Using Slack

In our system, we replace email with Slack. Our general use is:

  • #dailyupdates - post your async daily update to this channel

  • #project-name - In general, we have a project channel for each project we are working on. These project channels often have the client as well in the them, so please act responsibly.

  • #calendar - Note to everyone upcoming schedules, when you will be taking time off, etc. It's also good to note holidays in your local country that people might not be aware of.

  • #donoterase - This is a chanel designed to be a TL;DR for announcements, weird bugs, or issues

  • #links - Good links for people. Duplicates are OK, and no negatives about things that are listed there

Pro tips for use

  • in project channels, make a topic with the link to github, Asana, or the Wiki describing the project. This is a top-level entry point for people joining and watching this project. A starting point for them to look for tasks and more info about it.

  • star the most frequently visited channels for you - they will appear at the top

  • use the channel topic to create a list of tickets - manually update after every change. Think about it as micro-asana. We use it for managing customer support issues for people who bought books. We keep a list of leads that await our answer. When trello is too much for given micro-project, just use topics as TODO list.

  • Disable notifications in channels that aren't providing value to you. No point in getting distracted unnecessarily

  • Use @here for feedback from your collegagues

  • Post to yourself as a notepad for ideas, thoughts, etc. Over-communicate here, and treat it like your blog

  • Post code snippets using ``` in the message. It's a great way to discuss how to program something

  • If you write a long message, please TL;DR it at the end

  • it’s OK to defer answers/dicussions-that’s the spirit of async, you don’t need to drop all you do, just because someone asked you something (use /remind to go back to it later)

  • Don't send private messages unless it's really private

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