Optimizing Slack communications
Published: 2020-10-17 13:17:09

You've probably noticed it, Slack has become an omnipresent tool in the corporate work place. For people like me, on a computer for the past two decades, it's just another chatting application in the work place: useful and invasive. It's probably more useful than any app from the previous generations, though. And definitely more invasive.

## Use threads

Slack is beeping so often that when one comes back to read what's up, threads will help digging into conversations (and referencing them) and skip the useless ones.

## Don't just ask "Hey, how are you?"

Most professional conversations are asynchronous. It means the other person is not on Slack waiting for your message. If you want to ask something, do so in your first message (you can still say "Hey, how are you?" in the same message) and if you need an attention for a conversation just say it like: "Hey how are you? Do you have some minutes for me (on Slack) to sort something out?".

## Never use `@here` or `@channel`

I never found a good use of these mentions. In an actual workplace that would be standing up, call everyone out loud and gather them in the same meeting room and then ask your dramatic question: "where is the document titled _Best Practices_?". It is very rare that emergencies actually impact everyone in a channel, and I believe true emergencies as rare as well. 

Just target people one by one. A channel is already a place to warn every one at once, all of them will see your message anyway, that is why they belong to the channel.

## Configure your Slack

You can read [How I Configure Slack for Productivity and Sanity](https://dev.to/jess/how-i-avoid-slacking-off-on-slack-8lj) on DEV.

## Group your messages into one

It is annoying to receive 10 messages because you're slacking out loud. There is a cool feature that allows you to *edit* previous messages. Rather than piling up on new information one line after the other, just edit the previous message (`up` + `e`) and add new lines in it. When your conversation partner will come back from the toilets he/she will see one notification, not twenty eight.

## Don't say `Thank You` or `OK` on old conversations. Use emojis

Emojis is a cool feature, because it is carrying information in a fun, discreet and efficient way. If someone said something cool one hour ago, don't come back from your lunch typing "OK". It will reactivate the conversation, while the sender is on to something else, and completely forgot about this. Reading an "OK" notification will disturb him/her bringing very little information. It's good to know you've read it and approved by reacting with an emoji.

## Do not organize meetings on Slack

Asking for time availabilities is boring and useless. Shared calendars offer this feature. Use it! Ask me on Slack when I'm available and I will probably answer you: "Check my calendar".

## Don't mention people in the `#random` channel

This channel and similar ones are for fun, relaxed and non-important information. Do not disturb people in these channels. Mention them without the `@` so maybe later they will see it and react to it. Or not. It's fine. It's just `#random`.

## Use emails

I read that the whole point of Slack is to suppress email. I disapprove. Emails are still useful especially for longer asynchronous conversations. If you expect the receiver to take time and to think before answering you, spare him/her some time from Slack and send an email. It is implicitly accepted that Slack is used for quicker interactions, and not all professional interactions need a quick answer.

## Do not over-communicate

It is true that remote work needs more communication. Nevertheless, one needs to spare others' time and do not constantly share everything on Slack, all day long (you can use Tweeter for that). Subtly, things will slow down and let your team focus on a more important thing: work.

All that said, I am happy to use Slack rather than Skype, Messenger or ICQ to chat with friends or colleagues. It is an amazing product with a lot of great features. It is just too easy to let practices drifting away and spend too much time on Slack. 

Happy slacking!