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Slack Is Not Where 'Deep Work' Happens

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Re: Slack Is Not Where 'Deep Work' Happens

#211

Post by bravura »

about_help wrote: post #192
projectdelphai wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you should rules about it at the workplace. At mine, I can probably count on one hand the amount of times I've seen an @here. And one of them, the person was told he shouldn't have done it since it wasn't important. Really makes everything think before they use it.

We use separate channels for different projects and people join/leave as needed. @here is incredibly useful when you have a general question and not sure who might have insight. It all boils down to how people use the communications channel. I see @here multiple times a week but do not feel like it is a big distraction. At worst it can create a few minutes of distraction from my current workflow and if I'm truly in t…

Can you explain what you think is correct slack etiquette?

Never @ someone unless you want their immediate attention?

Re: Slack Is Not Where 'Deep Work' Happens

#212

Post by m0zg »

Slack's design encourages water-cooler back and forth ad nauseam. One of my clients uses it, and because I now track nearly all my working time, I know exactly how much money they waste because I'm on slack. In fact they waste even more than I charge them, because there are usually at least 2 more people bullshitting on slack pretty much continuously. Something that would be solved in 5 minutes through email or chat turns into a 30-40 minute clusterfuck and nothing gets solved.

Re: Slack Is Not Where 'Deep Work' Happens

#213

Post by indigodaddy »

vishnu_ks wrote: post #19
thecatspaw wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or continue using slack, but correctly. We dont have offtopic in ours. We do have a #random chat, but its very infrequently used. Instead of zulips revolutionary tags, just use the slack threads. Zulip wont save you if you're drowning in Slack messages.

Zulip does save you from drowning in messages! Instead of going through all the messages, one just have to go through Topics and consume messages only from topics they are interested in. This is so much efficient compared to a chat system without topics :)

What's the difference between a Zulip topic and a Slack channel? Are topics inside a channel?

Re: Slack Is Not Where 'Deep Work' Happens

#214

Post by vishnu_ks »

indigodaddy wrote: post #213
vishnu_ks wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Zulip does save you from drowning in messages! Instead of going through all the messages, one just have to go through Topics and consume messages only from topics they are interested in. This is so much efficient compared to a chat system without topics :)

What's the difference between a Zulip topic and a Slack channel? Are topics inside a channel?

Yup. Zulip has channels just like Slack. A channel is comprised of topics. When someone want to start a conversation they create a new topic. If they want to just join an existing conversation they reply back to the existing topic.

You can see a live demo by visiting our community server at https://chat.zulip.org/

Re: Slack Is Not Where 'Deep Work' Happens

#215

Post by robbiep »

delinka wrote: post #78
robbiep wrote: post #72

We have a remote team and have recently implemented a rule/trial of no slack after 10am until 4pm - so everyone can organise, everyone has enough work to do during their 6 hrs to continue if the need to ask a question then have the afternoon to answer questions/move forward on any blockers from their ‘time out’ Early days but seems to be improving ‘distractability’

Now to contend with "well, can't get an answer so I'm blocked until 4pm!" In the corporate environment I'm in, this is a fabulous excuse used by many teams from around the world. Works for email as well.

Well we’re a small team so that’s easier, and like I said it’s a trial. So we shall see!

Re: Slack Is Not Where 'Deep Work' Happens

#216

Post by e40 »

xfitm3 wrote: post #151
e40 wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Slack can be a terrible tool if you let it, but it can be wonderful, too, if you tune your notifications, and use DnD when you need it. Also, schedule DnD for non-work hours so you are never bothered outside of work hours, unless there is a true emergency (and if you work at a place with a lot of emergencies, then you have a shitty workplace). It's a tool. Use the tool, don't let the tool use you.

Slack is hostile to users and panders to management. It's a sound business strategy. I can't trust the platform, I'll always be second class. What about scheduled DnD for days off? Ability to /ignore annoying bots? Two basic features which should've been added long ago.

Slack is hostile to users and panders to management. It's a sound business strategy. I can't trust the platform, I'll always be second class.

That is very vague. Sounds like you have an axe to grind with your management.

What about scheduled DnD for days off? Ability to /ignore annoying bots? Two basic features which should've been added long ago.

Good feature idea. Have you submitted them?

As for as DnD scheduling for PTO, they have custom which I use on my last day. Works perfectly for me.

As for /ignore for bots, sounds like the people controlling your Slack need a suggestion or two.

Re: Slack Is Not Where 'Deep Work' Happens

#217

Post by TuringNYC »

eeeeeeeeeeeee wrote: post #173
davidscolgan wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whether or not Slack encourages workflows (and I can see how it would), I think in order to be an effective human in the modern era _requires_ thinking critically about technology choices and how to use them. Cal Newport's new book Digital Minimalism was a great read about this - be intentional about your tech choices, and be intentional about when and how you use them. Otherwise it's super easy to just get sucked in…

I completely agree, but I don't think that means we should ignore or withhold criticism when a company like Slack has immense power over how other companies operate. We should be scrutinizing the decisions they make because it does affect us. Many of these decisions you refer to are not made by the individual employee, but by the team lead, PM, or the executives, who are not always very connected to how those decisio…

Good point about choices being lead by executives in distance. I once had a client CEO obsessed with slack because he had developed a Pavlovian association between Slack knocks (upon got commits) and product delivery. He wanted to hear more and more knocks and people started to commit more and more often with increasingly trivial deltas.

Re: Slack Is Not Where 'Deep Work' Happens

#218

Post by xfitm3 »

e40 wrote: post #216
xfitm3 wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Slack is hostile to users and panders to management. It's a sound business strategy. I can't trust the platform, I'll always be second class. What about scheduled DnD for days off? Ability to /ignore annoying bots? Two basic features which should've been added long ago.

Slack is hostile to users and panders to management. It's a sound business strategy. I can't trust the platform, I'll always be second class. That is very vague. Sounds like you have an axe to grind with your management. What about scheduled DnD for days off? Ability to /ignore annoying bots? Two basic features which should've been added long ago. Good feature idea. Have you submitted them? As for as DnD scheduling f…

DnD scheduling for Sat/Sun.

Re: Slack Is Not Where 'Deep Work' Happens

#219

Post by indigodaddy »

vishnu_ks wrote: post #214
indigodaddy wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the difference between a Zulip topic and a Slack channel? Are topics inside a channel?

Yup. Zulip has channels just like Slack. A channel is comprised of topics. When someone want to start a conversation they create a new topic. If they want to just join an existing conversation they reply back to the existing topic. You can see a live demo by visiting our community server at https://chat.zulip.org/

Thanks! I guess I should have bothered to read your other reply but didn't notice it :)

Re: Slack Is Not Where 'Deep Work' Happens

#220

Post by tomjen3 »

gamma3 wrote: post #200
lisper wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You can always just exit the program. Or never start to use it in the first place. The fundamental problem with Slack is that its interactions are not structure in the right way to be useful in non-real-time. An email thread has two critical pieces of structure that Slack threads lack: a subject line, and a beginning . With email, it's easy to tell where a particular discussion started, and which messages have to d…

It's possible to have structured conversations by always using threads. I've convinced everyone at two companies so far (50 and 20 people) to never reply directly in a channel, and always use threads: https://medium.com/@martinkonicek/how-to-slack-6f5bf9be71ba

How do I get my coworkers to do that?
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