Ways of Working: How I use Slack

This is part of a "how I" series. I don't want to convince you. It's just an offering to get inspiration from my ways of working.

Summary

1. I avoid direct messages. Instead, I use channels wherever it's possible.
2. I use Slack asynchronously. I put everything in one message and hit enter once I'm done (and give as much context as needed/possible). I've turned off all notifications, but I respond to all posts in my main channels and where I'm mentioned within 4 working hours.
3. I never use @???????? and @?????????????? — instead, I try to mention as few people as possible.
4. I always reply in a thread. Only by this can I use the thread view to follow up on my current talks/discussions.

Active (writing)

• I always use a (public) channel. I try to avoid hidden communication via direct messages.
• Why? Imagine you're in a physical office. But you never see people talking to each other. You never hear how they talk to each other. Wouldn't this be odd? But this is precisely what our team's communication looks like: too much is happening in private chats!??
• Distributed teams need to communicate very transparently in Slack to stay healthy because this is our most common way of communication.
• I use Slack asynchronously.
• How? I put everything in one message and don’t hit enter like in a chat. I don’t use Slack like a chat and don’t expect other people to do it this way.
• I try to give as much context as possible.
• I try to be aware of the fact that people will spend more time reading my message than I’ve spent writing it.
• @mentioning with care.
• There are only a few dedicated channels where @?????????????? might make sense (they mostly have a closed group of members). I try to ping as few people as possible, remembering that every ping/mention costs time and will disrupt other people's work.
• I try to include in my message what kind of reaction I'd like to get.
• A leading emoji can be so helpful. For example, I use the ???if a message is for information only. If I want people to do something, a message can start with a ?. People should react with the given emoji so that the writer knows they have a) received the information and b) acted like they wanted.
• Use the most explizit emojis
• When writing messages, we should remember that, most likely, more time is spent reading the message (by different people) than we spend writing it. So we should strive to be as straightforward as possible and give as much context as possible (did you know that you can put a hyperlink after a word simply by highlighting the word and then inserting the hyperlink using CMD+V?). However, this doesn't just apply to speech but also to the use of emojis. Emojis can be very helpful in adding additional information to a text, such as emotions. What we should avoid at all costs is substituting emojis. This turns a text into a riddle rather than helping to understand.
• Also, we should always consider whether an emoji is really easy to understand and unambiguous. If available, short words from English should be used instead of a corresponding character/hand gesture. Unfortunately, signs/gestures have different meanings in different cultures. So instead of an ?? rather use a "+①" if you want to agree to content, or if you want to show that you have read or taken note of something, better use an "??????" icon. Instead of ??, you can use a "????????????" icon to say "thank you." Or not use???but a "????????" icon. Of course, casual talks on social channels are something different. In the social area, you can be a little freer with emojis.

Passive (reading)

Notifications

• I've turned all notifications off
• To be able to focus on my work, I’ve turned all notifications off. I don’t turn off those numbers indicating how many unread mentions there are. But I decide when to read them.
• For me, Slack is asynchronous communication.

• When I’m taking a break, I will check all mentions and threads (talks that I’m in).
• Why? If we’d expect everyone to react to Slack messages immediately, we couldn’t find time to focus on our actual work at all. There might be some roles that require an immediate response. In that case, I’d suggest finding a solution other than Slack.
• I try to respond to all messages where I'm mentioned within 4 working hours.
• The same goes for all my team or project channels (not more than 4): I try to read all messages within 4 working hours.
• When I cannot respond within 4 working hours, I change my Slack Display name accordingly. By this, I try to set expectations.
• I've muted @here/@channel for many channels.
• As stated earlier, @????????/@?????????????? doesn’t make sense in channels with many people. They create much noise, and I try to avoid using this command. I've muted notifications for this in channels like #?????????????? or #?????????????????????? . You can find those settings in the channel’s notification settings.
• I'm joining any channel of interest, and I don't leave a channel.

• But my sidebar is ordered in sections. So there’s a section of those must-read channels. There’s a section for top priority and for team/project channels. And then there are channels to watch (like coffee chats and so on). And there’s the rest. I don’t look into those other channels actively (see right).
• Somedays, when I take a coffee, I'll have some newspaper-style reading
• Occasionally, I take a coffee and use the "unreads" view to see what’s happening on other channels. It’s like reading a newspaper. You skim it quickly, and it might happen that something attracts your attention (see right).
• I use the thread view to stay on top of my current discussions
• One of the essential views is the thread view. I need to rely on this to stay on top of my various discussions. That’s why it’s so crucial that every talk is happening in a thread — even though it’s a direct message (see right).
• “read later” saves my life.

• I’ve no idea how to survive without Slack's “remind me about this” function in the context menu of every message/thread. It happens very often that I need to remind myself either to respond to a thread later or to watch a message to check the reactions/answers to my post. My daily routine is opening the Slackbot app and typing /???????????? ????????. This command will show all of your reminders.

Basic structure

Channels

• Channels should have a standard/consistent naming
• A standard channel naming structure helps to put the channels in a sensible order (see image above)
• Furthermore, it helps to group channels sensibly. And finally, it helps people to find a channel (as all channel names follow the same rule). We were a fast-growing company. Over 50% of our people have less than a year with the company. The easier it is to understand a system, the better.
• The channels name should help understand the purpose
• For example, a ????????-???????? appendix to a team’s channel indicates to the team that they must read all messages. A fixed set of appendixes makes it even easier.
• The channel name should be straightforward and easy to understand. Try to avoid abbreviations. Be precise.
• When would I create or archive a channel?
• A new channel should be created whenever there's no parent channel, or it becomes too crowded. A channel should be archived once the project or topic is done. Archiving means that it will still be found in the search when you search for topics. Also, the channel should be archived if nothing is posted to the channel for more than 3 months.

Groups

• Why to us groups and not @here or @channel?
• Groups a perfect for addressing teams or other groups of people. You should never use @???????? or @?????????????? in a channel with many people (like #competition ). It can be used in channels with a few members united by a common goal.
• Groups should follow a naming structure, too.
• The purpose of a group should be clear. A prefix should indicate if it’s an organizational group (like a team) or an informational group.
• For example, all organizational groups should have an "org-" prefix and all informational groups an "info-": org-team-marketing-outbound but info-marketing-campaign. The first one contains all outbound team members, while the latter is an open group where people can add themselves when they want to get mentioned.

Slack vs. email

• Internally, I don't write any emails.
• Some say they like using email because they can archive decisions or similar. I think this is wrong. Those things go into a central decision database. It's nothing that belongs to one person (to maybe prove something for later), but it should be kept in a neutral public space like a wiki.
• Some say they like to use email because it’s better to quote what others said when replying. I think it's the wrong tool. If a topic is complex, it shouldn’t be in an email but in a wiki or Google doc. That's the right tool to collaborate. It offers versioning, inline comments, and much more.
• Slack could be the better choice for communication with partners and customers. But we should be cautious with this. The purpose should be clear, and we must set expectations (response times, reliability, …). Often systems like Freshdesk offer better traceability, ensuring that every request gets answered.

Why (or when) to neither use personal email nor Slack

• Whenever the primary use case is about keeping track of something, using Slack or private email is a bad idea.
• I recommend using a tool like Freshdesk or Help Scout for all kinds of group inboxes for two reasons:

1. Accountability: it's 100% clear who's responsible for answering which message. You can have workflows to remind you when some message is waiting to be answered too long or for even more sophisticated tasks (automation, automation, automation). You won't drop any message.
2. Transparency: it’s 100% transparent. Team members can learn from each other. And when they get sick or are on vacation, others can take over instantly.

Conclusion

Initially, I wrote this document to record for myself what I think is right. It then grew more and more and became rules for my company. It resonated so well there that I felt it was time to share it publicly.?

I hope that it will provide inspiration to one or the other.?