10 Tips How to Use Slack Efficiently for (not only) Remote Work
Why to use Slack (or a similar tool)? Today’s world is very fast-paced. And the competition never sleeps. It is absolutely essential to use tools to gain a competitive advantage. Especially when they are low hanging fruits. Like the online communication platforms Slack, Mattermost, Google Chat etc. Let’s have a look at one of the most popular. How to use Slack efficiently?
Slack Introduction
What is Slack?
Slack is a messaging app that evolved in 2012 in Vancouver, Canada. Slack began as an internal tool for Stewart Butterfield‘s company during the development of an online game. Slack launched in August 2013. Previously, Butterfield also founded Flickr.
What is Slack good for?
You can use Slack to get your entire team working on a particular project, you can send messages, you can share files, you can collaborate.
What is the meaning of Slack?
Slack stands for Searchable Log of All Communications and Knowledge. But, it is important to note that it is actually a backronym — an acronym invented later to fit the word. So the original Slack meaning is just a name.
Why to use Slack?
As of writing this article, the world is being afflicted by a global pandemic. The pandemic forced many people to remote work and speed up the trends in remote work even more.
The sudden shift to remote work for millions of people means additional pressure for teams to stay aligned, feel connected and get work done. Slack was built for that exactly — to allow easy access to information, to collaborate effectively and get work done faster.
How to use Slack efficiently?
We built our application (Lumeer) with a remote first approach using Slack from day one. We bring you the first hand experience of several years synchronizing purely online. We also checked many available resources (articles, tips, how-to’s, videos) and curated the crème de la crème of the tips on how to use Slack efficiently.
You do not need to go the painful path or do the research yourself. The list is here just for you:
- #1 Use channels to create virtual office
- #2 Name your channels with intentions
- #3 Share your availability with the team
- #4 Use public channels and threads
- #5 Get rid of notification overload
- #6 Use channel directory
- #7 Use message reminders
- #8 Create connections
- #9 Assess your apps and integrations
- #10 Do not forget about email
#1 Use channels to create virtual office
As you are now sitting at home or your favorite coffee shop, you need a virtual place to navigate around. In the office you can visit other teams, have a meeting in a meeting room, or meet for a chit-chat in a kitchen.
Let’s recreate the space in the virtual world.
In Slack, there are channels for that. They can be public, private, with restricted access… But mostly focus on the public space:
- Create a dedicated channel for every project (e.g. #proj-great-launch-2020). Move all status updates, meeting notes, discussions, files and feedback into that channel. Information is centralized and readily accessible, no longer scattered across multiple email threads [Slack].
- Create team channels (e.g. #team-marketing), and use them for team specific discussions and to stay connected throughout the day. Pin important files, project briefs, FAQs to the team channel where everyone can easily find them.
- Depending on your team or company size, you can use the team channels to hold your daily meetings or stand-ups. Or you might create a dedicated channel for everybody like #coordination.
- Create channels for specific events and tasks (e.g. #event-board-meeting-may20, #triage-sales-may20). These are typically short lived and archived after the event.
- Create channels where people can seek specific help for given areas (e.g. #help-finance, #help-it). Make sure to staff the channels and that there is always someone on duty (or within a reasonable time).
- Create virtual meeting rooms for specific topics, leisure activities, chit-chat etc. to keep people interacting (e.g. #coffee-best-pizza). Be careful though not to sacrifice efficiency (more on that later).
- Create general channels (i.e. #general) for specific categories of announcements. Such channels are not used that frequently and usually have limited posting rights to specific people.
Proper separation of communication channels is how to use Slack communication efficiently and stay focused.
#2 Name your channels with intentions
Have you noticed how we used prefixes in channel names in the tip #1?
