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Collaborate with kindness: Etiquette tips in Slack

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Re: Collaborate with kindness: Etiquette tips in Slack

#51

Post by gbjw »

forbiddenvoid wrote: post #37
kerblang wrote: post #26

> 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.

"Scared of public channels" often means "doesn't have the psychological safety to say something out loud that might end up being perceived negatively or as though they don't know what they're doing."

Sure -- or people don't want to clog up channels with what they perceive to be minutiae or very context-specific questions requiring some back-and-forth.

Re: Collaborate with kindness: Etiquette tips in Slack

#52

Post by ge96 »

gbjw wrote: post #50
kerblang wrote: post #26

> 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.

Sending a message in a public channel is psychologically akin to walking into a room full of people and just loudly proclaiming/demanding help. I don't think people are simply 'scared' to do it -- they just (rightly) intuit that it's somewhat strange and counterintuitive that it would be the preferred method over talking to an individual and building a rapport / friendship.

Also if you sound dumb it's out there for the public to see.

Re: Collaborate with kindness: Etiquette tips in Slack

#53

Post by _carbyau_ »

maccard wrote: post #14

> Write longer messages that scan quickly I like this one. I'm an emoji fan, but understand that not everyone else is. It boils down to "spend time crafting a message that contains the correct information" or even more succinctly "respect other people's time". There's nothing worse than a giant wall of text with all the pertinent information buried in the middle of it.

Takes time to be concise: https://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/04/28/shorter-letter/

It's a trade off between comprehension and ease of distillation made easier if you know your audience well.

If you take the time to ease comprehension then ALL who read it save time. But how much of your time will save how much of theirs?

Re: Collaborate with kindness: Etiquette tips in Slack

#54

Post by Moru »

SketchySeaBeast wrote: post #27
ninkendo wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

That's the whole point of this. You can say "Hi". Just don't only say "Hi".

"Hi! Do you know about the ..." - perfectly fine. User can directly answer instead of doing message tag.

Edit: Ok, I'm a bit late to the conversation I noticed... :-)

Re: Collaborate with kindness: Etiquette tips in Slack

#55

Post by LesZedCB »

multiplegeorges wrote: post #15

> Less messages means more efficient collaboration I think this should be "Fewer messages...". Good grammar improves communication, as well.

if it was good enough to get the idea across in order to be corrected, it succeeded.

grammar is fake. language is made up, didn't you know?

pithy response aside, i work with a lot of ESL international folks, caring about grammar comes _way_ after being gracious in communication.

edit: also, period goes inside quote, even with ellipses. https://writingcenter.uagc.edu/ellipses. secondly, the extra comma before "as well" is unecessary. https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/231256/can-i-put...

Re: Collaborate with kindness: Etiquette tips in Slack

#56

Post by Moru »

ozarker wrote: post #8
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 have a coworker that does it constantly and it bugs me to no end. I have to respond, they then ask what they were going to ask seconds or minutes later. Effectively breaking my concentration twice and making things take longer than they should.

There is always at least one that haven't used chat. Most people are used to communicating in person and then it's rude to not start with "Hello". You directly get a feeling of the stress level of the other, if you should scram or if it's a good time for a question. It doesn't work in remote chat and it needs to be explained for them to understand the problem.

Personally I love the "Hi! Do you have a moment?". "Well, now I have...". Usually the following question will take the rest of my day at least. :-)

Re: Collaborate with kindness: Etiquette tips in Slack

#57

Post by manmal »

forbiddenvoid wrote: post #37
kerblang wrote: post #26

> 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.

"Scared of public channels" often means "doesn't have the psychological safety to say something out loud that might end up being perceived negatively or as though they don't know what they're doing."

I personally don’t have a problem with posting in public, but I can imagine that for many people it would remind them of being singled out in a school class.

Re: Collaborate with kindness: Etiquette tips in Slack

#58

Post by kome »

Collaborate with kindness: Etiquette tips in Slack: use email.

- "1. Never send a direct message that just says “hey” or “hello.", write longer messages -> use email.

- "2. "Write longer messages that scan quickly" -> don't use a chat app for your messages, use email.

- "3. Use threads for effective team collaboration. Seriously." -> use a mailing list.

- "4. Replace short follow-up messages with emoji reactions" -> don't do anything when it's not needed.

- "5. Reduce off-hours pings with Do Not Disturb" -> set up a mail responder.

etc etc

Re: Collaborate with kindness: Etiquette tips in Slack

#59

Post by watwut »

gbjw wrote: post #51
forbiddenvoid wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Scared of public channels" often means "doesn't have the psychological safety to say something out loud that might end up being perceived negatively or as though they don't know what they're doing."

Sure -- or people don't want to clog up channels with what they perceive to be minutiae or very context-specific questions requiring some back-and-forth.

For which, I am thankful to them. Nothing better then dozens of irrelevant chat messages in larger group chats I am member of that I cant mute, because once in a while there is something important.

Re: Collaborate with kindness: Etiquette tips in Slack

#60

Post by watwut »

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…

"Hi, I have following question. Blah blah" is fine.

But

  - Hi
  - 
  - I have a question about X.
  -
And only after you get question. That was too much waiting idle, being interrupted and still not communicating.
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