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Ask HN: Why do people love Slack?

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Re: Ask HN: Why do people love Slack?

#41

Post by netsharc »

NZ_Matt wrote: post #31
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?

Probably not, Slack is even more obnoxious than that, I installed the app on my phone, but didn't want my phone buzzing all the time, so I snoozed notifications on it. Guess what it did? It snoozed notifications on the desktop client too...

Re: Ask HN: Why do people love Slack?

#42

Post by andrekandre »

janee wrote: post #13

Personally I'd say it's a combination of traction and API for me. It's pretty useful to have a ubiquitous comms tool that integrates with most saas infra out the box...I do loathe its shoddy audio/video/screenshare

personally i find the ux of slack to be pretty appalling, from the newly added “visual formatting” to the weird dichotomy of left/right split of chat and thread (to say nothing about the lack of back button for the right-hand-side drilldown), downloads covering the right hand side chat, the lack of multiple windows, inability to drag and drop attachments to the “threads” channel... etc etc

BUT the plethora of integrations is what really makes it almost worth it to me personally, and i suspect very much so for my workplace as well

Re: Ask HN: Why do people love Slack?

#43

Post by nwallin »

ruffrey wrote: post #8
JohnFen wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Because we've tried Teams? That scans. I hate chat apps, personally, but we are required to use Teams at my workplace. Teams is truly horrendous. I would strongly prefer that we used Slack.

Microsoft Teams really is horrendous. I've used a lot of chat apps over decades. Teams might be the first one that manages to be _confusing_ - a feat I'd never seen in a chat app - because of the way it rearranges new threads, yet hides the recent part of the thread. Plus various other half-implemented features. The wiki and sharepoint/file integration doesn't work very well. There's no wiki search. It's super easy t…

It boggles my mind how Teams can be this terrible.

How?? How did they fuck it up this badly?

It's the only program I've ever used ever where I have difficulty finding the options menu. I still have trouble finding it. Like it's not something I figure out once and I'm like, "huh, that's weird" and then I know where it is. I have to relearn where it is every time, clicking and right clicking on random UI elements until the menu bar pops up.

Why can't I turn off the highlights for "random user 10000 has joined the channel"? I don't fucking care.

Why is the notification configuration so confusing? What the shit is a "banner"? What is a "feed"? Why is it that I don't know what half of the events even mean?

I don't understand how everything about it can be so bad.

Re: Ask HN: Why do people love Slack?

#45

Post by wilkystyle »

Tagbert wrote: post #40
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…

This is a very good approach. I have become ruthless at removing inbound interruptions from my devices:

I have all notification pop-ups disabled across all of my devices, with the sole exception of an incoming phone call (unless the caller is not in my contacts list, in which case it goes straight to voicemail without ringing my phone).

Beyond notifications, all badges are also disabled across all devices, with the sole exception of text messages (if I unlock my phone and go to the home screen, I can see that I have unread text messages).

This enables me to live largely in a pull fashion, without every communication channel constantly breaking my flow.

Re: Ask HN: Why do people love Slack?

#46

Post by robjan »

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…

I think part of this is a cultural issue with older "traditional" companies. I have worked at such a company and, after introducing Slack, people used it in exactly the same way including cc'ing everyone at the end of the message and needlessly escalating every thread if it's not answered immediately.

The annoying thing with Slack is that it's impossible to mute individuals who use it disruptively so I either get all or none of these notifications. It's easy to change people's behaviour in smaller companies but when there are hundreds of people in the workspace it gets tricky.

Re: Ask HN: Why do people love Slack?

#47

Post by system2 »

Service providers such as IT or Marketing companies, for long projects slack is amazing. Every company has its own workplace. We don't email or call. They drop us a message, we add the task to asana if needed, if not, answer briefly and move on.

It is not for everyone in my opinion. Very small companies will waste time (under 20 employees) or very large companies will waste resources instead of using project management systems.

It has a very niche use, I don't think everyone is using it the right way.

Re: Ask HN: Why do people love Slack?

#50

Post by HacklesRaised »

Hey look at me, I am communicating, I am being seen to communicate. As I am being seen to communicate, people who matter will notice my industry and reward me; never mind that I am actually a net loss to the productivity of the organization. That's slack, that is.
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