Is it ok to disengaged on Slack?
There was a question here the other day about creating active Slack communities, which are a great way to gather audience. But, what if I cannot do any more Slacks? Not just as an organizer, but as an audience member. I feel overwhelmed by all the conversations, and a way to cope, I don't go to any chats anymore. Does anyone feel this way? Is there a middle ground? How do you handle it?
Your strategy for handling communications has to grow and change as the number of people you're responsible for communicating with and to grows. Manage the time you spend on communications like you manage the time you spend on anything else. Prioritise the valuable stuff, and don't sweat the small stuff. In order of priority, I try to stick to this sort of prioritisation and make sure that people know how best to contact me :
Family and friends
VIP message chats (very few people, like less than five, expect me to be available on demand)
Scheduled calls (agree the time, duration and agenda)
Unscheduled calls (sometimes life just happens)
Scheduled email checks (AM and PM)
Purposeful chatrooms (maybe checked daily)
Interesting chatrooms (maybe days between checks)
If that doesn't provide everyone with all the communications the world needs from you, consider delegating the work. Marketing calls, support calls, customer calls and more can all be delegated.
Slack, Skype and email seem to need the most management, in my experience, and social media's just a disaster area.
"Social media's just a disaster area" - right on! Good idea on making a prioritization list for common online engagements. It definitely makes easier to make decisions when you have a rule for each type! tnx.
I feel like Slack and similar apps, while widely loved, are a complete disaster for productivity and happiness at work.
You are constantly bombarded with a flow of information, mostly because people can easily send it, not because it is important. You are always reacting.
I have stopped using all of these apps a long time ago. My productivity and satisfaction have increased a lot, and the same goes for people in my startup.
You don't need to communicate all day long; it is enough to clearly define weekly goals and responsibilities.
As a side note, it is one of the reason why I am not on social media and don't use social media to promote my businesses. First of all, it is not that effective, the golden age of social media for promotion is past and forum/communities work a lot better. Second, people, rightfully so, expect that you engage with them and their comments.
It becomes a second job and it isn't worth it.
Thanks! Love how you've summarized what I've been feeling - "It becomes a second job and it isn't worth it."