Thread by @shreyas

My Slack policy:

Closely track 2-3 channels that matter most for my team’s priorities

Largely ignore the rest

Chime in as a last resort (often the team will resolve the issue on their own, without needing me to “provide value”)

Mobile / after hours notifications OFF

Contd.👇🏾

https://twitter.com/DJCHUNG/status/1436414525155123202

Respond to most DMs ~immediately (except those sent after hours)

Don't use the Slack native app on my laptop

Pin the Slack tab in Chrome (along with my standard 5-6 other pinned tabs)

Check the Slack app on the phone 2-3 times over the weekend (for any @ mentions or DMs)

Star the important channels

Set a Slack auto-responder when on vacation

Mute the Slack tab before starting "deep work"

Quickly redirect complex team discussions to a doc / email (Slack is often a great discussion starter, but also not the best discussion resolver)

Immediately redirect contentious Slack discussions to Zoom / in person

Call attention to important team-level updates or announcements on the right team channel on Slack (even if an email / doc was sent)

Don't give in to FOMO (if it's important it will find its way to me)

There's a lot more to say, but I'll stop here with my policy

Should everyone do this?
I don't think so

Should someone do the opposite of this?
Perhaps

How you handle Slack depends on 2 main things

- your singular value (or strengths) as a PM / leader

- your company's culture

If your company has set an explicit or implicit Slack culture, it will be hard for you to deviate too much from it.

Note though that you might be able to deviate a lot more than you think (most people's estimates of acceptable deviation from the norm tend to be too low).

The first point regarding your singular value as a PM / leader is more important

If your singular value lies in a being an "always responsive PM", if it's something

- your team needs
- you are good at
- you enjoy, and
- aligns with your goals for the future

by all means do it

Note that, if you make this choice, you will be unable to scale (scope-wise or balance-wise) beyond a certain level.

But it might be exactly the right thing to do early on in your career (depending on your context), and even later (depending on your career / life goals).

I personally saw my singular value as a PM leader elsewhere, particularly

- product/UX deep-dives & 1:1s
- creating self-managing teams
- coaching people via Radical Delegation
- fixating on very high leverage deep work

So I created my Slack policy in accordance with that.

Fin