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Collaborate with kindness: Etiquette tips in Slack

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Re: Collaborate with kindness: Etiquette tips in Slack

#91

Post by kedmi »

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."

Couldn't phrase it better.

I know for a fact that anonymity can be used to encourage diversity of thought and honesty on public channels - this is the feedback I get from customers of a service I run (https://AnonymityBot.com).

Re: Collaborate with kindness: Etiquette tips in Slack

#92

Post by verve_rat »

bhawks wrote: post #71
onion2k wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the job of everyone on the team, especially leads, to reply in ways that make sure everyone knows asking a dumb question is significantly better than being blocked. I would prefer to answer dumb questions all day long than have people on my team grind to a halt for a day because they're scared of asking for help.

But they're not blocked and they are asking for help. They're just doing it via DM instead of in the 'public' chat. Slack is literally telling folks: 'You are holding it wrong'. In reality their product isn't that great for q&a or knowledge sharing. Horrible search, bad notification, high noise to low signal.

They are blocked when the one person they DM'd ignores the message because they are busy with other stuff.

Re: Collaborate with kindness: Etiquette tips in Slack

#94

Post by nishs »

kyleblarson wrote: post #18

Another tip that vastly improves mental health as well as efficiency: turn off all notifications from slack, especially that damn broom sound.

that broom sound is the worst. compare this to the sounds available on apple systems. in the directory /System/Library/Sounds: Funk, Morse, Blow.

Re: Collaborate with kindness: Etiquette tips in Slack

#95

Post by abridgett »

Some of these are pasting over product weaknesses: - inability to change private channels to public "as you might accidentally reveal secret info". Yes, but that's _my_ decision, not Slacks. - more than 1 or 2 active threads/channels is extremely painful and very easy to lose your way - whilst search is good, finding a thread from just a day or so ago can be very difficult (especially when there are many channels) - abuse of @here, @channel - this only seems controllable at a workspace or org level, not a per-channel level.

Yes, email and ticket systems have drawbacks, however slack is almost an anti-knowledge base in it's current state.

Re: Collaborate with kindness: Etiquette tips in Slack

#96

Post by dewey »

abridgett wrote: post #95

Some of these are pasting over product weaknesses: - inability to change private channels to public "as you might accidentally reveal secret info". Yes, but that's _my_ decision, not Slacks. - more than 1 or 2 active threads/channels is extremely painful and very easy to lose your way - whilst search is good, finding a thread from just a day or so ago can be very difficult (especially when there are many channels) -…

> however slack is almost an anti-knowledge base in it's current state

I know that Slack isn't a replacement for some kind of knowledge base but the Slack search is incredibly powerful and I'm answering questions by using the search almost every day.

Re: Collaborate with kindness: Etiquette tips in Slack

#97

Post by nishs »

micromacrofoot wrote: post #17
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.

Curious, in what way is it humiliation?

not op, but if i felt humiliated in a similar situation, it would be humiliation that i'm not in a position powerful enough where i could bring about the change i want to see.

Re: Collaborate with kindness: Etiquette tips in Slack

#98

Post by donatj »

> Use threads for effective team collaboration. Seriously.

Threads are where messages go to die. I don’t have time to read every single thread clicking into it individually. You’re just making work for me, having to figure out what threads I have to read. If it’s in a thread and no one @‘d me, assume I missed it. I read very quickly, I just want to be able to scan all messages in a channel chronologically.

My team begrudgingly moved over from an IRC server about two years ago to the larger corporations Slack and have actively avoided threads in our spaces.

What they should add is an optional unrolled thread view where people can use threads but we can still get the whole thing as a single non-hierarchical timeline I can just scroll, akin to how Signal does replying to specific messages.

Re: Collaborate with kindness: Etiquette tips in Slack

#99

Post by tomtom1337 »

donatj wrote: post #98

> Use threads for effective team collaboration. Seriously. Threads are where messages go to die. I don’t have time to read every single thread clicking into it individually. You’re just making work for me, having to figure out what threads I have to read. If it’s in a thread and no one @‘d me, assume I missed it. I read very quickly, I just want to be able to scan all messages in a channel chronologically. My team be…

Your suggestion is a really good one. We have channels with several hundred people in it, and there threads are a must. In the smaller team channels I often reply out-of-thread, since it doesn't matter.

Re: Collaborate with kindness: Etiquette tips in Slack

#100

Post by krageon »

LesZedCB wrote: post #55
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 wel…

> https://writingcenter.uagc.edu/ellipses

You quote a US website for this, but we're talking about English.

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