Announcing Twist, a fundamentally different way of working together
Calmer. More organized. More productive. For teams who believe there’s more to work than keeping up with group chat apps.
At Doist, we’ve always questioned the conventional way of doing things.
While other startups live and die on VC funding, we’ve built our company independently and sustainably. While other companies seek a quick exit by acquisition, our team doubles down on our long-term vision.
As the market lurches towards an always-on culture in which stressed out employees must sacrifice their personal lives for short-term goals, Doist subscribes to an entirely different vision of the future of work. We believe that a calmer, more balanced, more fulfilling way of working and living is possible–this philosophy guides the way we design our products, the way we work as a team, and the way we live our lives.
That’s why, today, we’re making a bet — a bet against real-time team chat apps.
You know them, you probably use them, and you might actually like them. We did too.
In 2014, our team, which is entirely remote, tried Slack. Our team communication flourished like never before, even though many of us had never met in person. We shared GIFs, we shared laughs, and we shared a level of interaction that we’d never experienced before.
But, the Slack honeymoon didn’t last long.
Communication wasn’t happening asynchronously — it was happening in real-time, by the minute, all day long. Issues and solutions discussed by teammates in Europe and Asia were already buried six feet under by the time teammates in the Americas even woke up.
Team knowledge wasn’t being preserved. Conversations weren’t inclusive or transparent. Communication was disorganized and chaotic. Worse still, keeping up with the group’s chat was beginning to take up more and more of our team’s time and attention.
Using real-time group chat was a completely unsustainable, and unfair, way to run a remote-first company.
That’s when we realized we needed a tool that supported our team values — of craftsmanship, focus, impact, balance, and clear communication — instead of undermining them. If we were experiencing these frustrations with real-time, all-the-time communication, other teams like ours were probably experiencing them too.
Today, after nearly three years of development, we’re launching a fundamentally different team communication app called Twist.
Twist is our bet against real-time messaging apps, and for communication that happens on your schedule. So you can choose when to disconnect to do deep, uninterrupted work and when to connect to catch up.
It’s our bet against chaotic, one-line-at-a-time chat, and for the organized, thoughtful conversations that really move work forward.
Most importantly, it’s our bet against team cultures that require people to be constantly connected, and for cultures that prioritize focused, meaningful productivity. (And then sign out at the end of the day, guilt-free.)
We’re taking on some of the biggest players in the market — Slack, Microsoft Teams, Workplace by Facebook, Google’s upcoming Hangouts Chat — because we believe that teams deserve less pressure to constantly keep up with group chat, and more space to focus on the work that matters.
If you believe that too, we’d love for you to join us.
– The Doist Team
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