebody overhears it's all he says, she says. With Slack (or any other group chat/IM system), if A says the same thing, it's broadcast to everybody else on the channel and anybody can take out of context screenshots and run squealing to HR/EEOC/lawyers/whoever. And it's all accessible to anybody with a subpoena on a fishing expedition as well. And you can't just fix the company or the people: beyond a certain scale, no matter how good your hiring process and training, no matter how awesome your company culture and benefits, you'll get permanently unhappy people, shit-stirring trolls, wackos with extreme views and all the other weird creatures that populate any Internet forum. So eventually you have to converge on reserving chat only for strictly work-related comms and training people to take anything with the mildest whiff of controversy to talking in person/over video.

parhamn 6y ago

I don’t disagree with some of your other points, but having problems and being inclined to complain about them are often separate things. Like at startups, there are often a ton of problems, naturally. At some startups people complain a lot. At some they’re good at fixing or ignoring problem for some greater goal. Aiming for the latter (I.e not amplifying) should be a goal as well while you reduce your problems.

9nGQluzmnq3M 6y ago

> The only problem is that off the cuff remarks can be part of the permanent record now. I don't think you appreciate the scale of how many headaches this can create for a large company. Previously, A says something mean about B at the watercooler, even if somebody overhears it's all he says, she says. With Slack (or any other group chat/IM system), if A says the same thing, it's broadcast to everybody else on the channel and anybody can take out of context screenshots and run squealing to HR/EEOC/lawyers/whoever. And it's all accessible to anybody with a subpoena on a fishing expedition as well. And you can't just fix the company or the people: beyond a certain scale, no matter how good your hiring process and training, no matter how awesome your company culture and benefits, you'll get permanently unhappy people, shit-stirring trolls, wackos with extreme views and all the other weird creatures that populate any Internet forum. So eventually you have to converge on reserving chat only for strictly work-related comms and training people to take anything with the mildest whiff of controversy to talking in person/over video.