I both love & hate Slack at the same time
A few weeks ago I tweeted out in a mad rage about how everyone should learn to use shift+enter in Slack messages. To my surprise, so many people just had no idea you could do that. And actually thanked me.
It got me thinking that there are probably a few more tricks I've learned in Slack that could benefit a whole host of people (& save them from the annoyance of co-workers 😉)
Use Shift+enter. I'm sitting doing my work quietly, minding my own business & out of nowhere I am assaulted by one person spraying 10+ Slack messages in a stream of consciousness moment because they either can't or won't use shift+enter. Before you hit enter on that quick thought, ask yourself 'is this my complete thought?' If it's not hit shift+enter and keep writing.
Use Threads. Slack channels can get pretty hectic and busy. So rather than just replying in the feed and having multiple conversations mixed up together. Reply in a thread by hitting the speech bubble when you hover over a message. You'll find Slack a much nicer place to hang out when all your messages are neatly filed away in threads.
Refrain from 'hey.' I regularly get one word 'hey' messages in my Slack DM's. This leaves me wondering, are you going to say something else, or do I have to write 'hey' back? We're not penpals here, if you need something just say what you need. No need to have the hey message, IMO it's just a waste of Slack space.
I'm well aware this may just be my bugbears when it comes to Slack, but I hope we can all build a better Slack experience together 😁
