Why a Slack Backlash Is Inevitable

This article would've been better with some concrete examples, or a study, or really anything to back it out. "Slack can be used for bad things". Well, so can email, mailing lists, support forums, internal chat systems (jabber), etc.

Not even one example, just "A lot of my CEO and founder friends talk about this".

As with any tool, it's how you use it. Best implementations I have seen of Slack is when the rules are clear for the beginning. Maybe channels are meant to be public and private is an exception, or the opposite (everything private to avoid noise). And clear guidelines. And to be fair, the discussion is usually a reflection of the company culture that is already present: formal, informal, direct. The tool just facilitates it.

Re: Why a Slack Backlash Is Inevitable

#5

Post by staticassertion » Fri, Aug 21, 2020, 12:36 AM UTC

A lot of these issues seem to come down to:

1. Just fire the shitty people. I don't know why companies don't do this more in the US - it's at-will, just fire them.

2. Why are you trying to stop your employees from organizing????

> “The onus is on the CEO,” Flory said. “Our focus has been on the values,”

Agreed on this last statement. Ultimately if Slack is becoming a toxic environment there are obviously other issues - employees being able to quickly communicate and organize is not one of them.

Re: Why a Slack Backlash Is Inevitable

#6

Post by bigyikes » Fri, Aug 21, 2020, 12:40 AM UTC

If decreasing the friction to communicate is causing problems in your company, then maybe you don’t have a tooling problem or a communication problem, but a culture problem.

Re: Why a Slack Backlash Is Inevitable

#7

Post by scrose » Fri, Aug 21, 2020, 12:41 AM UTC

As someone who moderates a several hundred person mailing list, the arguments they listed are neither new nor unique to Slack.

If anything, Slack is much easier to moderate than e-mail or other mediums of communication.

Re: Why a Slack Backlash Is Inevitable

#8

Post by danudey » Fri, Aug 21, 2020, 12:42 AM UTC

staticassertion wrote: post #5

A lot of these issues seem to come down to: 1. Just fire the shitty people. I don't know why companies don't do this more in the US - it's at-will, just fire them. 2. Why are you trying to stop your employees from organizing???? > “The onus is on the CEO,” Flory said. “Our focus has been on the values,” Agreed on this last statement. Ultimately if Slack is becoming a toxic environment there are obviously other issues…

This post matches up with every other "We're ditching Slack" post I've seen. It comes down to:

1. Our employees can't behave themselves 2. Our managers can't or won't do anything about it 3. Executives aren't willing to draw a line in the sand 4. I guess Slack is terrible?

Re: Why a Slack Backlash Is Inevitable

#9

Post by chundicus » Fri, Aug 21, 2020, 12:43 AM UTC

A lot of my CEO and founder friends talk about this"... rephrased: "My CEO and founder friends are upset that their employees use a piece of software to talk about the toxic culture my CEO and founder friends have cultivated"

Re: Why a Slack Backlash Is Inevitable

#10

Post by imglorp » Fri, Aug 21, 2020, 12:46 AM UTC

tus88 wrote: post #3

Isn't everyone on teams now?

No. It's not wonderful.

edit, I'll be more helpful with criticism. I feel like Teams is well integrated into their cloud stuff on the good side. The cons are it very much feels like it is aimed at checking some CIO and HR requirements around control and auditability. Spontaneity and usefulness suffer.