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by 0xmutt 682 days ago
With regards to Slack or other asynchronous communication methods, its generally a mixed bag in my experience. Folks still tend to target some and not all of the points. Which then leads to more follow-ups.

I wonder if this has to do with other interruptions on Slack (or other mediums) occurring at the same time. Pretty common to be responding to something only to be interrupted by something else that pulls your attention away.

3 comments

It's sync vs async. Slack won't help if you let it spam you with notifications for every OH SO URGENT message.

Make a habit to ignore it and batch answer now and then, between tasks not during tasks. Then teach everyone else in the org to do the same if they don't get the hint.

Agree heavily. Async mediums that interrupt like Slack with all the notifications stink.

Having good habits around notification and interruption management is important. As is making sure everyone understands and operates within the same mindset.

It’s not slacks fault. Everything interrupts by default until you switch on mute and nail the mute switch down.
Sane defaults would be great. The amount of interruptions on a day to day basis I would imagine is a significant drain on the collective attention span.
(It really really might come down to people not addressing all points due to carelessness, -and- it being easier to "compete" (corral?) attention, when in a meeting.-
Entirely possible! I would not be surprised if that is the case. That seems most likely when you boil down the context of the (likely) situation.
I don’t understand the distinction you are trying for here - email is also async.
Correct, email is also async. I was mainly providing my experience with respect to Slack or other async communication methods. I could have been clearer.