March 9, 2016 at 9:16 am
I use the free version of Slack quite a bit at work as I am part of a geographically distributed team. It makes collaboration quite easy.
We have set up integrations with Zapier, Trello, Bitbucket and healthchecks.io for quite a few processes. It makes my job much easier but getting management to see the full value in it and to get them to upgrade to the paid version has been difficult.
March 9, 2016 at 9:23 am
HA! HA! HA! (bitter laughter) Use Slack? Are you kidding? Where I work there are a lot of resources which are blocked. Slack is just one of them. Pigs will fly before we get access to Slack.
No, SQL Server Central using Slack will just be one more thing that I wish I had access to, but don't.
Kindest Regards, Rod Connect with me on LinkedIn.
March 9, 2016 at 9:30 am
Ars Technica has an article on Slack[/url] today. When Steve published this editorial, I had no idea what Slack was, and no interest in it as I am a one-man shop. But reading the Ars article (an Arsticle? That's probably a bit rude) I think it could be handy for an upcoming game design project. I'll have to look it over and see if it can do what I need.
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[font="Arial"]Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves or we know where we can find information upon it. --Samuel Johnson[/font]
March 9, 2016 at 9:44 am
david.gugg (3/9/2016)
I also browsed the website and didn't see any difference between this and skype for business, which comes free with O365.
Actually it looked to me as if it offered less than skype as far as real time text, voice, and/or video interaction is concerned, and I suspect that it would leave me without any decent period of time not interruptible by it because it doesn't mention anything about that (which of course skype does provide).
Tom
March 9, 2016 at 9:58 am
Japie Botma (3/9/2016)
Personally I found multiple communication tools distracting. I like organisation, so if I could do everything with one tool, it would be nice. If I could just reply to SQL Server Central's daily message, it would be easier. Sometimes the internet is slow, so email helps keeping productivity going. I don't have to watch email being delivered. 🙂 And if that one communication tool can communicate to all the applications I need to work with, life would be bliss.
I think I'm like this. I have the SSC messages and board, email, yammer, slack, twitter. It's a bit much. Perhaps Slack pushed me over the limit.
March 9, 2016 at 10:00 am
Eric M Russell (3/9/2016)
It sounds similar to Microsoft Lync / Skype. It's useful for those situations where you need a quick ad-hoc group conversation between team members. A lot of useful information can be exchanged, and having the conversation thread integrated and archived into Outlook is useful.
It is for this, and that has been handy for me in a few meetings. I can send questions / comments in slack easier than other tools.
However it also allows for centralization of a conversation over time. So you can look back at what communications happened yesterday after you left. Or you can get a series of messages on something like deployments that are in a sense archived here. That could be handy if the messages are automated.
March 9, 2016 at 10:02 am
I still haven't found a use for Yammer but it seems to keep the HR department amused.
March 9, 2016 at 1:19 pm
I might use it for conversations about SQL. There's no text limit like on Twitter and it could reach across companies. The problem is that Slack can be a distraction if you don't keep usage under control, but the ability to have more real-time conversations than what's allowed for in the forums could be useful. I know I've tried to use the #sqlhelp hashtag in Twitter, but if you ask at the wrong time, it's just lost in the noise. It's also hard to format a question well for Twitter and provide examples/images.
Of course, that doesn't mean that it's right for everyone, but I'd be interested in trying it out if you ever decide to do an experiment. Just set up the right groups in Slack and it will be more likely to be useful. A "General Chit Chat" type forum could be useful to help focus comments.
March 9, 2016 at 1:29 pm
I've used in in the past for specific projects, not a big fan because of its chatty and distracting nature. Between email and IM, my communication needs are met.
Hakim Ali
www.sqlzen.com
March 9, 2016 at 1:40 pm
Steve Jones - SSC Editor (3/9/2016)
Eric M Russell (3/9/2016)
It sounds similar to Microsoft Lync / Skype. It's useful for those situations where you need a quick ad-hoc group conversation between team members. A lot of useful information can be exchanged, and having the conversation thread integrated and archived into Outlook is useful.It is for this, and that has been handy for me in a few meetings. I can send questions / comments in slack easier than other tools.
However it also allows for centralization of a conversation over time. So you can look back at what communications happened yesterday after you left. Or you can get a series of messages on something like deployments that are in a sense archived here. That could be handy if the messages are automated.
Yes, there have been occasions where someone will drop by my desk and unload a real brain dump, perhaps someone working their last week on the job and describing the process of how a system they developed works, and I wish they would go back to their desk and IM the whole thing, just so I would have a transscript of the whole thing for posterity. 🙂
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho
March 9, 2016 at 2:37 pm
Currently we have Skype for Business, Slack, Yammer, and email. Not to mention the ticket tracking system.
it certainly can, and does significantly at times, detract from productivity.
Of course, it makes no sense to me to send an endless chain of emails\IM's and so forth when you can walk 6 feet and finalize everything in a 45 second conversation.
Michael L John
If you assassinate a DBA, would you pull a trigger?
To properly post on a forum:
http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/61537/
March 9, 2016 at 3:43 pm
Yep I'd use Slack, I use it elsewhere and think it works great for certain situations.
For those that haven't used it before, think of it as IRC but with added history, you can have separate channels, talk in realtime but you can also go back and read previous messages that have been sent even if you weren't online at the time.
March 9, 2016 at 4:05 pm
We use it. The different channels help with keep the messages on topic and it's good to see a flow of conversation about a topic. I think some SQLServer Central channels would be a nice way to ask questions.
March 10, 2016 at 8:22 am
Wayne West (3/9/2016)
Ars Technica has an article on Slack[/url] today. When Steve published this editorial, I had no idea what Slack was, and no interest in it as I am a one-man shop. But reading the Ars article (an Arsticle? That's probably a bit rude) I think it could be handy for an upcoming game design project. I'll have to look it over and see if it can do what I need.
Got a question for you concerning being a one-man shop. A few weeks ago I tried going to Slack to get an account there. But it asked for my business email address and it was at that point that it fell apart for me, as I've said, Slack was blocked at my work. That just put the nail into the coffin for me being able to be a part of it.
But how are you doing it? I was definitely left with the idea that Slack was only for business users. Since I couldn't explore it more than go to the home page and fail from that point forward, I've no idea to know if I'm correct or not. But that was very definitely the impression I got.
Kindest Regards, Rod Connect with me on LinkedIn.
March 10, 2016 at 8:29 am
You might need a business account to set up Slack rooms, but once set up, you can join once invited. I'm part of two Slack rooms, both using personal e-mail addresses and both are different. It gets interesting at times and is useful to bounce ideas off others in similar situations. It can also be distracting if you don't put some limits on your use of it.
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