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I continue to think people are holding Slack wrong. The secret is this: Turn off desktop/phone notifications completely. Turn off icon badging. Use Slack as an

I continue to think people are holding Slack wrong. The secret is this: Turn off desktop/phone notifications completely. Turn off icon badging. Use Slack as an async messaging tool. Come back to it every so often and batch process messages in your own time. It's great for that. If you let it interrupt you on its own terms, you're going to have a bad time. Also, turn off @channel and @here notifications on most channels.

hot_gril 4y ago
Yes, this is also what I'd say to the author's points about it being distracting. But Slack search and scroll UIs are both really slow and clumsy. I don't think I'm using those wrong.
alxmng 4y ago
Agreed. I turn off all notifications and route mentions/replies to email, creating a chronological inbox I can work through.
monch1962 4y ago
I agree that would work, but culturally that's not how most organisations seem to be using it. Instead Slack seems to be viewed as a synchronous messaging tool - "if I send you a Slack msg, and I don't get a response within 2-3 minutes, something is wrong" I work for several different organisations that use Slack. Every time I start working at one, I turn off notifications and mark myself as busy or away, then jump onto Slack at logical intervals during the day to respond. Within a day or so, I have people asking if I'm OK, then when I explain, I get told that there's an expectation that "people should be always accessible via Slack" (generally a mealy-mouthed version of that, but the message is clear). To me, Slack is like sitting in the desk next to the only coffee machine in a large office - constant interruptions and zero chance to get into a flow state.
quickthrower2 4y ago
As you scale up the volume of messages gets out of control. You can’t read them all. My solution is I only guarantee to read messages in my team channels, or where I have been @‘d. Otherwise there is too much to catch up on. The boundaryless combo of watercooler, idea box, official docs and meetings notes means I am going to miss something important. This is probably a holding it wrong issue. And a bit of “well the handle is shaped weird too so how do I hold it?” Ephemeral conversions, like you have in the office might be a good solution. Maybe default Ephemeral (end of day loss unless you vote to keep) would force people to document meetings and decisions and stuff in the right place .
- valzam 4y ago
  In my company every team has a private channel where most of the high velocity conversations happen. In most othersl channels the number of daily messages is in the single digits (excluding things like monitoring and alerts that we send to slack). Company size 200, mostly remote word wide.
sickill 4y ago
This, 100x.

hot_gril 4y ago

Yes, this is also what I'd say to the author's points about it being distracting. But Slack search and scroll UIs are both really slow and clumsy. I don't think I'm using those wrong.

alxmng 4y ago

Agreed. I turn off all notifications and route mentions/replies to email, creating a chronological inbox I can work through.

monch1962 4y ago

I agree that would work, but culturally that's not how most organisations seem to be using it. Instead Slack seems to be viewed as a synchronous messaging tool - "if I send you a Slack msg, and I don't get a response within 2-3 minutes, something is wrong" I work for several different organisations that use Slack. Every time I start working at one, I turn off notifications and mark myself as busy or away, then jump onto Slack at logical intervals during the day to respond. Within a day or so, I have people asking if I'm OK, then when I explain, I get told that there's an expectation that "people should be always accessible via Slack" (generally a mealy-mouthed version of that, but the message is clear). To me, Slack is like sitting in the desk next to the only coffee machine in a large office - constant interruptions and zero chance to get into a flow state.

quickthrower2 4y ago

As you scale up the volume of messages gets out of control. You can’t read them all. My solution is I only guarantee to read messages in my team channels, or where I have been @‘d. Otherwise there is too much to catch up on. The boundaryless combo of watercooler, idea box, official docs and meetings notes means I am going to miss something important. This is probably a holding it wrong issue. And a bit of “well the handle is shaped weird too so how do I hold it?” Ephemeral conversions, like you have in the office might be a good solution. Maybe default Ephemeral (end of day loss unless you vote to keep) would force people to document meetings and decisions and stuff in the right place .

valzam 4y ago
In my company every team has a private channel where most of the high velocity conversations happen. In most othersl channels the number of daily messages is in the single digits (excluding things like monitoring and alerts that we send to slack). Company size 200, mostly remote word wide.

sickill 4y ago

This, 100x.