Slack
Out of context: Reply #28
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- Muncher0
I'm usually hyper cynical about all these bullshit "simplify/streamline your processes/comms/life" things that pop up. At my last job it was almost a monthly occurrence that somebody would say "Oh hey we should use Evernote/penisbollicks/poopoonan... for this project. I've set up a channel/feed/squeeb/snorg for the project and sent you all invites" and at that point I would leap on the person suggesting it and tell them to fuck off loudly and violently until they were clearly subdued... Because that shit is always a waste of time, adds complications about downloading shit, signing up for the stupid shit on laptops and phones and computers and shit, remembering fucking passwords for shit, incompatibility with other shit, and that's ignoring the fact that these things don't ever simplify because they just add another fucking set of channels that have to be monitored and co-ordinated.
So when I got to my recent freelance gig and they said "we use Slack here" I faced something of a dilemma, because freelancing isn't great for shouting fuck off violently. I had heard all about Slack, and assumed it was just another bullshit complicator masquerading as a simplifier, but I'd never used it before.
I discovered though, that they use Slack instead of email. Nobody uses the company email at all internally, and each project has it's own space on Slack, so you only see the stuff relevant to what you're doing, and you know emails are external only.
So it does actually really work. It does simplify things a lot. It's hardly a revolutionary design innovation though. It's pretty much just a forum template that you can join. But I like it, and really I'm the very last ever person who ever likes stuff like that.
I recommend Slack.
But stop using email.