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Workflow Optimization Tools

1 points by katvol 6y ago

Have you ever wondered how much time you spend re-reading all the correspondence in the Slack workspace and how much of this information you really need and relate to your work? I am increasingly faced with the fact that from public channels I really only need 20 percent of all messages, so I spend a lot of time a week to read them, distracted from my main work. In my company, all employees experience similar inconveniences and we decided that we need to optimize our work processes with the help of tools that will really help in this and not take a lot of time. Please tell me if you are experiencing similar problems with corporate messengers and how do you deal with it now?

blakeburch 6y ago
In Slack, an easy way to solve this is to enforce rules better. If not everyone needs to know about it, it doesn't need to be in a public channel. More channels might need to be created to narrow their focus (specific projects, specific team groups, etc.) If you're responding to a statement, it should always goes in a thread. On a personal level, you could mute channels and only read them when your highlighted words are used (your name, project names, etc.) On the opposite end, you might like the tool Threads https://threads.com/ https://threads.com/? It acts more like an asynchronous message board for communication. When a conversation needs to happen, you invite the relevant people to the thread. The thread is publicly available to anyone in the channel to read, but it doesn't notify them by default. You can still tag someone into the thread for their perspective. Decisions that come out of a conversation can be highlighted so that anyone can find the relevant information without having to read the back-and-forth. Either way, when there are information workflow problems at an organization, those are usually caused by poorly designed or enforced internal processes, not the tools themselves.
- katvol 6y ago
  Do you have the inconvenience of switching between channels in order to find the desired discussion after a while, especially if this is not the root post, but which is in the thread?
  - blakeburch 6y ago
    Generally, no. If the channels are themed tightly, it should give you a good idea of where to look. It also helps make it easier to filter in Slack's search. If you need to reference the conversation later, it should probably be linked to in documentation/project management tool. If you need it for your own personal needs, you can bookmark/star it. I can't find the article that I read, but someone mentioned that it's beneficial to have different communication tools for short-term and long-term memory. Slack is great for quick, one off conversations. At the point that you find yourself discussing a larger issue and coming to a decision with long-lasting impacts... or needing to refer back to information frequently... the information should no longer be living in a chat application.
    - katvol 6y ago
      Personally, do you not save important information from Slack somewhere in order to return to it after some time? Especially when you cannot find this already in the Slack space itself, if, for example, messages have already been lost in the free version, or just one topic was discussed in different channels and you need to put it all together?

1 points by katvol 6y ago

blakeburch 6y ago

In Slack, an easy way to solve this is to enforce rules better. If not everyone needs to know about it, it doesn't need to be in a public channel. More channels might need to be created to narrow their focus (specific projects, specific team groups, etc.) If you're responding to a statement, it should always goes in a thread. On a personal level, you could mute channels and only read them when your highlighted words are used (your name, project names, etc.) On the opposite end, you might like the tool Threads https://threads.com/ https://threads.com/? It acts more like an asynchronous message board for communication. When a conversation needs to happen, you invite the relevant people to the thread. The thread is publicly available to anyone in the channel to read, but it doesn't notify them by default. You can still tag someone into the thread for their perspective. Decisions that come out of a conversation can be highlighted so that anyone can find the relevant information without having to read the back-and-forth. Either way, when there are information workflow problems at an organization, those are usually caused by poorly designed or enforced internal processes, not the tools themselves.

katvol 6y ago
Do you have the inconvenience of switching between channels in order to find the desired discussion after a while, especially if this is not the root post, but which is in the thread?
- blakeburch 6y ago
  Generally, no. If the channels are themed tightly, it should give you a good idea of where to look. It also helps make it easier to filter in Slack's search. If you need to reference the conversation later, it should probably be linked to in documentation/project management tool. If you need it for your own personal needs, you can bookmark/star it. I can't find the article that I read, but someone mentioned that it's beneficial to have different communication tools for short-term and long-term memory. Slack is great for quick, one off conversations. At the point that you find yourself discussing a larger issue and coming to a decision with long-lasting impacts... or needing to refer back to information frequently... the information should no longer be living in a chat application.
  - katvol 6y ago
    Personally, do you not save important information from Slack somewhere in order to return to it after some time? Especially when you cannot find this already in the Slack space itself, if, for example, messages have already been lost in the free version, or just one topic was discussed in different channels and you need to put it all together?