AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |
Back to Blog
Slack in a huddle12/17/2023 ![]() ![]() So, one big starting question was how do you help recreate some of the serendipitous ad hoc conversations that used to happen in the office in a lightweight, impromptu, low-stress, unscheduled, organic way?Īnother big question was how Slack could build new ways for teams to feel connected without so many meetings? Of course, it would have to be asynchronous because that’s the predominant way people use Slack. Do you still feel connected to your team? Do you see how your work relates to the company and its mission? Increasingly, the answer was no.Īnd we were hearing from our customers that Slack was the closest thing they had to something that felt like a digital headquarters. They told us that the number one thing that was suffering was a sense of belonging. Noah: We were doing these pulse surveys every month of something like 10,000 knowledge workers. But all the personal connection was gone, it felt terribly inefficient, and it was hard to find time for the real work. Calendars were stacked with long, bloated meetings in hopes of staying connected and aligned. And despite the challenges of the pandemic, many people glimpsed how remote work has the potential for better work-life balance because of no commuting and flexible hours.Īnna Niess: But people were also spending more time in video meetings than ever before, and it was exhausting. Remote work had the power to create more inclusive environments than those notorious in-person meetings that could feel like the Thunderdome. Undoubtedly it created more flexibility in where and how people work. It was evident in talking to our customers that every month that went by where we stayed in this fully remote world exponentially increased the odds that we would never “return to normal.” What everyone thought and hoped would be a short shutdown of physical offices was by then obviously - and very sadly for the world - something that would last a lot longer. Noah Weiss: Teleport back in time to Memorial Day of last year. Ken Norton: Tell me the Slack Huddles origin story. (Disclosure: I’m an investor in Slack through my time at GV and have worked with the company in various capacities since 2014.) Slack’s VP of Product Noah Weiss and Senior Staff Product Designer Anna Niess were gracious enough to talk to me about Huddles and how product development works at the company. ![]() I encourage you to read Slack’s blog post to learn more about Huddles, video, voice, and screen-recording clips, and the other features 1 included in today’s announcement.įor me, the launch was a perfect excuse to ask for a glimpse into Slack’s product culture. It’s the stuff too urgent, trivial, or nuanced for a typed-out message, but not something that merits (or can wait for) a scheduled meeting. These chats form the connective tissue of essential work, living somewhere between asynchronous messaging and synchronous meetings. Huddles addresses the need for fast, ambient, and informal discussions - spontaneous conversations that would happen in hallway encounters or at coworkers’ desks. Included in today’s launch is Slack Huddles, a lightweight, audio-first way to communicate inside a channel or direct message. This morning Slack announced a set of new features intended to help teams stay connected in a post-pandemic world. Make sure to check out the previous chapters on Airbnb and Stripe. This is the next part of an ongoing series about product culture. ![]()
0 Comments
Read More
Leave a Reply. |