Who is Bryan?

https://www.reddit.com/r/ProgrammerHumor/comments/6llocd/my_linkedin_profile/

About Bryan (and slack)

• Over 10,000 public slack messages

  • Search `from:@bryanr` to see for yourself

• Part of 5 slack teams

  • Just used one for my family reunion

• Wrote a slack bot

How to use slack effectively?

Problem

• "Slack is distracting me from getting my work done"

• "People are posting about things I don't care about"

• "There's too much noise"

• "I get too many notifications"

Solutions

• Only join the slack channels you care about
   
• Configure notifications for what works for you
  https://get.slack.help/hc/en-us/articles/201649323-Channel-notification-preferences
   
• Mute channels
  https://get.slack.help/hc/en-us/articles/204411433-Muting-a-channel
   
• Don't feel like you need to read everything
   
• Star channels and people

Being a Good Slack Citizen

Good Manners

• Try to create and use public channels as opposed to private channels - the more knowledge share, the better
   
• If you need to copy/paste a long piece of text (e.g. code), use the + button and select "Create Snippet"
   
• Don't copy/paste the same message in a bunch of channels - if you must cross-post, right-click the timestamp next to the first message and select Copy Link, and then paste that into additional channels

Searching for Answers

• Try NOT to use @here and @channel - you will be notifying everyone in that channel (possibly causing them to divert focus from what they are working on
  • @here and @channel should primarily be used for announcements, not getting answers to a question

Searching for Answers

• When you first get into a channel and have a question, try looking at the Pinned Items and the topic
  • ​Topic may have names of who is on call or links to helpful documents

Searching for Answers

• Before you ask your question, try searching for an answer - there's a chance someone has already asked that question (especially if you are new to the channel)

Tips and Tricks

Navigation

• Use Cmd+K (mac) or Ctrl+K (windows) to quickly switch between channels
• Star channels and people you communicate with most often and they will move to the top of your list
  • Tweak your preferences for suit your needs

Creating Channels and DMs

• Channels are cheap - create new ones as needed
  • Cross-team problem solving
• Instead of creating impromptu groups, create a new channel
  • Saves history
  • Can add new people easily!

Reducing Clutter

• If you are in too many channels, try going to Preferences > Advanced Options > Channel List, and selecting "Hide any channels, etc., which have no unread activity, unless they are starred"
• Code can be formatted with backticks ` (next to the number 1 on your keyboard) for a single line, or 3 backticks for multiple lines
  https://get.slack.help/hc/en-us/articles/202288908-Formatting-your-messages
• Images, gifs, and expanded articles can be minimized by clicking the adjacent arrow

Homer Bot

• Direct message @homer or add him to your channels
• Really helpful:
  • CHG###### - change information
  • INC###### - incident information
  • what's broken
  • store num ####

Rollout Bot

• Direct message @rolloutbot or add him to your channels
• Really helpful:
  • Rollout status of an RPM or mobile apk
  • See all child CHGs for a given parent with target locations

Reminders

• Use the /remind command
• Can alert self (/remind me) or other channels/people (/remind #my-team)
• Use /remind list to see all of the outstanding reminders

Workflow Alerts

• Setup your CI to send alerts to a slack channel
• Check out the #help-slack-bots channel which has a pinned item that contains a lot good information
• Request a new webhook by using /apps Webhook
  • ​Use the webhook with Github, Pivotal Tracker, Jenkins/Concourse, etc.
• Request a new email by using /apps Email
  • Example would be for using with Fortify security scans