Slack Overwhelm: Wasn’t it supposed to make it easier?

Everyone knows that sound of someone knocking on your remote work office door to interrupt the intense work you finally just got to do after your last slack message 5 mins before. But sure enough, ” knock, knock, knock.”

You know you can let it sit for a few moments in your mind, but you hear that sound again, and you just have to read it. It could be a funny GIF, or maybe an emergency that you need to help with, or someone’s hair is on fire; it could finally be that document you were waiting for to complete the tasks that have been on hold. OR it could just be someone throwing up a thumbs-up emoji. So, if Slack was created to centralize communication, cut down on emails, and speed up work between remote teams, WHY has it become a massive culprit for communication overload? That’s because just like everything else in your business, even Slack needs its own rules and workflow to fit effectively into the workday and workload for each one of your employees.

A few tips to take back control of your own ‘slack-mosphere.’

For goodness sake, please reply in the Thread.

To better streamline communication on a specific topic, it is always a great practice to reply in the Thread. It keeps your slack channel clean, uncluttered, and much easier to navigate. For the sake of maintaining comms organized, respond in a thread. Don’t be that person. You know who you are!

Double Check What You Say Before You Send

We are all busy, and a million things are going on at the same time. But make sure to check your answer before sending it. Sending the wrong information in the slack channel can cause mass confusion, like ‘Post Thanksgiving Door Buster Sale at a Department Store.” Pure mayhem. Dont do that. Just reread your message and ensure it’s important enough to send. 😱. Don’t be the cause of a meltdown because you type faster than you think. Please take a minute to double check then you can send it.

When in doubt, use an emoji

Not sure how your message will come across? There’s an emoji for that. Tone can get very lost in messages, so for your team members’ feelings, throw an emoji at the end to ensure your point gets across the right way. Emojis are also really great for a quick response or acknowledgment. Slack also offers cool and easy reaction options that will make your team happy to show that you have received and acknowledged their message. Don’t be that person who sends an entire email to someone to say, “you’re welcome!” Just give a thumbs up!

If you have to write a paragraph, just have a huddle.

Slack is meant for quick, simple team communication. If you find yourself writing a short novel to explain your question or comment, it’s probably best to have a quick huddle. 10 mins in a call can save loads of confusion, miscommunication, and confusion that can come with Slack. Momentum is critical for Slack, don’t make it harder than it has to be.

You don’t always have to huddle; try asynchronous.

Contrary to point #4, you may not need to huddle about everything. It can be very overwhelming and disruptive. Slack has great features that can help limit disruptions like voice and video messages. Imagine a huddle like those guys who liked to sit in your office and talk about dinner last night. Sometimes they just pop in without notice. It would be much easier if he could just leave you a voice message! If you can ask your question asynchronously in Slack, do it.

A great resource that our team uses, loom, to communicate processes is to create video tutorials for each other, its a great way to show someone the how without scheduling yet another meeting. This is also a great way to automate your processes and create scaled systems.

Create your own slack experience and banish your slack overwhelm!

• Remember to update your status throughout the day. Just like when you worked in an office and said, “going to lunch,” Slack can do that as well.
• Share when you are available, or in a meeting 📓, lunch 🍔, out on vacation🌴 ❌ ✈️.
• Remove yourself from channels that don’t pertain to you or change your notifications to only let you know when you are specifically @ mentioned. The clearer you are about your availability, the less overwhelming it becomes.
• Choose when you want to check your messages. If there are emergencies, your team will find a way to get in touch. Check your slack 1 X per hour to ensure you dont get sidetracked from the task at hand.
• Remember, less is more. Despite the excitement that adding a slack channel can bring…your team does not need more channels. Keep it simple; keep it clean. Less is more