Gijs Verheijke

 

Slack = Crack

22 June 2022

Slack = Crack

Slack is the facebook / crack addiction of the modern organization and without conscious effort to control it, we will all be controlled by Slack.

Main problems with slack

"Group chat is like being in an all-day meeting, with random participants, and no agenda."

  1. It tells you only that there is something to read (a highlighted channel), but not what it is, or whether it's important or not
    1. You have to open every channel to even begin knowing if something is relevant for you
    2. It demands almost constant attention because of this, as most people have the tendency to 'clear' notifications when they see them
  2. By it's nature as a chat stream, it's very difficult to keep track of things and find things later on

Solution to point 1: Setup slack thoughtfully

  • the UNREAD tab and answer messages from there
    • In preferences, under sidebar you can activate All unread which is unchecked by default
    • Now you'll have a new tab where you can go through everything that is unread in your slack, one by one
    • You can immediately see if it's relevant and tackle slack more like you would handle emails
  • Set notifications to only @mentions and DMs
  • Consider leaving or muting channels if it's very rare that something relevant to you is discussed there
  • Consider trying the Compact theme under Messages & media. It gets rid of profile pictures in convos for less mental load
  • Consider switching off all checkboxes under Inline media & links on Messages & media (scroll down). It defaults to not showing images in convos (you'll have to click to open it) for much reduced mental load

Solution to point 2: Bias to Notion or other async tools over Slack

  • Anything that relates to specific projects, deliverables or topics
  • Anything that entails assigning a task or asking for resources
  • In all cases, ask yourself: "Is it really better to do this in slack rather than Notion?"

Slack best practices

  • Avoid direct messages like the plague. Use threads to keeps things organized in open channels
  • Slack is a conversation. Assume nothing is saved or tracked. DO NOT USE it for anything that you plan to use again or find again in the future

  • Manage presence. Slack defaults to everyone being always interruptible. Recommend to do two things to manage presence:
    • Try not to constantly check Slack. Instead use the 'unread' tab and try to clear slack once every 30 minutes to an hour
    • Have some slack-free blocks in your calendar where to timebox key jobs to be done. Please feel free to designate times when you cannot be expected to reply quickly on slack. Communicate this in advance and ideally use Slack status to also show.
      • Within reason, i.e. 1 hour of Slack availability per day might not be enough, especially if you are a manager or in a role that has ad-hoc 'firefighting' elements like Ops
      • Please provide a backup contact option in case something is truly urgent ☎️

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