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Can Slack-mania be cured with systemized discipline?

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Re: Can Slack-mania be cured with systemized discipline?

#191

Post by folmar »

hdjjhhvvhga wrote: post #177
AlecSchueler wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand the attitude where it's lazy not to write an email but it's an unreasonable chore to respond to a question on Slack? In mind Slack is preferable to email for many things because the issues are resolved in public and I can later look back on what questions have been asked etc.

For the simple reason that in my opinion it's never "answering a simple question" but more often than not having a chat, with multiple messages and the expectation of responding quickly. The worst offenders are the ones who don't even ask a question but instead write "Hello?... Dude?... Are you there?..." Just state what you want and this will allow me to answer your question in a more efficient way.

I just choose to no to respond until they come to state what they want. Some are offended but otherwise I'm stuck forever.

Teams has it solved much better with a visible "message read" indicator that can be somewhat managed on the reader side, i.e. if you only see the notification it does not count as viewing.

Re: Can Slack-mania be cured with systemized discipline?

#192

Post by folmar »

ryukoposting wrote: post #118
steelframe wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My friend works at a company that -- on orders from legal -- has set a 5-day "disappearing messages" policy for all of the corp Slack. Unfortunately nearly all technical discussions happen on Slack. He tells me that it's not unusual for messages to start disappearing before the issue being worked on has even been resolved, and everyone has to re-ask the same questions and re-post the answers at that point, and someti…

> Then there's no way for people joining the company to get answers to already-asked-and-answered questions, and they end up spamming everyone on various channels with frequently-asked questions that often go ignored because people are tired of re-posting the same answers over and over again. In my office, Slack messages that live forever don't stop people from asking questions that have already been answered. The se…

I think the search tool could have been broken on purpose. It was somewhat-working in the previous, less "smart", version.

Re: Can Slack-mania be cured with systemized discipline?

#193

Post by folmar »

iso1631 wrote: post #174
Gigachad wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never bother reading slack backlogs. I use slack to get quick answers to questions and then for any kind of design decisions, they go in to a diagram or wiki page which will be discussed in the next meeting.

Quite, slack is the equivalent of an office conversation, you can join in or ignore it. If someone wants you specifically they can @ you, and you can briefly glance at the context over the last few lines. Usually at that point you'll jump into a huddle / call, maybe you'll have to go back over it, but it only takes a few seconds to get the gist of what's being talked about, far easier than getting the gist of an offi…

> jump into a huddle / call

... and first explain that they should use huddle, that works everywhere, instead of call, which is chrome-only. Great UX /s.

Re: Can Slack-mania be cured with systemized discipline?

#194

Post by folmar »

blitzar wrote: post #155
Gigachad wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never bother reading slack backlogs. I use slack to get quick answers to questions and then for any kind of design decisions, they go in to a diagram or wiki page which will be discussed in the next meeting.

Slack is like twitter, if you are scrolling back through the feed bad things are happening. Have the conversation and put the relevant stuff into the ticket / bug / wiki. If there are FAQ, time to write an FAQ!

If there is no discovery of things I wrote I don't care to write. Why should I write in slack if I have to write it again elsewhere?

Re: Can Slack-mania be cured with systemized discipline?

#195

Post by folmar »

ziml77 wrote: post #185
geewee wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I honestly don't think it's that bad. I've used both Slack and teams simultaneously for a few years, and I honestly don't see a lot of differences.

Teams is garbage. I'll end up with conversations or images that don't load until I click back and try again. If I search a chat for something, clicking the result will often not scroll the correct message into view. It doesn't allow you to be on a call on multiple devices at once so I can use the desktop I'm remoted into for viewing a screen share while using the app on my phone for audio. It tries to retain the form…

> It doesn't allow you to be on a call on multiple devices at once so I can use the desktop I'm remoted into for viewing a screen share while using the app on my phone for audio.

This was actually fixed a ~month ago. And they broke the ability to answer group call in the mobile app with that update.

Re: Can Slack-mania be cured with systemized discipline?

#196

Post by folmar »

d4rkp4ttern wrote: post #170

One thing I have not seen mentioned here is the “slack status”. I find that it has a subtle stress inducing effect: * if it’s green are people expecting me to reply right away? And if I don’t respond do they feel anxious? * do employees feel pressure to keep it green to show they are working? I told my team that I will keep my status to AWAY always, and they can feel free to do the same. Just because slack provides a…

The problem is that they have too few. The one I miss the most is "free for chat", but it'd be also nice to copy Teams with separate Busy and Do not disturb.

Re: Can Slack-mania be cured with systemized discipline?

#197

Post by folmar »

habosa wrote: post #150

I'm new to Slack (just leaving a FAANG for a startup) and all the inbox management skills I've built up over the years seem to be useless now. Is there a good way to create an async task list from Slack? Right now if I get a message on Slack that I want to handle later I can: a) Ignore it, so I keep the unread "red dot" b) Use the "remind me" feature to make it synchronous but later c) Just ... handle it now (sigh) W…

Add it to "saved items".

Re: Can Slack-mania be cured with systemized discipline?

#199

Post by KnobbleMcKnees »

Falkon1313 wrote: post #146

This doesn't really sound like a problem with Slack, but rather a personal or cultural problem with a lack of setting or respecting boundaries. Slack has options to communicate: - that you're away - that you're on a call or in a meeting etc. - to pause notifications for an hour or whatever - to star the most relevant channels - to mute less-relevant channels - to leave irrelevant channels - to sideline conversations…

You forgot the most important option of all: closing the window.

Unless your occupation precludes constant communication (like emergency services or such), then the expectation should be that you are generally contactable, not constantly interruptible.

And if you can't close Slack without fear of repercussions then the problem lies with your company, not Slack.

Re: Can Slack-mania be cured with systemized discipline?

#200

Post by ungamed »

charcircuit wrote: post #120
ungamed wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Email doesn't have an easy way to add someone to a thread You add them to the cc list. > or to manage a forked conversation. Your email client is at fault there, any decent email manages forked conversations. > It's closed and non-discoverable by default. Thats why you have mailing lists which are indexed and searchable. You may see 'closed and non discoverable' as a downside, I do not. Anything that should be disc…

>You add them to the cc list. I have very minimal experience using email, but doesn't this just add them to a new message as opposed to adding them to old messages?

Yes, in this case you explicitly introduce the reader with context, which is important when you have specific information that may be considered sensitive, or history that is not relevant.

Anyone reading the "to" line can see where the reader was introduced.

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