The 21st century is a time of digital technologies and great opportunities. Every day we see how the development and implementation of innovations change everyday life for the better. The use of IT services and online platforms has changed the habitual way of modern man. For example, today you do not have to leave your home to buy food, digital devices, and other products. You can enter your address and receive the desired product. Social networks and popular instant messengers have raised the level of communication between people to an incredible level. We communicate, exchange photos and videos, and make live online broadcasts. I can give a bunch of such examples.- productive teamwork
The business has also changed. Today, almost every person can implement a unique idea, without investing huge resources in the initial stages. It is about launching and developing startups. Many people think that a startup is a business related to IT technologies. They are partly right because managers often use digital technologies and create innovations in the IT field. But in general, a startup is a unique form of a business model that seeks and uses specific ways of development. You can launch and build a startup in absolutely any field of activity. There are no restrictions here.
This form of doing business is especially popular among young people who have graduated from higher education institutions. They are not shy, preferring their own way of self-realization of the acquired knowledge and skills. This is a great trend. Young and ambitious people have a new perspective on starting and building a business. They have many unique ideas that can influence entire segments of the industry. Launching a startup for them is a big step towards success. Of course, the successful construction of your own project is a complex process. It requires a lot of time, effort, knowledge, and resources. Startup development is a constant search for solutions to new challenges. Finding funding, optimizing workflows, increasing the efficiency of teamwork, scaling, improving communication between employees/clients/partners, and project promotion requires the constant attention of the manager. Fortunately, today there are digital tools, They help automate many tasks, freeing up resources for other purposes. The market offers a wide range of IT services to implement in your business, such as Slack, Trello, and Microsoft Teams. Each such platform has advantages and disadvantages. You can try each of them and decide on the most suitable business tool. Let’s take a closer look at Slack.
Slack is the most popular corporate messenger and task manager today. It doesn’t matter what the size of your business is. Large campaigns and small IT teams emphasize the high usability and capabilities of this IT service. The key feature of Slack that sets the app apart from the competition is integration with third-party apps. Using such integrations, you can customize a single workspace, taking into account the nuances and needs of your startup. For example, you want to improve communication with your customers or employees. Install a VoIP service such as Clerk or Google Voce from the Slack app directory. You will get new tools for communication and communication. Set up meetings with partners, collect customer reviews, send SMS from Slack and use SMS mailing.
Slack gives you almost unlimited possibilities for customizing and optimizing workflows. However, most users use only the basic functions of a business tool, unaware of additional features. Do you want to get the most out of this enterprise platform? Consider the following life hacks. They reveal the software from a new side
Slack features you didn’t know about- productive teamwork
The more actively you use Slack, the more interesting solutions you’ll find. You can integrate them into your workflows. Here are some useful and non-obvious life hacks on how to use a business tool to its full potential.
View missed messages and mark “unread”- productive teamwork
It is possible to mark any message as unread so that you can review its content later. You need to hold the Alt button, as well as open the message itself. Please note that when opening a dialog, the user automatically goes to the previous segment.
Channel Noise Reduction
A nice and useful feature is the ability to manage channels and private groups. In order not to suffer from sources of unnecessary noise, you can completely limit the creation of channels by other users. If you are a Team Owner, you can set the ability to create public and private channels in the Team Settings, and Channel Management Restrictions are also available to you.
Fast and comfortable search engine
If for some reason you don’t know the keyword, you can use search modifiers. There are a lot of them in Slack, which allows you to significantly narrow down your search. You can use:
- to:me – search for incoming messages
- from:me – search for sent messages
- has:link – search for messages with links
- in:@name – search for a message in a conversation with a specific contact
- from:@name – search for messages from a specific contact
I want to note that commands can be combined for the most accurate and efficient finding of information. It is possible to attach the necessary files to a message or channel. This allows you to find important data much faster.
Quoting messages from team members- productive teamwork
Sometimes we need to quote a message. For example, you urgently need to prove your innocence to your boss or client. And the hidden features of Slack will help us with this. You need to select the text, and then press the right mouse button to copy the link. Now it remains to insert the link into a new conversation.
Word highlighting
Word highlighting is a cool new feature. It works based on presets. Thanks to them, you can always be aware of discussions directly related to your work.
Reminders in messages- productive teamwork
In order not to forget something important that is contained in the message, you can set a reminder right inside it.
Bulk notifications
Need to get the attention of your employees? You should use special commands. They allow you to notify entire groups of users. If you add “@here” to the message, all online users will see the corresponding notification. The “@group” command sends a message to all members of the group. All users from the channel receive notifications with “@channel”.
Disabling visuals
Some people like funny GIFs and pictures on Slack, and some people resent them. To avoid such troubles, enter the /collapse command, which does not delete, but hides all images and photos in the chat.
Create a to-do list
You can mark any message or phrase with an asterisk next to the timestamp. It’s almost like a bookmark. And if you tag messages with tasks, you end up with a personal to-do list that can come in handy in communication.
