Slack search is difficult. We all know that finding information from weeks or months ago in a group Slack channel is time consuming - you sift through a lot of information that doesn’t pertain to your goal. See that challenge in a real-life situation in this 1-minute video.
Slack-only knowledge sharing creates information silos. When we don’t proactively create a transparent way to access information across the team, it means that some won’t have the same access to information that others do. New team members won’t have the context behind projects, they won’t see how information and knowledge evolves over time, and they won’t know who on the team to tap into for specific information. By opening up information to everyone on the team through a transparent tool like Teams, we’re actively building a culture of transparency.
Interruptions are annoying - and cost us time. For every interruption to your focus, it costs you 23 minutes. And that’s just the time it takes you to switch context, and doesn’t take into account the time it may take you to help the interruptor. That adds up quickly and can derail you from doing what you’re here to do. When an entire team is interrupting each other constantly, it can weigh down our delivery timelines, not to mention cause stress for the individual being distracted. We can be better partners by searching for and sharing information on Teams instead of pinging each other via Slack for the answer.
Slack-centered knowledge is inherently synchronous. This means you need another person on the other end to give you answers in order for it to work. With a central and open resource for shared knowledge, you can work asynchronously and stop depending on others to be on the same schedule to get the information you need to do your best work.
