Why Slack Sucked Initially

I liked HipChat because I could use my native instant messaging app, Pidgin (similar to Adium), which could handle AIM, IRC, ICQ, plus any XMPP protocol (Google Talk, FB Messenger, HipChat), etc. I had to run Slack in a browser, especially at the beginning because they didn’t have a native Linux client. Chrome made it easier by letting me run it as an app in a dedicated window, but the away detection was terrible. Often I’d get simultaneous notifications on my desktop and my phone because slack thought I was inactive. All it took was to bring the slack window into the foreground and it would reset it’s inactivity timer. I actually opened up a support ticket with them with a JavaScript example of better away detection, but they already had a “native” (electron) client in the works for Linux.

Then Slack Got Worse

Technically, it got better first. Away detection was fixed. We all rejoiced! Everybody seemed to be moving wholesale away from IRC or HipChat or whatever to Slack. No one seemed to notice the ownership of their message history now belonged to someone else. Slack has to make money somehow, so they politely hold any messages prior to 10,000 hostage – waiting for you to unlock them with a paid account:

The way the 10,000 is counted is in the order that they’re logged at Slack by timestamp, no matter if it was in a channel or direct message. So if a channel is particularly chatty, any messages you had directly with John Doe may no longer be visible.

And what about the fact that all conversations are being funneled through and stored at Slack? I joke that the NSA probably has Slack on their payroll or already had an in through the PRISM program. It’s not really a joke though, it’s a legitimate concern. Do you trust Slack to encrypt and store all of those messages safely? It would be way easier for the NSA to do one intercept at Slack rather than Google, Facebook, AOL, ICQ, et. al.

With other messaging services, I at least felt comfortable that they’re likely just relaying them (not storing) and if I wanted an extra level of security, I could go “Off The Record.” Adding an extra layer of end-to-end encryption, you still have some control over your privacy.

And Even Worse

Ultimately the worst part about Slack was how everyone was using it. Constant mobile notifications, messages at odd-hours. It was a non-stop barrage of information that became harder to discern if it was something that warranted attention now, if it could wait until tomorrow, or if it was just for fun. I can honestly say that I quit a job over annoying slack messages. I hope this can serve as an example to anyone thinking about Slacking all the things.

Finally Better

I started a new job at WebDevStudios this year. They use Slack, and they use it well. WDS has “bankers hours” which amounts to everybody being online from 9-5PM Eastern time. After 5PM Eastern, you know what Slack is like? A ghost town. Hallelujah! After 5 everyone switches over to GroupMe to post pictures of their beers and/or tacos. Also, GroupMe conversation is totally optional. Want to participate at all hours of the evening? Go ahead! I keep mine on mute and check in occasionally so I can live my life without interruption.

The tools – Gmail

I was told recently about my (lack of) email communication on a certain subject:

“Don’t blame the technology.”

But I will blame the technology. And more so, I’ll blame those who aren’t using the right tools or using them well. Often those who are making my life difficult through email are using tools that they themselves are having difficulty with. I’m looking at you, Apple Mail.

I use Gmail. While you’d think searching would be foolproof, it’s not – see search results on slides 26-27 from this presentation. But once you know the behavior, you can search in Gmail somewhat predictably, especially using the advanced search (below). Searching in Gmail is also at least 1000x that of Apple Mail.

The threaded view makes it easy to see who is talking about what without cluttering your brain to insanity. At a glance, I can see there are 11 messages in this particular thread:

After clicking on this message, Gmail hides all of the messages I’ve already seen and only shows me the ones I haven’t (or the newest):

Clicking on “8 older messages” will expand this view so I can see more:

Calendaring

Calendars and email go together like peanut butter & jelly. Why do you think you’re getting all of those emails? It’s to schedule a meeting, duh! Gmail has a calendar built-in. I’m not going to go into details on this but here’s how you organize meetings in 2017:

1. Use doodle.com to find out when everyone’s available.
2. Invite people to your event on your google calendar.

If you need to send the attendees an update, you can do it right through the calendar interface!

But hopefully you already knew all this stuff if you’re using Gmail. On to the etiquette…

Thread-jacking subjects

Choose your subject wisely when composing! Sometimes if I need to discuss two very different topics with the same person or group, I’ll send them as separate emails with different subjects.

Some people don’t operate like this. They’ll answer all previously un-answered emails at once. They’re also likely to find the most recent one from you to reply with whatever is currently on their mind, regardless of the subject. This is called thread-jacking – it’s happened countless times on internet forums and it has likely made its way into your inbox.

You may not be able to change their ways, but let’s try. Send them here to read this. In the meanwhile, we’ll get our own house in order.

Now that we’ve chosen our subject wisely, stick to it! If there’s a thread called “March Meeting” and you are waiting on responses, don’t start a new thread with the subject “Meeting.” It’s inevitable that someone will (correctly) ask what the meeting details were that are now in another thread.

I got this

You may be on a list of multiple people that gets messages (like from a mailing list or website), such as info@mycompany.com. When you respond, put the list address in the BCC field, so the rest of the group knows you’re handling it.

Know when to let go

This one is difficult for me. If you’re collaborating with someone, say a colleague or a business partner, you want to keep them in the loop. So I generally CC them on the beginning of a conversation. At some point you’ll want to move them from CC to BCC so they can drop out of the conversation. Knowing when to do that can be more of an art than a science. Often it depends on the person being (B)CCed and not you. If you work with them on a semi-daily basis, best to ask their preference before they get annoyed and write something like this 😎