Ask HN: I have diagnosed ADHD and cannot work with Slack anymore – advice?

These are solid advice. I've also had slack utterly destroy productivity, it is very unfortunate it has become popular.

I don't have the slack app anywhere, I just access it via browser.

I don't keep a tab open on it. I'll close the tab when I'm done and only reopen it via bookmark next time I need.

I configure it to send me email if anyone mentions me. Of course, need to also make sure email notifications are all off. I'll check email about hourly or between meetings or completed tasks.

In the absence of any email notifications from slack, I'll check it only at a few set times during that day. Times vary based on org culture but ideally not more than three times a day (morning, lunch, evening).

If these technical solutions work for you, they can work great. But of course the worst part about slack is how it incentivizes this hyper-toxic culture of everyone monitoring chat all day long above all else. If your company culture has fallen into that pit and people get angry at you for not answering every bit of trivia within 30 seconds, I wish I knew of a solution other than quitting.

I think the most logical solution is to plan your own daily calendar for this. If you are not working in a position like support, you can stay away from slack completely and only check it during break times.

1000+ channels sounds insane. Maybe it's normal to use Slack like that in larger enterprises, but IMO at that kind of scale they need to have separate Slack workspaces for each team, and then higher level ones (or a different method of communication) for higher-level strategic & executive planning. Even if you're not expected to be in the vast majority of them, having 1000+ Slack channels all under one workspace would be overwhelming for a lot of people, I'd think.

For the OP trying to manage that situation, I'd say leave or mute any channel you don't need to be in, set it to only notify you for @ mentions. (@channel mentions would depend whether it's abused; if not, those could be included too. If it is, then probably best not to notify on those.) And then yeah, as you suggested, aside from people specifically tagging or DMing you, only look a couple times a day, at specific times.

If you think that could cause inconvenience for others, or if even just the @mentions are too much, it could be worth bringing it up with your manager too. (If you've got a good manager, probably worth bringing it up regardless.) Try to approach it not as a complaint, nor as something you can't handle, but just a challenge to be solved, like any of the many engineering challenges you work through every day. Along the lines of, "Hey, I was wondering if I could run something by you. I've noticed that with all the Slack channels we're in, I'm getting pinged pretty regularly. I want to make sure I'm available when people need me, but I also find it helpful if I can have uninterrupted stretches to concentrate on coding. Was thinking a decent solution might be ______. What do you think?" Of course you know your manager better than I do, so obviously tailor it to how you'd normally communicate with them. Personally though, I always appreciate it when someone on my team comes to me with an issue in that way, as an opportunity for improvement. They might even have some useful ideas, or be able to help facilitate.

I apply this the reverse way too. Is this message I am sending important enough that I would call them to tell or ask the same thing?

To deal with my ADHD, I set almost all notifications off. For messaging, checking a few times a day may be sufficient, depending on your situation. The old Dr. Pepper bottles had 10-2-4 on them. That might be good times to check, if you work a standard schedule. To keep myself focused, I use a Pomodoro timer and work in 25 minute segments with 5 minute breaks between most and a longer one every so often (15 minute), if I am left alone and undisturbed for that long. To avoid being disturbed, I regularly block out calendar time in the mornings when my energy is better for Cal Newport style Deep Work. Hope this helps — best wishes!