Rise of the Slack bots: automate boring tasks

I have a confession to make: I am a real sucker for Slack bots. My team is rolling their eyes every time they see that I have added another one. It just gives me a great feeling when I can automate a boring task. Slack is limiting the amount of bots that you can use so from time to time I have to kill one off. There should be a meeting for people that are addicted to this.

Before we begin, let’s take a step back. Slack is a messaging platform that can replace email and allows you to collaborate with your team. It is popular because it is easy to use and of course because it has bots.

There are two types of Slack bots:

1. Simple integrations

This can be used to automate some basic tasks. For example you can receive a message if you deploy a new version on Heroku. Sending a gif when someone uses a specific word is also possible. This can be a lot of fun when a client that does not know what is going on joins the conversation.

If you integrate with IFTT or Zapier you can also automate more complex tasks (for example upload a file to Dropbox and Google Drive). Companies can create their own integration if they need something specific (a bakery can set up a reminder when they are out of donuts).

These integrations are cool but still quite basic. Let’s take it a step further.

2. Slackbot overlords

This is where the fun starts. You can just ‘talk’ to a bot and he will perform a task for you. It is that simple. The cool thing is that this is not limited to boring productivity automations but can also be used to relax.

Here are some cool examples of what you can do:

• Need to schedule a meeting? Just tell Meekan

• Team not happy? Oskar to the rescue!
• Do you need to find a restaurant? Just ask Nestor.
• Want to travel? Call Roomino
• Playing poker or D&D? Check and Dicebot
• Need a new design? Add 99 designs

The list goes on and on. While some bots are quite buggy (I demanded my translation service a few hours ago and the grumpy bot did not react), they can improve your workflow. It is easy to set up a bot without technical knowledge so you should give it a try.

The main drawback is that it is sometimes hard to remember what a bot can do. I am still hoping that someone will develop one bot to rule them all.