Slack

Comentarios: Despite the time it took to get accustomed to the software and the constant teaching we have to do for new members of our team on how to best use it, I'm so glad that we switched to Slack. It works for us because we have minimal use for emails and are frequently messaging about things that require quick responses from many people. I have only used it on a team of 40+ people for part-time community organizing, not a full-time job or project, but it has reduced so much stress and greatly increased our productivity and communication. Plus, we can have separate channels just for jokes or recipes, so it adds a fun element to our work without ONE MORE EMAIL in everyone's inbox.

Puntos a favor: Slack helps our team of 40+ people stay organized and on task. I'm not an early tech adopter, but I LOVE having my email inbox NOT inundated constantly with various subjects and to-dos. In fact, we never use email for our team, with the exception of occasional messages that come in from someone outside of our organization that we all need to discuss (and even then, copy and pasting it into Slack often yields better results and responses!). Slack has the level of organization (through both separate channels and also individual threads/discussions within each channel) that email lacks, with practically the ease of texting if you are using the phone app. Within the computer app, the separateness of the software from a web browser minimizes distractions while working within the app, although it does require switching back and forth between the two if additional info is needed.

Puntos en contra: Slack does have a significant learning curve, especially with all of the special functions that are possible within the app; our team uses very few of the special functions because they aren't immediately intuitive and we haven't taken the time to get trained on them. Channels can get cluttered quickly if threads are not utilize properly, and it can take time to scroll back through the channel to find posts (although there is a search function). Also, it's a small thing, but we use the emoji "reaction" function regularly to post Yes/No questions, vote for approval on proposals (Thumbs up!), etc., but Slack does not currently notify posters of emoji "reactions" to their posts; they just have to go to the app to see whether anyone has responded or not.

Comentarios: Overall, wonderful company. I’ve been with them for 2 years. Incredible updates to this software in that time. It’s so integrated into my company because I don’t have a traditional office. My team is spread out all over the state.

Puntos a favor: You have everyone together in one place
You can set up multiple projects or companies under one log in with different users set at different administrative statuses to limit access to different employee levels
Real time follow up
Keeps the team interactive which increases productivity and progress
Navigating from one team or company or project to another is very easy using the desktop app
Very productive when your team is not located all in the same physical office - that’s its major benefit. The monthly cost of this software is a fraction of paying for office space. All the messages are archived so you can always go back and review anything you want or follow up on any outstanding issues.
Immediate feedback from your team. Constantly getting the most updated info for your projects and/or teams.

Puntos en contra: If you don’t download the desktop app and only use the website, it can be difficult switching between projects or companies or team
You will need the app to ease the navigation of the software
If you have a physical office that everyone goes to, then this will still be helpful as a follow up but you would really get the full potential of this software
Sometimes it becomes a social platform that your employees get lost in talking about non-work topics and end up spending hours chatting. Personally, I think that if you have a physical office, you will need to make sure to set boundaries on usage and only use it as a follow up but again depending on your number of users, may not be worth the monthly.
Also, if you have some users and/or employees who are not tech savvy or don’t use messengers on a regular basis, this will be hard to intergrate that person. It only works when people are active on the software and use it as your main line of communication. If some users and mixing between emails and slack, then you will be missing out on a lot of communication and will result in some miscommunication