Recently, we started
using Slack due to someone waxing lyrical about how all the cool tech
companies are using it. Here are my top things I hate about how my
colleagues use Slack:
1. Inconsistent use of threads
When we used Microsoft
Teams, people were mocked when they posted a brand new message
instead of replying to the previous one. However, even though it’s
the same people using it, replying to a message seems to be uncool in
Slack, and it seems encouraged to post a brand new message even
though you are referring to a previous post. This causes people to
act all irrationally, because then they get confused if they should
either simply post, @ the person, reply and repost etc.
When you get two
questions in a short space of time, people have no choice but to
“create a thread”. This gets confusing because part of the
conversation then appears as replies, but the start of the
conversation were separate messages. Sometimes people still won’t
start a thread, then just keep @’ing them instead.
When you want to find
previous conversations, you end up having to scroll through all that
crap which may have been a conversation between 2 people and no one
else cared. If it was a thread, it would just be collapsed into one
message.
There is also a Thread
section which shows you threads you are involved in, but then they
are incomplete because people’s inconsistent use of threads, so that
feature is frustratingly useless.
2. Going off on a tangent of memes
People seem to see
Slack as a casual way of communicating. Maybe because it has the name
“Slack” which doesn’t sound as corporate as Teams or Skype. The
level of professionalism dips to the point that people are just
replying with a GIF, then someone else replies with another GIF.
Maybe the GIF had some relevance, but the reply would probably just
be a GIF that the person liked. Maybe they didn’t understand why the
first GIF was chosen and thought it was a great opportunity to reply
with a cute cat. Sometimes you have gone so far off on a tangent, you
don’t even know what triggered a response
3. Replying to yourself multiple times like its
some kind of instant messenger client and you think you need a second
by second update about what you are doing
People seem to view Slack as an
Instant Messaging client, whereas with Teams they viewed it as a
Message Board. People tended to write longer messages on Teams, and
if they needed to post some additional information, they tended to
edit the original post.
Since Slack is perceived as Instant
Messaging, people often post quick messages one after another, so
it’s like:
Tim: “Can you give me access to
this repository”
Mark: “Hang on”
Mark: “You should have access now”
Mark: <thumbs up emoji>
Tim: I have access now
Tim: thanks mate
4. replying to a thread but also posting it to
the channel even though no one cares
This is very much like point 1, but I
think it deserves a special mention. Sometimes a thread has formed
and may have several replies in it. I am happy, several people are
using the software as it is designed. Then boom! Someone comes in
with a basic comment like “I agree with this” and then they tick
the box to repost it to the channel. It’s like they think their
opinion is so important, they have to make sure everyone sees it.
5. Too many channels.
We have so many channels, many teams have a
private channel just for them, and a separaate channel for outsiders
to ask questions. Some teams even have a third channel where only
bots post the main content. They link it up with GitHub so that any
Pull Request or Issues are just reposted to the channel. I guess they
have disabled their email alerts and prefer to get the messages in
Slack. Often, people go into the channel then say “@here ^”
to cause an alert to everyone to check it. Surely the Slack channel
was created to avoid the email alerts, then people are replacing them
with a Slack alert.
6. people using @channel @here as it if it is
important
That brings me onto the next point, people using
@channel and @here tags. Normal messages give you an unread
notification, @ tags give you a desktop alert like it’s important.
@everyone notifies
every person in the #general channel
@here notifies only the
active members of a channel
@channel notifies all
members of a channel, active or not
If you look at Slack’s official documentation
https://get.slack.help/hc/en-us/articles/202009646-Notify-a-channel-or-workspace,
they say “We suggest using @here, @channel, and @everyone
sparingly.”
An example when to use them:
@everyone – Alert
everyone in the company about the emergency evacuation drill.
@here – You’re locked out of the office and need help from someone already at work.
@channel – Update a
project team’s channel about a last-minute change in deadlines.
But people use them daily. It’s like “@channel
can you tell me where I can find the specification”, “@here
can you tell me who knows most about automated testing?”. I end
up “muting” most channels to prevent these alerts from
showing. It is never that important.
7. You can only have 15 participants on a
conference call.
Most teams only contain several members, so team
calls are usually fine. Recently, teams have been doing demos, or
individuals have been attempting to share their knowledge via a live
tutorial; and we have hit the limit. Even when people know there’s
gonna be more than 15 participants, they will still host the call on
Slack. Why? Because Slack is what the cool kids use. What you gonna
do? Post messages in Slack asking the presenter to record it? Slack
doesn’t have that feature. Here’s a GIF of a child crying.
Stranger Coding Tings 