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Slack Is Not Where 'Deep Work' Happens

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Re: Slack Is Not Where 'Deep Work' Happens

#101

Post by m_t »

frgotmylogin wrote: post #89
StavrosK wrote: post #84

For a bit of context for the following, I've been working remote for years, five years in my previous company and one in the current one. The previous company did not use Slack. We used XMPP for one-on-one IMing (we did have chat rooms but nobody used them), physical desk phones for meetings or high-bandwidth chats, and email for everything else. The current company uses Slack and Zoom for meetings. There's a big dif…

I've found that a good way to lower the hassle on starting a zoom is to create a permanently open meeting with your phone number as the meeting ID. Then it is as simple as pasting/typing a link into an IM conversation and clicking it, and if you aren't at your own machine, it's easy to just type it. My only complaint with zoom is the lack of a prompt before launching video. I, and most of my coworkers, have uninstall…

> I've found that a good way to lower the hassle on starting a zoom is to create a permanently open meeting with your phone number as the meeting ID

But in zoom you do have a personal meeting ID, isn't what your describing just replacing that?

> My only complaint with zoom is the lack of a prompt before launching video.

As another commenter said, you can disable auto joining video and audio in the settings.

I do think it should be turned off by default though.

Re: Slack Is Not Where 'Deep Work' Happens

#102

Post by icedchai »

mikewhy wrote: post #98
icedchai wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Put that stuff in a Wiki. Or pull requests.

So search multiple places instead of just the one?

If you use a Wiki for everything, no. However, that is unlikely. You'll have to search more than one place anyway. Making Slack your primary store of institutional knowledge is unwise. Chats are full of garbage, random discussions, old / bad decisions, etc.

Re: Slack Is Not Where 'Deep Work' Happens

#103

Post by rbonvall »

alxlaz wrote: post #67
nottorp wrote: post #63

I don't understand. Why do you allow Slack to interrupt you? Turn off all notifications except the unread messages count badge and check it when it overflows. Easy as ABC. I run like 6 different messaging platforms, but none is allowed to interrupt me. If you can't restrain yourself from checking messages constantly, you have a problem not the medium.

> Turn off all notifications except the unread messages count badge and check it when it overflows. ...then keep a straight face while your super Agile manager berates you in front of the entire team because you're hard to communicate with, we have Slack for a reason. Not everyone has the choice to not allow Slack to interrupt you. Some organizations mandate this sort of communication, disruptive though it may be. Ed…

I understand the expectation of having the application open on your workstation while you're at the office, but having notifications enables on your personal phone is not sane.

Re: Slack Is Not Where 'Deep Work' Happens

#104

Post by StavrosK »

Goronmon wrote: post #99
StavrosK wrote: post #84

For a bit of context for the following, I've been working remote for years, five years in my previous company and one in the current one. The previous company did not use Slack. We used XMPP for one-on-one IMing (we did have chat rooms but nobody used them), physical desk phones for meetings or high-bandwidth chats, and email for everything else. The current company uses Slack and Zoom for meetings. There's a big dif…

What stops you from using Slack for one-on-one conversations? I am remote and I would say at least 80% of my time in Slack is spent in conversations with one, maybe two, people.

Nothing stops me, but affordances matter. Slack encourages group chats, so that's what keeps happening.

Re: Slack Is Not Where 'Deep Work' Happens

#105

Post by michaelbarton »

Goronmon wrote: post #99
StavrosK wrote: post #84

For a bit of context for the following, I've been working remote for years, five years in my previous company and one in the current one. The previous company did not use Slack. We used XMPP for one-on-one IMing (we did have chat rooms but nobody used them), physical desk phones for meetings or high-bandwidth chats, and email for everything else. The current company uses Slack and Zoom for meetings. There's a big dif…

What stops you from using Slack for one-on-one conversations? I am remote and I would say at least 80% of my time in Slack is spent in conversations with one, maybe two, people.

Not the parent commentator but I've been in both situations described above too. If I understand what's was written, it's that if you don't have the option of group/team chat rooms in the software you're using then, it forces 1:1 chat conversations instead. I believe GP is then describing how the dynamics are different in a group-level broadcast of information, versus a one on one chat.

Re: Slack Is Not Where 'Deep Work' Happens

#106

Post by glvn »

protonimitate wrote: post #28

I'll play devils advocate. I like Slack, and having a group communication tool has only increased my productivity. How? - Having a place to easily search for issues others have had in the past. Sure, you can search emails or ask the same questions, but it's nice to search and find answers from other peoples conversations. - Integration for production alerting, customer feedback, and deployment pipelines. Instead of m…

I would add to this, Slack can be a fantastic tool or it can be the bane of your workday, it all comes down to how your company/team use Slack.

On my team almost everything goes into the main team chat; however, every message is tagged with the person it's aimed at and any team-wide communication is tagged @here. Any sub-conversation about that top-level message happens in the message thread.

With this method, you are only notified if you are tagged in a message or if a message is tagged @here. Outside of that I will check slack about once per hour and can see all top-level issues at a glance that either my team or a specific person has been notified of. If I am interested in whatever the issue is I can dive into the thread and get more information about the issue or contribute my 0.02.

I see many here suggesting other software, at the end of the day that's all it is, software. The productivity drain/boost comes down to how everyone decides to use that software. If you get 100 emails a day with the subject "IMPORTANT: READ IMMEDIATELY", email suddenly becomes just as annoying and as much of a time-suck as Slack, this applies to all communication methods.

Re: Slack Is Not Where 'Deep Work' Happens

#107

Post by frgotmylogin »

m_t wrote: post #101
frgotmylogin wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've found that a good way to lower the hassle on starting a zoom is to create a permanently open meeting with your phone number as the meeting ID. Then it is as simple as pasting/typing a link into an IM conversation and clicking it, and if you aren't at your own machine, it's easy to just type it. My only complaint with zoom is the lack of a prompt before launching video. I, and most of my coworkers, have uninstall…

> I've found that a good way to lower the hassle on starting a zoom is to create a permanently open meeting with your phone number as the meeting ID But in zoom you do have a personal meeting ID, isn't what your describing just replacing that? > My only complaint with zoom is the lack of a prompt before launching video. As another commenter said, you can disable auto joining video and audio in the settings. I do thin…

You do get a personal meeting ID, but most people already have their phone number memorized. Being able to just instantly start a meeting from anywhere comes in handy.

Agreed on the default video thing. I'm in no rush to reactivate my camera though, and "Surprise! You are on camera!" isn't something I give software a do-over on.

Re: Slack Is Not Where 'Deep Work' Happens

#108

Post by MisterOctober »

smoe wrote: post #62
protonimitate wrote: post #28

I'll play devils advocate. I like Slack, and having a group communication tool has only increased my productivity. How? - Having a place to easily search for issues others have had in the past. Sure, you can search emails or ask the same questions, but it's nice to search and find answers from other peoples conversations. - Integration for production alerting, customer feedback, and deployment pipelines. Instead of m…

Agreed. Its not just about the tool but how you use it. For us it actually helps to get less distracted. There are very few things that require a sub 3 hour reaction. So we just put a question in Slack even if it's for the person sitting right next to you. Eventually the person will answer when they have some time. Much better than constantly having someone tipping one your shoulder or calling you Just because you ha…

Yep, this is exactly how I use it at my office. Slack isn't where 'deep work' happens, it's one of the things that allows me to accomplish 'deep work' by reducing interruption and distraction.

Re: Slack Is Not Where 'Deep Work' Happens

#109

Post by rc_kas »

icedchai wrote: post #73

Slack is fine if you turn off essentially all notifications. The same is true of email. Any sort of notification / alert is disruptive to deep (real) work. If it's urgent, send me a text. Or, god forbid, a phone call.

I leave notifications on. But for christ sakes -- logout of the Slack app when you want to focus. I logout for long periods and then open it back up when I want to see what the rest of the team has going on.

Re: Slack Is Not Where 'Deep Work' Happens

#110

Post by mrmrcoleman »

StavrosK wrote: post #84

For a bit of context for the following, I've been working remote for years, five years in my previous company and one in the current one. The previous company did not use Slack. We used XMPP for one-on-one IMing (we did have chat rooms but nobody used them), physical desk phones for meetings or high-bandwidth chats, and email for everything else. The current company uses Slack and Zoom for meetings. There's a big dif…

Even though I know I'm only addressing part of the issue you describe, we've been using Donut (https://www.donut.com/) and it has had a very positive effect on enabling non-work-based communication amongst (some) team members.
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