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Ask HN: Why do people love Slack?

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Re: Ask HN: Why do people love Slack?

#31

Post by NZ_Matt »

someonehere wrote: post #27

I like the shared workspaces feature. If your company works with customers directly (a project for example or sales support), it’s easy to create a new channel, create a share link, and send it to an admin on the other side. Now you’ve connected two Slack instances of invited users to a channel. Cuts down on email threads and phone calls. Life saver for where I work.

I get this, but often it results in 10+ messages back and forward when really what I want is one nice succinct email with only what's important and no pressure for me drop everything and reply immediately.

I haven't looked, but is it possible to change your online status on a room by room basis?

Re: Ask HN: Why do people love Slack?

#32

Post by boublepop »

Dear gruglife,

I write this comment as a response to your inquiry about the reasons for why people like slack.

Now personally I mostly use Teams, but the system is similar.

The reason I like to use Teams as opposed to e-mail is mostly just the expected process around it.

Please note that I’ve cc’ed your manager, as I talked to him just before and he told me to add him. I’m not trying to seem passive aggressive or cause issues in communication.

Anyways, please come by my desk so we can repeat this entire discussion once again since you likely tuned out after the first paragraph anyway.

And yes IRC does the same, but trying to get an organization to use IRC is like trying to replace word with vim.

Kind regards and all the best, Boublepop

Re: Ask HN: Why do people love Slack?

#33

Post by Kinrany »

boublepop wrote: post #32

Dear gruglife, I write this comment as a response to your inquiry about the reasons for why people like slack. Now personally I mostly use Teams, but the system is similar. The reason I like to use Teams as opposed to e-mail is mostly just the expected process around it. Please note that I’ve cc’ed your manager, as I talked to him just before and he told me to add him. I’m not trying to seem passive aggressive or cau…

Is this a parody of something related to Slack? I don't get the joke.

Re: Ask HN: Why do people love Slack?

#34

Post by xenonite »

Kinrany wrote: post #33
boublepop wrote: post #32

Dear gruglife, I write this comment as a response to your inquiry about the reasons for why people like slack. Now personally I mostly use Teams, but the system is similar. The reason I like to use Teams as opposed to e-mail is mostly just the expected process around it. Please note that I’ve cc’ed your manager, as I talked to him just before and he told me to add him. I’m not trying to seem passive aggressive or cau…

Is this a parody of something related to Slack? I don't get the joke.

Yes, it’s a parody of a widely used classic medium.

Re: Ask HN: Why do people love Slack?

#35

Post by rolleiflex »

boublepop wrote: post #32

Dear gruglife, I write this comment as a response to your inquiry about the reasons for why people like slack. Now personally I mostly use Teams, but the system is similar. The reason I like to use Teams as opposed to e-mail is mostly just the expected process around it. Please note that I’ve cc’ed your manager, as I talked to him just before and he told me to add him. I’m not trying to seem passive aggressive or cau…

This isn’t the only way email could be. You can remove the whole ‘cc’ aspect, make it work within channels just like Slack, and most of the awkwardness melts away, while you keep the good, async parts.

The reason email is stuffy is that it allows you too granular an ability to choose and modify who gets to see it as a conversation goes on. A simpler concept of a channel goes some way to solve that.

That said, be forewarned: I’m biased, I make a tool that makes email work like Slack. (https://aether.app)

If anything, one thing we’ve noticed using Aether is that it makes people drop ‘Hi Jane’ style heading and signatures at the bottom after a while, naturally.

Re: Ask HN: Why do people love Slack?

#36

Post by x2f10 »

elwesties wrote: post #25

I suspect much of the hate for slack is from two types of people. Those who are too young to know the tyranny of email and those who used to ignore their email. As to why it’s so popular, it was the first good business chat solution that went mainstream. And I still haven’t seen another that matches it’s quality

Slack prevents deep work.

I respond to e-mails 2-4 times a day during task transitions. The sender does not anticipate an immediate response so the 1-2 hours delay is OK.

Compare this to Slack which requires constant monitoring where senders anticipate an immediate response. Not to mention the increase in casual "water cooler" conversations.

The find the same people that recommend Slack are the same people that recommend 3-hour meetings. It's procrastination veiled as productivity.

Re: Ask HN: Why do people love Slack?

#37

Post by muzani »

Kinrany wrote: post #33
boublepop wrote: post #32

Dear gruglife, I write this comment as a response to your inquiry about the reasons for why people like slack. Now personally I mostly use Teams, but the system is similar. The reason I like to use Teams as opposed to e-mail is mostly just the expected process around it. Please note that I’ve cc’ed your manager, as I talked to him just before and he told me to add him. I’m not trying to seem passive aggressive or cau…

Is this a parody of something related to Slack? I don't get the joke.

It's a parody of how tiresome emailing is in real world applications.

In an ideal world, you ask someone to do something, they ask you for details, you give them details, it's done.

In a less ideal world, you have busy people, lazy people, and people who have been given unreasonable schedules.

They drop emails, overlook, glance it over. They dread the back and forth long email threads, so they sit and think and procrastinate for an hour before sending a short email like the above.

And what let's say there's three teams involved. One person drops the ball or ignores an email. What next?

That's why you have to cc them. I once had an issue with this guy who I just kept giving him instructions, having meetings, and he still did the wrong things. I brought it up to the boss and he yelled at me and told me I don't know how to work in a team -- I never cc'ed him in these emails.

And I quickly learned that whenever an email cc-ed the boss, things moved, and when it didn't, they'll say okay, but the work would disappear.

Then the obvious solution is to cc every time right? But because of this, every time you cc someone, it implies that you don't trust them to get it done.

Something like Slack just automates this process. You post something in a team channel, it gives a slight-but-not-passive-aggressive pressure. You can send a document and it doesn't get lost (and you can't blame someone for not sending you the documents).

Re: Ask HN: Why do people love Slack?

#38

Post by elwesties »

x2f10 wrote: post #36
elwesties wrote: post #25

I suspect much of the hate for slack is from two types of people. Those who are too young to know the tyranny of email and those who used to ignore their email. As to why it’s so popular, it was the first good business chat solution that went mainstream. And I still haven’t seen another that matches it’s quality

Slack prevents deep work. I respond to e-mails 2-4 times a day during task transitions. The sender does not anticipate an immediate response so the 1-2 hours delay is OK. Compare this to Slack which requires constant monitoring where senders anticipate an immediate response. Not to mention the increase in casual "water cooler" conversations. The find the same people that recommend Slack are the same people that recom…

If you think that Slack requires constant monitoring then I think you are using it wrong. I believe there is zero difference in the reply expectations of Slack and email. As per my initial comment, you are someone who doesn't check email and that's ok, in my engineering manager role I receive over 200 emails a day. Most of these could be 3 - 10 word slack messages but they arrive in my inbox with the same urgency as every other message requiring the same level of triage as a very important contract.

Re: Ask HN: Why do people love Slack?

#39

Post by muzani »

x2f10 wrote: post #36
elwesties wrote: post #25

I suspect much of the hate for slack is from two types of people. Those who are too young to know the tyranny of email and those who used to ignore their email. As to why it’s so popular, it was the first good business chat solution that went mainstream. And I still haven’t seen another that matches it’s quality

Slack prevents deep work. I respond to e-mails 2-4 times a day during task transitions. The sender does not anticipate an immediate response so the 1-2 hours delay is OK. Compare this to Slack which requires constant monitoring where senders anticipate an immediate response. Not to mention the increase in casual "water cooler" conversations. The find the same people that recommend Slack are the same people that recom…

This seems more a problem with the culture. Where I've worked, messaging and emails are used for non-urgent, handle this when you're available type notices. If something was urgent, we walk up to their desk and tell them. Slack actually cuts down on desk-related interruptions; we'd literally just Slack each other even though we're sitting across.

Water cooler conversations are a kind of stress dissipation response for some people. It's great for some, bad for others. Slack means that it stays in a channel instead of at the water cooler when all you want is a drink, not a chat.

Re: Ask HN: Why do people love Slack?

#40

Post by Tagbert »

hullsean wrote: post #29

Slack is a huge time waster. It is a constant distraction. As as it becomes standardized it’s assumed you will be on it all the tome. Through the workday and even after. The only time can get work done without distractions is after hours. With slack the world becomes one big long meeting. Lol Also as a consultant it is a problem. With email I have paper trails of conversations. But with slack when engagement is endin…

We use slack but there is no expectation that someone will respond after hours. Your time is your time. If you’re in a meeting or just working on something, I don’t expect you to respond. I’m just dropping a message to you. Respond when you have some free time. If we are both free and can chat interactively that great and we can resolve this right away.

If you are currently on-call, I would expect that you check for slack messages on a regular basis.

BTW I don’t have any notifications turned on for Slack. I periodically check for new message flags. For most channels, I keep them on mute unless it is a channel that I am personally active in.

I treat email the same way. Not notifications. It drives me crazed when I’m talking to someone at their desk and they are constantly getting pop ups telling that they got an email or a slack message. Stop that shit! Get it under control. Push back.

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