Be A Slacker

No online collaborative tool is perfect, but when used well, Slack is pretty close. Having participated in multiple Slack workspaces across several organizations over the past few years, I’ve become somewhat opinionated (and hopefully qualified) on what constitutes “used well”. Here’s my take on some best practices:

• Set up your profile with your real name, and add a high-quality photo. This helps interactions feel more personal, and when communication is done primarily over the Internet, every little bit helps.
• Set up notification rules and a do not disturb window in preferences.
• Strongly consider disabling audio notifications, as they can be a distraction to those around you.
• Conversation in public channels is always the preferred approach.
• Single-user DMs are acceptable for private conversation, but consider if your discussion might be valuable for others to see and contribute to. When in doubt, go public.
• Group DMs should almost never be used unless the topic is sensitive and needs immediate response. Otherwise consider using a public channel with @mentions.
• Temporary channels are an acceptable alternative to group DMs. Prefix them with temp-, and /archive them when conversation is complete. Typically these should not need to exist more than a day or two.
• Discussion in a public channel where response from a specific small group or individual is needed can be easily accomplished through use of @mentions. Brief side discussions can be done with threads vs. splitting off into a new channel or private DM.
• @channel notifies all members of a channel, even if they are outside of working hours, and should be reserved for emergencies. @here is almost always more appropriate, as it only notifies members within working hours. Even better is a small list of specific @mentions.
• Use /mute when you want to stay in a channel but not get notifications from it. @mentions will override mute, so you’re still reachable.
• Use /dnd when you need to ignore all notifications for a period of time (e.g. to go heads-down on a task, you’re giving a presentation).
• Consider turning off message preview in notifications, unless you want to run the risk of a sensitive (or embarrassing) message being viewable by others.

Happy Slacking friends!