Slack is the most important communication channel within the team. This guide encourages what we consider Slack's best practices; in other words, some methods that help our team make the most of this fantastic communication tool. Our Slack account is light-it.slack.com . Slack is something like a messaging app on steroids, and we love it! It has some great features, integrations and can be used across multiple devices and platforms. It essentially presents two types of communication: on channels (with groups of people) or one-to-one conversations.
Always bear in mind it's vital to be logged in during work hours so that the team knows you're available and that they can reach out to you.
Don't Think Twice About Reaching Out.
Slack's whole objective is to allow teams to communicate agilely, no matter where you are. We're in favor of always being connected and in touch, so if you have any doubt, comment, remark, or even a good meme (especially a good meme), don't hesitate to send it over!
Just as in the office and everywhere you go, be nice, respectful, and friendly on Slack. Try always to have a gentle and precise tone so that there are no misunderstandings. Remember always to reply when someone reaches out; we don't want anyone to feel ghosted. It's clear that sometimes you might be focused on something else or can't respond at that time, so what should you do when you're occupied and can't answer? There are different strategies you can take.
- Take one minute to kindly let them know you can't take care of that right now.
- Set a reminder to reply later (click the message actions button, mouseover Remind me about this, and select a when. You'll get a notification recalling the message at the time you set).
- If you're busy and you know you won't be available, you can use Slack's Do Not Disturb mode, enabling you to turn off notifications for a set period. Your colleagues will know you're not available, and though they can still write, you won't be notified. If it's an emergency, your colleague will set the message as urgent, and you'll get the notification.
Of course, be polite, but remember Slack is intended for real-time communications. This way, don't send someone "Hey" or "What's up" and wait until they reply to tell them what you really need. Preferably use Slack as an email and send straightforward messages so that the other person knows what you're talking about and how urgent it is.
Slack's cool thing is that the channel format promotes transparency, which is an essential value for our company. This is why we encourage you to communicate in public channels whenever it's possible (and you're not spamming anyone not related to the topic). This is useful for many reasons:
- Everyone in the project is updated on what the team is working on and their progress.
- We might all have the same questions, so instead of asking your PM directly, go for the project's channel.
- If a new colleague enters the team, it will be able to scroll up and check out relevant information already mentioned on the channel.
- It's also easier to search for any archives or context if everything is predeterminate there.
If the subject isn't reasonable for a public channel, it's better to go with private groups (instead of DMs) for the same reasons. Private channels allow you to invite new people to the channel, and they'll be able to read previous messages.
Your availability is indicated to your teammates by the circle next to your photo. You can be:
- Available (green circle)
- Offline (transparent circle)
- Do Not Disturb Mode (notifications off)
You can change your availability in your profile configuration, which you can find by clicking on your photo at the top right corner.
Besides your availability, you can set a more specific status to precisely indicate what you're doing. You can set your status for an established period. For example, if you're out for lunch, you can set your "at lunch" status for 30 minutes (you can even put an emoji of what you're eating!)
Useful statuses:
- In a meeting
- On traffic
- Out sick
- At lunch
- Working from home today
- Set your own custom status!
Notifications on Channels
You can use different commands to determine who receives notifications on channels.
- If you tag someone using @name, that person will get a notification.
- If you use @channel, it will notify everybody in the channel, whether they are online or not. Only use @channel for important announcements.
- @here works just like @channel, but it only notifies online and available users from that channel.
Here we give general announcements and talk about random stuff, have casual conversations, and share any relevant news. It's basically the typical office environment, but on Slack.
Here we share valuable links with information, news, courses, etc.
It's definitely one of the best channels on Slack... here we share cool memes and jokes.
Here we share interesting links/photos/notes, aiming for general interest and always respecting the rule of not discussing politics, religion, or sexuality
The second-best Slack channel: where we share photos of our pets.
Here we share data or information related to healthcare
Every project has a slack channel with the involved team. Remember to follow this nomenclature if you're ever creating a new project's channel.
There are also team groups such as team-development, team-design, team-marketing, etc.
If you notice a conversation is taking place on the wrong channel, feel free to let your teammates know. It's not meant to humiliate anyone, but instead to help everyone know Slack's best practices.
Shortcuts make Slack faster and more accessible, so it's advantageous to learn and use them. See the complete list of shortcuts in the app by pressing command + ' (on Mac) or ctrl + ' (on win/linux).
You can also check them out here .
To look up something in the channel you have open, use the keyboard shortcut command-f (ctrl-f on win/linux). You can filter results by messages, files, people, and even file types.
Reminders are great for productivity. There are different type of reminders:
- Slackbot can remind you about anything at the due time you set. Just type /remind, set day and time, and slackbot will recall it later.
- You can set a reminder of a message if you can't take care of that subject right now but don't want to forget about it later. Just click on the message actions button, mouseover "remind me about this," and choose a time. You'll get a notification with that message at that time.
You can pin important messages/files you need access frequently on channels. Click the ellipsis "..." on a message and select Pin to #channel-name. You can pin as many messages as you'd like to keep the entire channel up to date. For example, if you have a document that you're working on, you can pin the link to make it easily available to the whole team. If you're done with the document, you can unpin it.
When multiple conversations are happening in a single channel, or a question was asked but not answered immediately, instead of sending a message directly into the channel, you can click on any message and add a threaded response. This will create a new threaded conversation available in the channel but not affecting the ongoing conversation.
Reactions are a fantastic way to respond without posting a new Slack message. The best part if you can use emojis or create your custom ones.
You can star those channels, DMs, groups, or individual messages that are important to you or that you frequently communicate in.