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

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

#331

Post by sss111 » Sat, Dec 17, 2022, 11:12 AM UTC

theGnuMe wrote: post #128

sf4lifer wrote: post #10

I ran into this issue at a large corp. I was a subject matter expert on how a certain product worked so literally would get 500+ notifications daily from (mostly sales) people asking the same questions. I set an auto-reply to anyone that mentioned me that included a link to FAQ and directed them to SEs or CS folks who were responsible for answering these sort of questions. I also linked a recording to the last webina…

The first person to write a chatgpt slack bot called Anton that reads all of your local corp docs will make a mint (with security controls) Free idea folks.

ok bet

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

#332

Post by generic_dev_47 » Sat, Dec 17, 2022, 11:12 AM UTC

civilized wrote: post #225

dahdum wrote: post #78

I started using 4 virtual desktops to manage distractions many years ago and it’s worked wonderfully for me. Desktop 1 is for chat, email, Spotify, and general web browsing. Desktop 2 is for software development only, nowadays VSCode. A separate browser profile is used here and only for development related browsing (docs, stack overflow, live testing). Desktop 3 is data and system administration. Remote terminals, Ex…

I don't know how anyone lives without this. I have six desktops on my MBP with a similar organization: 1. Communication apps 2. Project management, todo lists 3+. Data science and work tools - RStudio, Excel, etc There is a left-to-right flow: communication influences project roadmaps and to-do lists, which influence what actually gets done. You hang out on the right unless you need info from the left.

Thanks for explaining the reasoning of the left to right ordering, makes total sense! Will try this setup on Monday :-)

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

#333

Post by mejutoco » Sat, Dec 17, 2022, 11:37 AM UTC

I mute certain channels and set keywords that enable notifications: my name or MR code review requests. It is a small trick to add to your approach, maybe it helps.

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

#334

Post by wil421 » Sat, Dec 17, 2022, 12:13 PM UTC

NotPractical wrote: post #92

dahdum wrote: post #78

I started using 4 virtual desktops to manage distractions many years ago and it’s worked wonderfully for me. Desktop 1 is for chat, email, Spotify, and general web browsing. Desktop 2 is for software development only, nowadays VSCode. A separate browser profile is used here and only for development related browsing (docs, stack overflow, live testing). Desktop 3 is data and system administration. Remote terminals, Ex…

How do you remove the desktop-switching animation on macOS? I'd like to use the virtual desktops feature but the animation is unbearably slow, and I was unable to find a way to disable it online even after extensive searching. Afaik "just use Linux" still isn't an option on my 2019 (Intel) MBP due to lack of support for basic stuff like Wi-Fi and keyboard :(

Can’t you just do the 3 finger side swipe to move between desktops?

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

#335

Post by nibbleshifter » Sat, Dec 17, 2022, 12:40 PM UTC

LtWorf wrote: post #299

I made a very unsuccessful show HN for localslackirc: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33799463 It has a feature to simply ignore "@here" and "@everyone" coming from certain people or certain channels. It lets you completely leave channels client side, without slack knowing about it. IRC client lets you /ignore people No animated GIF and reactions A good IRC client lets you configure your notifications. If they m…

A few years ago a friend wrote a bit of webshit that you could inject into the slack desktop client that would give you a local "ignore" (by hiding elements or something).

I wish Slack proper has that feature.

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

#336

Post by pengaru » Sat, Dec 17, 2022, 1:06 PM UTC

It sounds like your employer's organization has ADHD, not you.

Go work somewhere else, you're describing a shit show, and you're in no position to fix it.

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

#337

Post by gingerlime » Sat, Dec 17, 2022, 1:19 PM UTC

zztop44 wrote: post #144

I don’t have ADHD but I get very distracted by Slack. Here’s what worked for me. 1. Slack app uninstalled on my phone. If I need it for something, I install it, use it, then delete again. 2. Slack app on my laptop fully closed by default. 3. Set times (about 5 a day) to check in and respond to notifications and scan channels. When I was a senior manager with lots of actually important messages these blocks were about…

Fantastic advice! one (optional, but highly recommended) to add:

turn off your presence/away status.

Just because you’re online does not automatically give permission to bug you. This however goes both ways. So make sure you do eventually respond to others. But there’s no expectation of replying right now.

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

#338

Post by eropple » Sat, Dec 17, 2022, 2:43 PM UTC

danuker wrote: post #238

Jare wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Slack in browser with notifications off, and not at all on the phone (or disabled while not on call) is the only sane way. I will still go to check it quite a few times per day, but I would never survive if the thing is allowed to actively call my attention.

I still get distracted when the tab text or icon changes.

Pin the tab. No more tab title.

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

#339

Post by clscott » Sat, Dec 17, 2022, 2:46 PM UTC

clscott wrote: post #242

miniBill wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is some software to have a windows-like alt-tab experience, and you can decide to filter to current desktop or not

What is this miracle software?

Thank you all with the suggestions!

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

#340

Post by fortran77 » Sat, Dec 17, 2022, 2:47 PM UTC

I don't have ADHD, at least I don't think I do, but I find Slack and other asynchronous communications unworkable. If there's no other choice, I suppose you should follow some of the other's advice and simply block out a time mid-morning and mid-afternoon when you spend 30 minutes or less checking the threads and then closing it again.

It's not you. Slack is simply wrong for this; people just don't know it yet.

The most efficient way for a programming team to communicate is via an issue-tracking system (Jira, etc.). Open an issue per bug/feature, and all communication related to it is reflected there.

In addition to asynchronous interrupts, Slack encourages people to respond too fast, without thinking. There's also a lot of "NONB" communications on it, which leads to political rants, insults, hurt feelings, and discontent. Companies should just stop it. Everything isn't a video game.