Slack off with this fun, free, collaborative communication tool
June 14, 2016
Slack off with this fun, free, collaborative communication tool
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Slack
I work with other communication coordinators across the organization who are geographically located in separate areas of the city, all of whom have extensive knowledge and experience in social media. It allows us to communicate and collaborate in real time to a group of individuals without clogging our email inboxes. The hashtag features in slack also help in categorizing the discussions we have.
Pros
- Hashtags are great ways to categorize discussions. In our organization, people operate in specific silos, and what may be important for some may not be for others. The hashtags separate the conversations, and give people the option of joining the topics they only care to hear about.
- The platform is fun to use. Emojis, gifs, and the overall social media feel is not out of place when dealing with communications coordinators who are embedded in social media.
- Uploading files, linking to Google docs, and other file sharing features was a welcome surprise, and allows us to work collaboratively without having to leave the platform.
- The phone app is useful and fully featured, and a good way to stay on top of conversations on the go.
Cons
- The desktop app, while useful, runs sluggishly and seems to take up some CPU resources.
- Sometimes it's difficult to follow the messages if you're not paying attention. Would be good if they highlighted (via different coloured background or something) messages that you're tagged in.
- An "archive" or simple "hide" or "collapse" function might be useful to clear out any messages that have already been dealt with and don't need to clog up the feed.
- When used correctly, it is an excellent collaboration tool that helps us organize and plan communications.
- The nature of the platform is fun and inviting, and has an effect of building rapport among colleagues.
- However, it has negative impact if not everyone is adept at using it or forgets to use it, and you still have to resort to email communication.
- Trello and MS SharePoint
Slack was an easy-to-use, fun way to collaborate with colleagues. It definitely has a different feel from email communications and "more serious" project management and collaboration tools. We selected Slack because it fit the personalities of the people who were going to use the software, and allowed for a quick, easy way to ask questions, share tips, and discuss strategy.
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