{"id":31,"date":"2016-10-04T04:19:08","date_gmt":"2016-10-04T04:19:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nimeyo.com\/blog\/?p=31"},"modified":"2016-12-02T04:24:01","modified_gmt":"2016-12-02T04:24:01","slug":"lessons-and-challenges-from-slack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nimeyo.com\/blog\/2016\/10\/04\/lessons-and-challenges-from-slack\/","title":{"rendered":"Lessons and Challenges from Slack"},"content":{"rendered":"

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We at Nimeyo have always been fascinated with how employees communicate, and an intriguing company on the forefront of this is Slack. \u00a0Slack has succeeded where many others have failed. \u00a0Heck, Microsoft almost bought it for $8 billion. Given that, what has it done right that we can all learn from and what challenges does adopting Slack create?<\/p>\n

How did it get traction?<\/strong><\/p>\n

On the surface, Slack does not look all that appealing. \u00a0It is, after all, just IM plus channels. \u00a0But that\u2019s the key to its success. \u00a0It is not reinventing the wheel nor overwhelming the user. \u00a0\u00a0Slack presents something we all know and makes it really easy to use. \u00a0Just a browser and you are ready to go.<\/p>\n

Simplicity is the key, and Slack nailed it. \u00a0Slack just fits into an employee\u2019s natural workflow.<\/p>\n

Making communication conversational<\/strong><\/p>\n

One way Slack fits right into the employee\u2019s workflow is by facilitating conversation. \u00a0Sure, there are documents, e-mails, wikis \u2013 but information often flows through conversations.<\/p>\n

And what is a conversation? \u00a0A series of quick back and forths \u2013 something humans are naturally good at. \u00a0And Slack allows this in an electronic forum.<\/p>\n

When it comes to this type of communication, there is always a tug back and forth between structured, formalized knowledge, and informal conversational knowledge. \u00a0And Slack has succeeded by knowing that employees generally prefer the latter. \u00a0\u00a0In other words, people would rather have ease and simplicity\u2013 they don\u2019t want to be bothered with formatting, manipulating, or overall shaping the data to something that is useful later.<\/p>\n

Doesn\u2019t make the user change behavior<\/strong><\/p>\n

Slack also allows integration with many third party tools and services: \u00a0e-mail, Box, Google Drive, Dropbox, etc. \u00a0Employees can still use their favorite means of electronic communication and have that be automatically integrated into Slack. \u00a0If an employee still prefers e-mail, she can use e-mail. \u00a0If she wants to put information into a document on Dropbox \u2013 no need to duplicate that information into Slack. In other words, Slack integrates, but doesn\u2019t force change. \u00a0After all, everyone is a creature of habit in one way or another.<\/p>\n

But is Slack taking away from organization?<\/strong><\/p>\n

But the picture is not all rosy. \u00a0Conversations do have weaknesses \u2013 they are tough to organize.<\/p>\n

With Slack, there\u2019s less need for documentation, formalized transfers of information, seminars, etc. \u00a0While this saves time, it also means that the expertise will often remain siloed and only be passed on, piece by piece, when needed due to the chatty nature of communication. \u00a0But in the age of rapid turnover, what happens if an expert leaves? \u00a0Does all their knowledge leave with them?<\/p>\n

And is adding yet another channel of communication worth it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to remember that Slack is another tool, and tool fatigue sets in. \u00a0\u00a0With real estate space on the screen becoming even more precious and people being pulled in many different directions, very few employees clamor for another tool to deal with.<\/p>\n

What can be done about these challenges?<\/strong><\/p>\n

While Slack is a great tool, we at Nimeyo understand the challenges that it presents<\/p>\n