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Collaborate with kindness: Etiquette tips in Slack

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Re: Collaborate with kindness: Etiquette tips in Slack

#21

Post by enriquto »

gkoberger wrote: post #5
enriquto wrote: post #3

Basic etiquette would be to not force co-workers to use Slack at all. And for that matter, any other proprietary network based on closed standards that do not admit connections from third-party clients. I'm forced to use Slack and Zoom from time to time for important work stuff, and it is extremely annoying and humiliating.

This... is an insane take. It's "humiliating" for you to use the communication platform your company has chosen?

I'm an activist for software freedom and I refuse to use non-free software in my life, as a matter of principle. When I'm forced to do so it's certainly very humiliating for me.

Besides, I don't work for a company, but in the public sector (which by the way I think it should not impose non-free software nor secret protocols into the citizens).

Re: Collaborate with kindness: Etiquette tips in Slack

#22

Post by Melatonic »

ninkendo wrote: post #11
commandlinefan wrote: post #4

> Never send a direct message that just says “hey” or “hello.” I first started hearing people suggest this recently (within the past month or so). I never really understood why these message bothered people so much - they never bothered me and always actually seemed a bit more polite than just barreling forward with a question. But I guess if even Slack themselves are saying don't do that, it must really get on other…

People have to prioritize their time. If they get messages from someone, they have to weigh responding to it against all of the other things they may be doing with their time (other messages, that ticket you’re working on, etc etc.) By just saying “Hey”, you’re leaving a message of unknown priority . You’re giving the other party zero information as to what you might want. If you say that to me, you’re saying “I need…

I dont think it is a problem with saying "hey" but when you say "hey" by itself. All the time I will say something like "hey" and then a followup message with a short question or asking how they are doing, etc etc.

But for sure it is annoying when someone sends me a message that says "Hi" and then says nothing else until I respond

Re: Collaborate with kindness: Etiquette tips in Slack

#23

Post by Melatonic »

richm31415 wrote: post #16
gkoberger wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This... is an insane take. It's "humiliating" for you to use the communication platform your company has chosen?

It can be, yes. For someone who is a strong believer in and advocate of FOSS, who makes her/his livelihood developing FOSS for a FOSS software company, to be forced to use proprietary solutions where there are reasonable FOSS alternatives can be very disheartening, demoralizing, and even humiliating.

I am not sure still why it is humiliating specifically - disheartening sure, demoralizing makes sense. But why would it be humiliating if you are not the person pushing that the paid / non FLOSS app be used in the first place?

Isn't this also a good chance to evangelize an alternative to whomever you are speaking with?

Re: Collaborate with kindness: Etiquette tips in Slack

#24

Post by hamolton »

Agree with these takes. My company's system having the channel #eng--lobby as a q/a forum for all teams has been incredible for spreading information, although I could imagine some cultures where it wouldn't work as well. The emojis they have for "Thank you" and "I'm looking into it" seem a bit ambiguous; my company has several "thank you" emotes, but nothing dedicated to the latter. Not sure what we should add.

Re: Collaborate with kindness: Etiquette tips in Slack

#25

Post by ninkendo »

Melatonic wrote: post #22
ninkendo wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People have to prioritize their time. If they get messages from someone, they have to weigh responding to it against all of the other things they may be doing with their time (other messages, that ticket you’re working on, etc etc.) By just saying “Hey”, you’re leaving a message of unknown priority . You’re giving the other party zero information as to what you might want. If you say that to me, you’re saying “I need…

I dont think it is a problem with saying "hey" but when you say "hey" by itself. All the time I will say something like "hey" and then a followup message with a short question or asking how they are doing, etc etc. But for sure it is annoying when someone sends me a message that says "Hi" and then says nothing else until I respond

I’d say it would even better if you just put a couple of newlines after “hey” and put your question in the same message. One less notification would be appreciated by your coworkers.

Re: Collaborate with kindness: Etiquette tips in Slack

#26

Post by kerblang »

> Default to public channels for better workplace communication

I have tried so hard to get people to do this, but it seems like a lot of my coworkers are honestly scared of "public" channels, and by "public" I mean a channel with only 15 or so people on it. They insist on DM'ing most things, and some just refuse to use chat at all; those will only communicate via email.

Re: Collaborate with kindness: Etiquette tips in Slack

#27

Post by SketchySeaBeast »

ninkendo wrote: post #25
Melatonic wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dont think it is a problem with saying "hey" but when you say "hey" by itself. All the time I will say something like "hey" and then a followup message with a short question or asking how they are doing, etc etc. But for sure it is annoying when someone sends me a message that says "Hi" and then says nothing else until I respond

I’d say it would even better if you just put a couple of newlines after “hey” and put your question in the same message. One less notification would be appreciated by your coworkers.

Yeah, I don't have to look over, give a sigh, and then sit there waiting for the message to come through for the next two minutes.

Re: Collaborate with kindness: Etiquette tips in Slack

#28

Post by reggieband »

commandlinefan wrote: post #4

> Never send a direct message that just says “hey” or “hello.” I first started hearing people suggest this recently (within the past month or so). I never really understood why these message bothered people so much - they never bothered me and always actually seemed a bit more polite than just barreling forward with a question. But I guess if even Slack themselves are saying don't do that, it must really get on other…

I think it depends on the moment it happens. When I managed a larger team I could get a bit of communication overload. I'm trying to juggle ten requests at the same time, prioritizing who/what needs answering/updating and generally making sure I am unblocking anyone/everyone.

So when I see "Hey" I rarely see it as polite. What I'm thinking is "What do you want!? Spit it out!". IMO, politeness would be something like "Hey, I have a question about X, is now a good time". That at least I can prioritize. All I want is a tiny bit of context to the "Hey".

Re: Collaborate with kindness: Etiquette tips in Slack

#29

Post by ryanschneider »

My number one Slack tip is to use the All Unreads view (which for some reason needs to be enabled in preferences).

Bonus tip: it’s not available on mobile which means I now basically never check Slack from my phone. I can’t decide if the Slack devs are hopelessly overworked or genius for _still_ not offering it on mobile. Check the time stamp: https://twitter.com/slackhq/status/798631873911980032

Re: Collaborate with kindness: Etiquette tips in Slack

#30

Post by thecosas »

npunt wrote: post #20

Rather than just tell / hope people follow some etiquette, I'd love Slack to build more etiquette enforcing features that operators could enable. This isn't the 19th century where the best we can do is tell people to read a book on etiquette and hope for the best. Slack is in a unique position in the history of interpersonal communication where they have complete insight into (and design of) user's and organization's…

It would be great to see Slack put some work in here, but could someone make an app (or Slackbot) to enforce/offer guidance?

I know Slack culture can be hugely variable over time, especially for high-growth companies so there definitely needs to be some flexibility.

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