Slack Needs to Improve “Channel Details”

Slack is a productivity tool for chatting with people about projects, topics, events, etc., all organized by channels. It’s simple and intuitive, free for “small teams”, and extremely convenient. But as with everything and everyone, there’s room for improvement.

The most glaring problem I encounter when using the platform — Slack channels can’t store significant information vital to understand the channel itself. Channels have their respective “Channel Details” feature. Within this feature is the “purpose” for the channel, information on active members (users on the specific channel) and similar channels, the channel “highlights” as calculated as the posts with the most member engagement, “pinned” messages, the members in the channel, shared files, and notification settings.

The #announcements Slack channel — note the “Channel Details” sidebar on the right

I admit that all these sections are necessary, but there should be more details for the channel.

Before our business fraternity migrated to Slack, we communicated updates via email and a Facebook group.

Our old Facebook Group, last used in February

Note the “Description” section on the right sidebar. It’s an editable field in which we can depict useful information everyone in the group should know and be able to access. We are able to link our members to external resources for easy access.

Slack channels, and more specifically, the Channel Details, are not able to do so. A workaround to this problem is posting a message with the information and links and then “pinning” the message to the channel, but this solution is not trivial. It requires existing Slack users to know how to pin posts and new Slack users to know how to access them.

In order to cut the extra step in scrolling through pinned posts, Slack should simply create a new “description” section in its Channel Details, similar to that of a Facebook Group.

This would allow new channel members to understand the purpose of a channel and utilize the it’s resources quickly and easily. This would declutter the actual conversation — no longer would members ask for, in example, the contact list or the mailing address. Furthermore, for more focused Slack Channels centered around a product or theme, a new “description” section could include:

1. Guidelines to commenting on the channel
2. Answers to frequently asked questions
3. A walkthrough on how to use the product

Slack should improve its Channel Details to be more comprehensive and fluid for users to better interact with Slack, the corresponding channel and it’s members, and provide a better user experience.

Rahul Rangnekar is a senior studying Computer Science and Economics at UC Berkeley. He is an avid programmer, foodie, athlete, and student. He strives to make the world a better place, one product at a time. He hopes to find a career in software engineering or product management. Email him at rr@berkeley.edu.