[karmakaze]

> Slack Alternatives

> 2. Slack clone but with Feature X. Feature X is usually something like task management, project management, notes etc. Examples of these apps are Chanty, Rock.so, Flock, Ryver, Twist (there are many more).

> The problem with the apps in the second category is that they end up competing with two existing tools.

I use 4 written communication tools:

1. Slack for (a) async & sync team chat (b) async company/other-teams channels

2. Email for formal company communication (I don't send email, other than auto calendar invites)

3. git/GitHub for project work

4. Google Docs for RFCs

In addition there are sync meets and pairing sessions.

The only thing that I find missing is a good shared whiteboard and hallway/watercooler chats.

The problem with Slack exists between chair and keyboard--it's about finding a way to use it that works. If the culture is for anyone to post arbitrary volume in a large channel, then that's on you. Similarly if your company/teams create too many channels that many people should be in, you're doing it wrong. My policy is that if there's more than X people in a channel I don't need to pay attention (except for the 1 official company announcements channel).

[antifa]

In 2016, I was hoping slack or a competitor would take a native desktop application, but ultimately found slack's problem's managable.

It's a shame that instead of literally any progress or competition at all, the industry is regressing rapidly into the slower, buggier, and in every way I can think of, just all around inferior product called "teams".

[happymellon]

I'm always curious about how different teams have "solved" whiteboarding with distributed teams, as they are normally then not whiteboarding but using a collaborative diagramming tool which is much too restrictive.

The closest I've found is making sure everyone has a decent sized tablet and using Google Jam.

[senko]

Miro works well for this, you don't need to use it as a diagramming tool.

AWW was awesome at this, free-form drawing was the default, you'd just doodle whatever you wanted, no structure required.

[happymellon]

I disagree about Miro, it is definitely a diagramming tool.

Jam is shared Paintbrush, so everyone sketches like a whiteboard which sounds like the AWW you mention.

[rtpg]

Slack _is_ missing some basic functionality for keeping yourself organized when receiving a bunch of info, it's not just about the people. Especially when it's the replacement for corporate e-mail.

Dumb example: you are in N threads. You want to remove yourself from those threads. You can turn off being notified from them one-by-one (refreshing the page to actually have them disappear). Compare with e-mail, where you can quickly select a bunch of threads and just hit "archive".

[Lapz]

For the whiteboarding solution at work we use Miro. Extremely happy with it

[karmakaze]

I've also used Miro. It's good for gathering information, but not so good for synthesizing/creating/collaborating on a design diagram that you can do with a whiteboard and marker. Maybe it can work better with a large tablet device--I haven't tried.