Slack

What is Slack

Slack is a workplace communication tool, “a single place for messaging, tools and files.” This means Slack is an instant messaging system with lots of add-ins for other workplace tools. The add-ins aren’t necessary to use Slack, though, because the main functionality is all about talking to other people. There are two methods of chat in Slack: channels (group chat), and direct message  (person-to-person chat). Let’s take a quick look at the user interface.

Creating your team’s Slack work space is quick and easy, here’s how to sign up:-

1. Head over to Slack’s website and enter your email address.
2. Choose the name for your Slack team.
3. Create your team URL ([your_team_name].slack.com usually works well).
4. Choose your personal username.
5. Enter the emails of employees and coworkers you’d like to have join.
6. Your Slack work space will then load, follow the brief tutorial to learn the basics and you’re ready to go.

Benefits:

• Less e-mail
• Conversations and issues can be rapidly resolved without meetings or without the delay of long e-mail chains.
• You’ll have a pulse on what work is being talked about by your teammates.
• You’ll have a pulse on all the notifications from all your other tools and systems from inside Slack. It’s like a notification dashboard.
• You can create a workplace culture where people aren’t interrupted while working to answer in-person questions.
• Downsides:
• High volume of ‘urgent’ messages.
• You (or your teammates) can easily spend hours each day browsing through what people are saying about work instead of doing work. It’s the same addictive behavior we love/hate on products like Quora/Facebook etc. Eventually, you can get addicted to the red notification dot and you’ll just open the Slack app to see if anyone said anything yet instead of doing real work.
• You’ll feel a pressure to stop what you’re doing to respond to Slack messages quickly even if the work you are doing is important.
• You’ll create a pressure in the workplace to be “always-on” and always connected.