Tell me about a product that was designed poorly.
Slack.
Slack is useful...
I know a lot of people love Slack. It's no doubt useful. Sometimes, you have a quick question or announcement that might turn into a conversation; you don't want to send an email because the email will get lost; you don't want to click on a bunch of emails.
As a programmer, Slack is also great for sharing quick code snippets in a formatted way. I don't have to make a commit, share a GitHub link, and share the line numbers for me and my colleagues to discuss code.
As a non-programmer, Slack is also a great way to share quick links to Google Docs or (ir)relevant news throughout the day.
Slack is also useful as a digital water cooler.
But it's still digital -- obtrusive.
Slack does not live up to its motto: "Where Work Happens". Two reasons - combined - make their mission hard to achieve:
(1) Slack disincentives human interaction
As a digital water cooler, Slack blends the line between "serious", heads-down work and frivolous work. Building rapport with your coworkers is the one aspect of work that blends the line between these two kinds of work: While you shouldn't be chatting away the day with your coworker, it might help you in the future if you need your coworker's help.
Yet, like most digital platforms, Slack encourages more use of Slack, rather than less. It starts out with a short conversation here about your week and another question there. Because your coworker responds - you get what you need - you find less reason to interact in person. Even if you're sitting side-by-side. But, real-life, body language is a really important aspect of communication. By dis-incentivizing people from talking in-person, Slack prevents people from listening and responding to everything this person is saying - hindering long-lasting rapport.
(2) Slack makes it too easy to reach people.
When you do reach out for someone's help, you're tasked with figuring out whether to (a) send a direct message, (b) message in a public and private channel (c) ask Slackbot to remind you to check-in with the person later. If you choose wrong (because you forgot to include your boss), you'll have to spend time going trying out a different option.
As the helper, you'll see a red alert indicating a new message. But because Slack is open and everyone can reach you, you might have multiple alerts. After you address one issue, a new alert might pop up. Very quickly, your whole day could be spent addressing messages from other people. By five o'clock, you might finally be starting on your heads-down work.
All in all, Slack is where certain kinds of work happens. But it's almost never the kind of heads-down work that requires deep thought or real discussion. It's a distraction from work.
Slack.
Slack is useful...
I know a lot of people love Slack. It's no doubt useful. Sometimes, you have a quick question or announcement that might turn into a conversation; you don't want to send an email because the email will get lost; you don't want to click on a bunch of emails.
As a programmer, Slack is also great for sharing quick code snippets in a formatted way. I don't have to make a commit, share a GitHub link, and share the line numbers for me and my colleagues to discuss code.
As a non-programmer, Slack is also a great way to share quick links to Google Docs or (ir)relevant news throughout the day.
Slack is also useful as a digital water cooler.
But it's still digital -- obtrusive.
Slack does not live up to its motto: "Where Work Happens". Two reasons - combined - make their mission hard to achieve:
(1) Slack disincentives human interaction
As a digital water cooler, Slack blends the line between "serious", heads-down work and frivolous work. Building rapport with your coworkers is the one aspect of work that blends the line between these two kinds of work: While you shouldn't be chatting away the day with your coworker, it might help you in the future if you need your coworker's help.
Yet, like most digital platforms, Slack encourages more use of Slack, rather than less. It starts out with a short conversation here about your week and another question there. Because your coworker responds - you get what you need - you find less reason to interact in person. Even if you're sitting side-by-side. But, real-life, body language is a really important aspect of communication. By dis-incentivizing people from talking in-person, Slack prevents people from listening and responding to everything this person is saying - hindering long-lasting rapport.
(2) Slack makes it too easy to reach people.
When you do reach out for someone's help, you're tasked with figuring out whether to (a) send a direct message, (b) message in a public and private channel (c) ask Slackbot to remind you to check-in with the person later. If you choose wrong (because you forgot to include your boss), you'll have to spend time going trying out a different option.
As the helper, you'll see a red alert indicating a new message. But because Slack is open and everyone can reach you, you might have multiple alerts. After you address one issue, a new alert might pop up. Very quickly, your whole day could be spent addressing messages from other people. By five o'clock, you might finally be starting on your heads-down work.
All in all, Slack is where certain kinds of work happens. But it's almost never the kind of heads-down work that requires deep thought or real discussion. It's a distraction from work.
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