Slack

Pluspunten

Slack is a very powerful software. It works great as a chat, but it's more than that. It is possible to respond to threads to maintain a conversation apart from the main one, to have channels to speak by topics, to give permissions so that a person can respond to a channel or another one, etc. It allows to control in many ways all the configurations that can occur to me to improve the communication in the equipment.
It also integrates perfectly with other software, such as GitHub or Trello, for example. It's great because everything is in the same workspace, so I can concentrate on my work.
The search bar is perfect: you can search for messages, sent files and within the same documents. This powerful functionality is perfect when we work with a lot of documentation.

Minpunten

Slack notifications sometimes take time to arrive, even though the message arrives instantly. It can be up to 5 minutes late, which is annoying if we are working hard and if time is a key factor at the time. It happens many times when you send a message from the Android app, it's a bit strange.
Sometimes the Android app has unexpected shutdowns, even though it doesn't consume many resources.
At first can be a little overwhelming so many functions that has Slack, it takes a couple of days to adapt and customize the entire workspace.

Pluspunten

Slack is a MUST for remote workers. The ease of setup makes it fantastic. The ease of use makes it phenomenal. The ability to collaborate and work together, to chat and have water cooler talk when your team all work in separate locations, is priceless.

One thing that I appreciate: slack allows you to customize your away times and notification snoozes. It's a really pleasant experience, and its notifications are similarly "unfrustrating." There's nothing quite like being interrupted by an annoying noise or a badge popping up somewhere in your periphery when you're focusing on something difficult, only to be totally distracted. I also appreciate that you can bypass snooze settings for those moments where urgency is actually necessary (hint: it never is ;) ).

Next: I appreciate that slack doesn't make sharing documents needlessly complicated - why add extra bells and whistles you don't want or need? It's easy, collaborative communication and document sharing for people who want it.

The best part: slack keeps me in touch with my colleagues. I know that sounds stupid, since it is a COMMUNICATION TOOL, but it really does. It keeps our lines of communication open, obviously, for discussing work projects and tasks, planning and checking in, etc. Above that, though, using slack also means we work on building our interpersonal relationships, meaning we become better at communicating with one another over time. I really appreciate that. Thank you, slack!

Minpunten

Honestly, I cannot think of anything I dislike about slack. I guess if I had to grouse about something, it would be that the "generic" icons (when you don't upload your own photo) have changed a few times, and I liked the original ones best.

Can I just add that if that is my only complaint, they must be on to something?

Pluspunten

Powerful, easy to use, lots of options so it's both easy to start up with and become a power user.

Minpunten

Lots of options.. but maybe not the ones you need. The inability to move a direct message into folders is a pain. If a project moves/evolves you can't edit it retrospectively you can only press on. Which is a shame is you have stuffed saved you need to move.

Pluspunten

Slack offers channel creation capability which has helped my team collaborate efficiently on specific projects such as analytics. We are able to share questions and files around code changes for analytics enhancements. Once an update is about to be made to existing code, our developers can reach out to the business analyst and get more clarifications on his analytics requirements. Whenever there is a new notification sent within the analytics channel, the business analyst will receive an email update so he can respond right away. Other users of the analytics channel, can also jump into the conversation, if needed.

Minpunten

To get maximum benefit from Slack, I feel its users always need to have the Slack app open in their smart phone or laptop. Since I also use Gmail and Google Hangout to collaborate, it's challenging to respond to messages in Slack right away, when I am also chatting in Google Hangout or checking my emails in Gmail. If Slack can be integrated more seamlessly into Gmail as a chat window so I can see latest Slack messages within Gmail itself, it will make my office life more productive. I also feel Slack is meant for developers and project managers who have technical background and not for non-technical business users or managers. So, many business side users are left out of the Slack world and need another way to communicate with IT. It will be great if Slack tool is made more business friendly to increase adoption.

Pluspunten

It is very easy to use. Appealing graphical interface. Many integrations with other apps. Easy to use features. Shortcuts make work quick, as well as the slash commands. Easy to navigate, create channels (public or private) and customize for your team.

Minpunten

The cost is high. Our company has the paid version of slack, which is a great product. However, since we are using O365, teams is included for *free*. It was hard to justify keeping Slack as a paid product when we have another solution available. Keep in mind, teams is a sub par replacement.