This is not meant to be an extensive guide on Slack usage, but to set some ground rules to help facilitate high value communication in Slack.
The bulk of this advice was borrowed from https://www.wrangle.io/post/20-slack-tips-and-best-practices-you-havent-seen-before.
If you are looking for more detailed guidance, Slack has some advice on communication best practices https://slack.com/blog/collaboration/etiquette-tips-in-slack and https://slack.com/blog/collaboration/slack-essentials-organize-your-work-and-conversations.
Using topical channels helps Slack users easily filter for information most relevant to them.
There are a few channels that everyone is subscribed to by default, #general, #random, #resources-general, and #resources-conference-updates.
The #general channel is a safe place to post question, comments, and concerns that need a response. These messages have a level of importance that deserves attention. Don’t hesitate to post here if you don’t know where else to post.
The #random channel is for any content that doesn’t need a response. Things we’d like to share with everyone whether it’s a good laugh or just a place to vent.
The #resources-general channel is a place to share resources, like a place for reference material that’s broadly interesting to Controls. Things like C++ best practices, or managing electronics hardware design with a new tool.
The #resources-conference-updates channel is a place to share conference announcements as well as information during and after a conference. This could be an announcement of a conference review presentation or a thread of live reporting from the conference. Pictures are encouraged.
Like threading, Slack’s built-in Posts are another way to prevent sprawl in a busy channel. If you’ve never used them, Posts are documents that you can compose in Slack and attach to a message, so no one has to leave to go to Google Docs or Notion to see longer-form thoughts.
They’re a bit hidden these days, but you can find them from the Shortcuts menu (the ⚡️ icon in the reply box, or just type “/” in the reply box). Search for “Create a Post” and click to start writing.
Every top level message posted in a channel will notify members of that channel. When responding to an existing topic, use “Reply in thread” on the right side menu of a message. This only sends notifications to people contributing to the thread, and people who have requested to receive notifications on that thread. This helps reduce the number of notifications to everyone and keeps the alerts relevant.
A lot of why Slack gets overwhelming is that separate topics overlap in a channel. The other discussions pop up in between, and the conversation breaks down. Threads are the antidote, keeping the clutter contained like a good foldering system. This even applies to your own messages.
Please don’t @channel unless it’s a critical announcement no one can miss. Remember that other colleagues will be in other time zones, so you don’t want to trigger unnecessary notifications to them. If you just need some urgent attention or help, use @here — it’s the same thing, but it won’t send notifications to people who don’t currently have Slack open.
Managing the overwhelming volume of Slack is the key to using it correctly. Just like you set up filters in email, you need to take steps to reduce noise in Slack.
Leave channels you don’t need to actively follow so they won’t show up in your sidebar any time there’s a new message. If people need you there, they’ll @-mention you to bring you back. You can always drop by to read the channel if you are curious later on.
Likewise, aggressively archive single-use channels. Once the project is done pluck the weeds before they take over the garden. You can always look back at archived channels, or reopen them if discussion needs to start again — they’re not deleted by Slack.
Work can get overwhelming, and so does the numerous requests from colleagues. The DND feature help improves productivity at work by allowing you to set specific uninterrupted hours to reduce distractions and manage your time during work hours. This way, you can focus on clearing and attending to daily tasks without numerous notifications, messages, or calls.
When you turn on the DND, your Slack status changes to indicate you are unavailable to your colleagues. You can also sync it with your calendar, so colleagues know you’re in a meeting or outside work hours. This way, you have a better work-life balance.
It is important to know that in case of urgency or a situation where an immediate response, DND can be bypassed and overridden. However, it is important to respect colleagues’ DND, except if the situation calls for otherwise.
If you respond to a thread, you will be subscribed to replies in that thread.
If there’s a top level message thread that you want to follow but don’t want to send a message, you can click “…” on the right side menu and “Get notified about new replies”.
If you are subscribed to a thread and don’t want new notifications, you can do the same by clicking “…” on the right side menu and “Turn off notifications for replies”.
If you want to follow all replies in all threads in a channel, you can click on the channel name at the top of a channel then click the notification section with the bell. There you will see a pop-up with “More notification options” and there’s a checkbox with “Get notified about all replies and show them in your Threads view” as well as many other notification options.
Group DMs are too hard to find later because you have to remember exactly who the members were. You’ll inevitably forget someone you didn’t expect to be invited.
Instead, you should make a named private channel. You’re creating the group DM to talk about a particular subject (a customer, project, etc.), so a channel gives you a friendly name you can use to find it later.
You can create a private channel from a group DM by clicking on the group DM names at the top of the channel. Under the “Settings” tab on the pop-up there’s a button for “Change to a private channel”.
It’s tempting to use “Mark unread” for messages you need to take action on. But this strategy is problematic.
If you try to come back to messages by marking them unread, now you don’t get to use the channel. When new stuff comes in, you either don’t open it for fear of losing your unread message, or you have to read the new stuff and then remember to scroll up and mark unread again. It’s frustrating.
Reminders are an awesome feature! You can click on the “…” on a message and set a reminder about it, so that Slack will notify you in the future with a link to get back to the message. These reminders go into the “Later” section with all your “Saved for later” bookmarks. When the reminder timer is up, the reminder will buzz.
Instead of marking unread you can use “Later” as your to-do list. On a message, click the bookmark button (“Save for later”). That will add it to the Later list, in the top left of your channel menu. Later is great, because it will show you messages across all channels that you’ve saved. You can simply unsave or complete them when you’re done with the task.
Whoops, you switched channels but realize you need to get back to a discussion you were just having…but…where were you?
Slack has a back button and a history button(!) that you can use to get back to where you’ve been. You can also use keyboard shortcuts to get back: Cmd + [ on Mac, Alt + ← on Windows.
The history menu shows all the places you’ve been (across all workspaces!).
Want to find that document or image you just saw, but can’t remember where it was? The Slack File Browser is your savior. It’s located in the top left of the channel menu, and you may have to click the “… More” menu to see it.
The File Browser shows every image or file shared in your Workspace (that you have permission to see). By default, you may only see your items. To change that, click on the filters menu in the top right of the file browser, where you can optionally filter by channel or by who shared the item.
You can just press the up arrow on the keyboard and you’ll instantly be editing it. No need for your mouse.
You can quickly mark a channel unread, starting at a certain message by holding Option (on Mac) or Alt (on PC) and clicking on the message.
Stop clicking on channels. It takes forever. Use your keyboard.
Press Cmd + K (Mac) / Ctrl + K (PC) to open the Quick Switcher, and type a few letters to filter for the channel you want, then press Enter to jump there. By default your unread channels will appear at the top of the list.
While we’re on the subject, there are lots of useful keyboard shortcuts you should learn. Here is a select list:
The left side of Slack can get overwhelming, but there are several useful features to help.
Starred Channels are used for your most-used channels. You can star a channel by going to the channel and clicking the Star icon next to its name at the top of the page. By adding to the Starred Channels list, you avoid having to scroll up and down a big list of channels to find it.
Custom channel sections allow you to create folders of channels, rather than having them all be in the big “Channels” list. You give a channel section a useful name and then you can drag channels there. To create a channel section, hover over “Channels” in your left sidebar and click “Create new section.”
You’re probably familiar with Slack notifying you any time you get tagged in a message. But you can also have Slack notify you in the same way for key words or phrases you care about. For example, if you’re managing a project or a customer, you can get alerted any time someone says the name of the project/customer — in any channel.
To set up keyword highlighting, click on the name of your Workspace at the top left of Slack, and click on “Preferences.” There, you’ll see a section called “My keywords,” where you can specify the words or phrases you want notifications for.
If you want to share a message from one channel with another person or channel, you can hover the message and click on the “Share” button.
If you want a link to the message, you can right click on the time next to the person’s name that posted the message, and choose “Copy link.” You can paste the link wherever you want.
If you want to do a quick poll of your colleagues, type out a message and number the options. Then react to your message using the number emoji for each option. That way, your colleagues can just click the emoji reaction to put in their vote.
In your channel, you may want to keep important links or information readily available to people. For example, you might have a spreadsheet that your team often needs and you want to make it easy for people to find that link any time they need it (or if you want to make sure new employees can find it).
To handle this, you can use Slack’s Pinned Items feature. Pinned Items will save any message you choose, pinning into a list in the channel. To pin a message, hover over it and click the “…” menu, then choose “Pin to channel.” To view Pinned Items, you click the “Show Channel Details” icon (the ℹ️ icon in the top right).