Russell Handorf, an engineer at a San Francisco-based tech company, has become all too familiar with the constant notifications from Slack, the workplace chat app. With over a thousand notifications a day, Handorf admits that he hasn’t taken the time to tweak his Slack settings. However, he is not alone in feeling overwhelmed by the constant alerts and mentions that create a sense of urgency and stress among many Slack users.
During the pandemic, digital communication services like Slack have become essential tools for collaboration and communication in the workplace. In fact, Slack is one of the top four workplace collaborative applications, along with Microsoft, Google, and Zoom. But the downside of these tools is that they can lead to “notification fatigue” as workers try to keep up with conversations across different channels and groups.
However, there are ways to make Slack less chaotic and reduce stress. Slack’s latest redesign offers new features and views that allow users to prioritize what’s most important to them. The new home view allows users to see all channels across workspaces, while the DMs view focuses on direct messages. The activity view allows users to scroll through all mentions, threads, or reactions. Users can also save messages for later and assign due dates to prioritize tasks.
Organizing the sidebar is another helpful way to keep track of conversations. Users can sort channels alphabetically, by recent activity, or priority. They can also group related channels together by moving them to a new section. This way, users can create separate sections for fun, internal communications, or team projects.
Muting channels and conversations, as well as setting notification hours, can also reduce stress. Users can change their overall notification settings to be alerted only to direct messages or when specific keywords are mentioned. Individual channels can also be muted, and users can set specific hours during which they don’t want to receive notifications. Slack will display a “z” near users’ names during those hours to indicate that they’re unavailable.
Integrating other apps with Slack can help users manage multiple services and keep colleagues informed. Zoom, Webex, HubSpot, and calendars from Google and Microsoft are among the apps that can be integrated. Users can launch Zoom meetings from Slack, see who’s on the call before joining, and automatically update their status based on their work calendar.
Keyboard shortcuts can also make navigation faster in Slack. Users can quickly jump between conversations by using shortcuts. They can also toggle between workspaces with a few keystrokes.
To optimize the use of Slack, experts recommend conducting a time audit to determine how much time is spent on the platform and adjust accordingly. It’s important to assess how Slack is being used and whether it’s providing a break or causing stress. Workers should also be mindful of when they check Slack and establish boundaries to better manage technology and work.
In conclusion, while Slack can be overwhelming with its constant notifications, there are ways to make it less chaotic and minimize stress. By utilizing Slack’s features, organizing conversations, setting notification preferences, integrating apps, using shortcuts, and conducting a time audit, users can optimize their experience with the platform.
Denial of responsibility! VigourTimes is an automatic aggregator of Global media. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, and all materials to their authors. For any complaint, please reach us at – [email protected]. We will take necessary action within 24 hours.
