Here's a tip to encourage good behavior and your own sanity when you post to a big channel: start threads on your own messages. Threads are the antidote, keeping the clutter contained like a good foldering system.

The other discussions pop up in between, and the conversation breaks down. Thread at all times, even on your own messagesĪ lot of why Slack gets overwhelming is that separate topics overlap in a channel. You can always look back at archived channels, or reopen them if discussion needs to start again - they're not deleted by Slack. Once the project is done, or the customer signed, pluck the weeds before they take over the garden. Likewise, aggressively archive single-use channels. You can always drop by to read the channel if you are curious later on. If people need you there, they'll you to bring you back. Leave channels you don't need to actively follow so they won't show up in your sidebar any time there's a new message.

Just like you set up filters in email, you need to take steps to reduce noise in Slack. Managing the overwhelming volume of Slack is the key to using it correctly. No, it won't get cluttered - see the next best practice. You're creating the group DM to talk about a particular subject (a customer, project, etc.), so a channel gives you a friendly name you can use to find it later. Instead, you should make a named private channel. You'll inevitably forget someone you didn't expect to be invited. Group DMs are too hard to find later because you have to remember exactly who the members were. Learn when to use private channels and when to use Group DMs You can simply unsave them when you're done with the task. Saved items is great, because it will show you messages across all channels that you've saved. That will add it to the Saved Items list, in the top left of your channel menu. On a message, click the '.' button and then the bookmark icon ('Add to saved items'). Instead, you can use 'Saved Items' as your to-do list.

Slack reminder examples