> I'm thinking about closing Slack and opening it 2-3x a day.
Do that.
Ask HN: I have diagnosed ADHD and cannot work with Slack anymore – advice?
21–30 of 392 posts
Re: Ask HN: I have diagnosed ADHD and cannot work with Slack anymore – advice?
#22Slack has some pretty fine grained notification controls. You can set it up so only certain channels notify, or so that only direct mentions notify, or so that only dms notify.
You can also just turn off notifications altogether. Explain to your colleagues that slack is keeping you from getting work done so you are going to turn off notifications. If you feel guilty give them a way to contact you if they truly need you immediately.
Re: Ask HN: I have diagnosed ADHD and cannot work with Slack anymore – advice?
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Is your management chain aware that you are diagnosed with ADHD No, and I don't think it will help, to be honest. They will just start paying even more attention to my work and decide it's not worth it.
If you’re in the US, I would request a formal reasonable accommodation from HR with your medical evidence. This establishes a paper trail in the event they attempt to terminate you due to your medical condition. My recommendation would be to codify the expectations around response time and Slack interactions in writing as the accommodation. https://www.dol.gov/agencies/odep/program-areas/employers/ac... https://www.e…
Once you need to start worrying about paper trails, your life within the corporation will have become an utter nightmare. Sharing medical information with your employer should be an absolute last resort, which isn't where OP appears to find themselves (given that muting notifications and checking it every once in a while is on the table).
Re: Ask HN: I have diagnosed ADHD and cannot work with Slack anymore – advice?
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you’re in the US, I would request a formal reasonable accommodation from HR with your medical evidence. This establishes a paper trail in the event they attempt to terminate you due to your medical condition. My recommendation would be to codify the expectations around response time and Slack interactions in writing as the accommodation. https://www.dol.gov/agencies/odep/program-areas/employers/ac... https://www.e…
Once you need to start worrying about paper trails, your life within the corporation will have become an utter nightmare. Sharing medical information with your employer should be an absolute last resort, which isn't where OP appears to find themselves (given that muting notifications and checking it every once in a while is on the table).
It sounds like OPs life is already an utter nightmare there. Can only go up after getting some relief.
> I can't concentrate at all. It's not like it's annoying, I simply cannot work. I have been spending 10x more energy since I started to just keep above the water but now, after 10 months, I'm simply drowning and my tickets are all piling up.
How depressing to think one shouldn't ask their employer for an accommodation for a legitimate medical condition after almost a year of suffering 8+ hours a day. More empathy please.
Re: Ask HN: I have diagnosed ADHD and cannot work with Slack anymore – advice?
#25I work mostly with Engineering teams, and consider slack inbound a pathology. Slack is great for collab in places, but it’s not a strong way to manage inbound, IMO.
The teams I’m responsible for make it easy for their stakeholder to raise issues, asks in a more deliberate, calmer way e.g. via GitHub issues or manager email. In exchange, we commit to mutually agreed response times on certain categories of business critical issues.
Generally, I don’t think it takes an ADHD diagnosis for slack inbound to completely kill your productivity, it’s a general problem. I don’t have ADHD but have strong empathy for how this must be a complete nightmare for you.
Perhaps have a manager put some structure on your inbound on your behalf?
Re: Ask HN: I have diagnosed ADHD and cannot work with Slack anymore – advice?
#26Check it a couple times per day.
Don't check it in the morning. First check after lunch.
Re: Ask HN: I have diagnosed ADHD and cannot work with Slack anymore – advice?
#27No post body was provided.
Re: Ask HN: I have diagnosed ADHD and cannot work with Slack anymore – advice?
#28I'm not diagnosed with ADHD, but Slack's notification noises trigger a visceral fight-or-flight response in me. Not PTSD surely, but in that spectrum.
This was from an early stage startup experience with 10 hour timezone deltas, and never-not being on call for some crucial infrastructure.
The sounds still evoke the dread,annoyance, and simmering resentment that accompanied a 4AM slack ping with the CTO just saying "Hey"
Re: Ask HN: I have diagnosed ADHD and cannot work with Slack anymore – advice?
#29At a previous company I had a very similar problem, and eventually converted an old SIM-less phone into my Slack device and mounted it in a stand on my desk. (Slack was not deemed a sensitive company app that had to run on company devices, which considering the access to customer channels and prod-affecting chatops features seemed stupid, but I'm not IT.)
I could physically turn Slack off by turning the phone off, and the only other way to get through to me was async, via email or in tickets.
A coworker I trusted had my personal cell number and texted me when something was actually urgent, which happened twice in 6 months.
Re: Ask HN: I have diagnosed ADHD and cannot work with Slack anymore – advice?
#30At a previous company I had a very similar problem, and eventually converted an old SIM-less phone into my Slack device and mounted it in a stand on my desk. (Slack was not deemed a sensitive company app that had to run on company devices, which considering the access to customer channels and prod-affecting chatops features seemed stupid, but I'm not IT.) I could physically turn Slack off by turning the phone off, an…
Also I'd really strongly suggest that you push your company away from a team @ alias and toward a team channel. The only groups that should have an @ alias that punches through notification settings are on-call, and if your role IS on-call then no amount of Slack changes will reduce interrupts.