16 tips to work

smarter with Slack

apps and workflows
Introduction
Too much information scattered across too many tools? With
apps and workflows, you can stay focused by streamlining your
work in Slack – where all your teammates, tools and information
are together in one place.

Whether you’re a Slack pro or just getting started, these

16 tried-and-true Slack tips will help you:

• Maximise your time and reduce busywork

• Stay informed and aligned as projects evolve

• Carve out time to boost team connection

Good luck on your journey, and remember – we’re all in

this together.
Maximise
your time
with Slack
In the workplace, few things derail focus
faster than an unnecessary ping. By
customising Slack to reflect your unique
way of working, you can take back
control of your time and attention.
 Maximise your time with Slack

Streamline and respond to

notifications faster
Slack helps curb context switching with any of the more than
2,500 apps available in the Slack App Directory that teams can
instantly integrate into their Slack workspaces.

When you can organise and respond to notifications (or even

mute them) in one place, you work faster and stay focused on
the work that needs your attention.
 Maximise your time with Slack

Never miss another project update

Keep critical updates from getting lost in the noise by setting up
notifications from a project management tool, such as Asana,
Trello and Monday.com, to go directly into Slack.

As your team is making progress, you can add new tasks,

update tasks with new due dates and assignees and mark tasks
as complete, without leaving your Slack workspace.
 Maximise your time with Slack

Spin up meetings in a snap

Have you ever put off scheduling a team meeting simply
because finding time on everyone’s calendar is an ordeal? Or
maybe you just received a notification in one of your project
management tools that requires more context and you need to
spin up a team sync.

The Google Calendar app and Outlook Calendar app for Slack
eliminate this common pain point and help you book meetings
in a flash.
 Maximise your time with Slack

Simplify and speed up

everyday processes
Magic happens when teammates contribute their unique
perspectives and skills to projects. But when processes are
too cumbersome or vague for people to follow, some of that
magic fizzles.

Slack helps teams grease the wheels with a tool any team
member can use to simplify and standardise bottleneck-
inducing work. That’s Workflow Builder: a visual tool that lets
anyone automate routine tasks right in Slack, with no
coding required.
 Maximise your time with Slack

Set new teammates up for success with

a detailed welcome message
Before any new teammate can begin their work, they need to
become familiar with the team’s processes. With Workflow
Builder, you can automatically share that information with
teammates the minute that they join a project channel by
creating automated welcome messages.

Your welcome message can include kickoff docs, roles and

responsibilities and instructions for how to make requests.
 Maximise your time with Slack

Standardise daily processes with

Workflow Builder
Another simple way to save time with Workflow Builder? Attach
intake forms to a channel and standardise how teammates ask
for help or share feedback. Completed forms can automatically
post in a channel, where a quick emoji lets the team know
who’s looking at the submission, and any further conversation is
coordinated in a tidy thread.

Intake forms capture all the information needed to take action

on a request. No more follow-ups like, ‘Is there budget for this?’
or ‘Do you have a creative brief?’ If it’s in the form, your peers
will know what’s required to move a request forward.
 Maximise your time with Slack

Instantly update file permissions

Nothing creates a bottleneck like forgetting to grant people
access to your files. With apps like Google Drive, OneDrive
and SharePoint and Box, you can automatically update file
permissions right from Slack.

When you share a file in Slack, the app will give you a friendly
nudge if the people in the channel don’t have access to it. No
more heading into back-to-back meetings only to return to an
inbox full of requests.
 Maximise your time with Slack

Automatically forward emails into Slack

Among Slack enthusiasts, it’s no secret that channels reduce
email clutter. But what about those unavoidable emails? Now
you can bring missives out of inboxes and into channels, where
your team can discuss and coordinate a response in a thread.

Start by creating an email forwarding address for a channel, so

any incoming emails get posted in that channel

Once you’ve generated the email address, you can go into your
email client to configure forwarding rules, specifying what
emails you want forwarded into the channel. For example,
inquiries sent to email aliases like sales@yourcompany or
info@yourcompany can be forwarded into the appropriate
channel for your team to view and discuss.
Keep
your team
informed
and aligned
Swap in-person meetings with simple
lightweight processes in Slack that
help speed up decision-making – all
while ensuring that the team is moving
forward in lockstep.
 Keep your team informed and aligned

Give and receive updates at your own pace

You can move daily huddle meetings and check-ins to Slack,
allowing team members from Paddington to Peebles to share
updates in one tidy thread at their convenience.

With Slack’s Workflow Builder, you can create automated

prompts that guide workers to provide quick updates each day
or week, no coding required.

Slack also integrates with apps that let you automate more of
your teamwork, like Polly, Standup.ly and Geekbot. Consider
these apps and features as friendly sidekicks, there to help you
automate recurring check-ins and retrospectives to keep the
team on the same page.
 Keep your team informed and aligned

Encourage always-on feedback

Try creating a virtual ‘suggestion box’ within Slack, providing an
always-on, lightweight way for people to share feedback and
ideas on their own time.

Start by creating a set of channels using ‘#feedback-’ as a

channel prefix, like #feedback-product for product ideas or
#feedback-marketing for campaign suggestions. Then, using
Workflow Builder, add a simple form to the channel, specifying
exactly what information would be helpful as you review the
feedback or idea.

You can even extend this feedback process to people outside

your organisation via workflows in Slack Connect channels,
the secure way to communicate and collaborate with
external organisations.
 Keep your team informed and aligned

Get real-time input with simple,

engaging polls
Apps like Simple Poll, Polly and Qualtrics meet users where
they’re already working in Slack, prompting them with engaging
polls and surveys that make sharing feedback a breeze.

Many of these apps offer a variety of polling features available

to fit your needs, like anonymity, hidden results, scheduling,
reminders, event-triggered surveys, templates and more.
 Keep your team informed and aligned

Share relevant Slack messages with

your tools
Slack is where your team comes up with ideas, resolves issues,
outlines next steps and takes action. Each conversation holds
rich context on how a decision was made, creating a digital
footprint of how your team brought a project to life.

You can capture all of those important Slack messages within

your systems of record, by attaching them to Salesforce
opportunities, Zendesk tickets, Asana or HubSpot tasks
and more.
 Keep your team informed and aligned

Pull up key information from your tools

without leaving Slack
By connecting the apps that you use every day, Slack can
become a single home from which you can access all your
critical information.

No need to open a full analytics dashboard when you just need

a few key stats, or launch your CRM tool when you’re simply
looking for a quick summary on a lead. Instead, you can surface
that information quickly within Slack.
Boost team
connection
Whether your organisation has returned
to the brick-and-mortar office, is fully
remote or is a hybrid of both, here are
a few ways that you can use Slack to
strengthen team connection.
 Boost team connection

Automatically round up team shout-

outs each week
Let Slack be your team’s personal cheerleader, prompting
everyone to celebrate the wins of the week each Friday.

Choose any channel your team can use to crowdsource, share

kudos and pile on reacji to celebrate a job well done. Next, set
up Workflow Builder to automatically prompt your team to give
shout-outs, organised tidily in a thread. You can also use the
/remind slash command so Slackbot will send recurring
reminders to your channel.
 Boost team connection

Automatically get connected to

new teammates
The Donut app introduces people who don’t know each other
well on teams of all sizes via direct messages and encourages
them to meet.

Set up a channel like #sales-virtual-coffee or even cross-

department channels like #eng-meet-sales, and Donut will pair
teammates via direct messages.

Not sure where to start the conversation with your Donut

match? Add your favourite things to your Donut profile so the
app can help you find common ground, sharing fun facts like
favourite foods, hobbies and more.
 Boost team connection

Create opportunities to connect with

execs in AMAs
Hosting a live ‘ask me anything’ (AMA) session in Slack creates
a forum for your team to connect with executives. With a
low-friction process of submitting questions directly in Slack,
anyone is empowered to ask a question – no need to speak up
on a video call.

You can build your own AMA process using Workflow Builder.
Create a private form for anyone to submit a question that you
can automatically route to the AMA team.

Once that team reviews the submissions – skipping redundant

questions and prioritising what’s most relevant – they can post
queries in an #exec-ama channel for the executive to answer in
real time.
 Boost team connection

Keep a pulse on team sentiment with

lightweight surveys
Try the Polly, Culture Amp or Officevibe apps for Slack to
facilitate regular pulse checks, spot trends over time and take
action to boost team morale sooner rather than later. These
apps allow you to automate surveys to send out on a
recurring basis.
 Boost team connection

Engage with your team beyond the day

to day
Bridge the social distance gap with fun icebreakers and
conversation starters in Slack. It can be as simple as starting a
#random channel where you can share GIFs, post pictures of pets,
share articles and engage in less work-focused conversations.

With Donut, you can also automatically post conversation

prompts in channels that encourage those serendipitous
conversations (and friendly debates), whether about the latest
TV show you’re watching or your go-to karaoke song.
Where to go
for hints
and help
Slack support
 SLACK SUPPORT

Slack Help Centre:

Here you’ll find answers to common questions, step-by-step
guides on how to customise the product and useful walk-
throughs for every feature in Slack.
slack.com/help

Slack resources library

All sorts of training guides customised to specific industries, as
well as tips on how to improve your organisation’s use of Slack.
slack.com/resources

Slack blog
Our blog, ‘Several people are typing’, covers stories and
insights on collaboration, productivity, transformation and all
things Slack.
slack.com/blog