While many companies use Slack to help centralize their communications, they may not be using the platform to its full potential. Slack isn’t just a chat app. Its ability to be used everywhere by everyone on the team can be a very powerful way to ensure work gets done and processes remain transparent.
But how can you get the most out of Slack? Here are a few ways to turn your chats and channels into process-driven management powerhouses.
Connect Slack to any device
If your team isn’t always in the office, works in shirts, or handles tasks remotely, it can be hard to get everyone on the same page in real-time. Slack makes it easier for everyone to get notified by allowing team members to connect the app to all of their devices. Slack doesn’t just have to be tethered to the office desktop. Workers can connect their laptops, phones, and tablets to Slack to receive notifications as they happen wherever they are.
Set notifications
If there’s a specific channel or task that needs careful monitoring, Slack allows team members to set their notifications to let them know the minute something has updated. The best part: Slack understands that not all notifications are important to everyone’s daily workflow, so instead of getting inundated with alerts, users are able to customize their channels to make sure they’re getting only the information they truly need.
Users can add custom keywords for notifications, including customer or account names and adjust the notifications up or down to prioritize their notification preferences. They can even quiet the noise with “Do Not Disturb” functionality to help them concentrate on specific tasks without the distraction of notifications.
Integrate desired apps
The most powerful aspect of Slack is its ability to centralize almost any management tool right on their platform. That way, other team tools can be funneled right into Slack channels for easy access and simplified transparency. For those teams that work with Jira for Agile project management, for example, Bitband offers a Slack-Jira integration so team members can set and receive Jira notifications right from Slack.
Slack offers lots of great integrations. There are literally thousands! Simply search the Slack directory to see if some of your team’s favorite task management apps have an integration and link them up to help streamline your workflows.
Take advantage of shortcuts
Keyboard shortcuts in Slack help users cut corners and find what they need without having to search or click around the platform, which can be both a waste of time and an interruption to natural workflows. Slack has a great keyboard cheatsheet everyone should check out to help them use the platform more efficiently.
Slash commands are also great shortcuts that are easy shortcuts for certain actions. If you would like to add specific slash commands to your channels, simply:
- Go to your integrations page at Slack
- Scroll down to “DIY Integrations and Customizations”
- Click “Add” for “Slash Commands”
- Create your text command (this is the text the users will type after the slash)
With Slack being a central part of your team’s communication strategy, it’s always great to find new ways to make its use frictionless. By utilizing shortcuts and integrating other processes into the platform, your team won’t just work smarter, they’ll work faster too.
Ready to start integrating Slack with Jira? We have the #1 Atlassian plugin to help you collaborate and communicate more effectively. We have 10+ years of experience creating groundbreaking integration apps for Jira and hundreds of companies use our tech daily. Download the Slack-Jira integration app here.
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