We use Slack... a lot. It's our main channel for internal communication (we only use e-mail for external communication). We expect everyone to follow some guidelines to keep our communication smooth:
Replying in a thread keeps the channel feed clean, so people can quickly catch up when theyâve been away from the channel. It also avoids that everyone in the channel gets pinged for each new message.
Keep direct messaging (DMs) to the minimum. Itâs generally better to share a message in a public channel and just tag the person youâre addressing. This keeps transparency high so people can stay in the loop.
Donât let Slack hijack your day. Itâs easy to be constantly disrupted by all the beeps, sounds, and DMs. Deep work is an important driver for success. You can put yourself on âDo not disturbâ mode, mute your notifications for some channels and turn off phone notifications. Foresee a minimum of 2 moments a day where you check your messages. Donât be busy. Be productive. If something is genuinely urgent ASAP, then make this clear in your message or reach out via WhatsApp. Bear in mind that there are very few occasions where this applies.
Itâs your own responsibility to make sure you stay on top of messages and respond in a timely manner. Donât expect your colleagues to ping you reminders. You can set reminders on Slack to return to messages. Hover over a message â click on âMore actionsâ â ask Slack to 'Remind me about this'. Your Slackbot, your digital personal assistant, will then remind you about these messages so you can respond when you're ready.
Clearly communicate if there is a deadline attached to your message. A good way to do this is by putting the deadline in bold and setting an automatic Slack reminder via the shortcut /remind [@someone or #channel]. We avoid bottlenecks this way.
We are a distributed team, so we donât always know whoâs where and whoâs available. Go to your profile and set a status to indicate youâre on holiday, donât want to be disturbed,...