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Our office chat culture is actually slowing us down
I know a lot of people say that using apps like Slack keeps teams connected and fast, but I have to disagree. In my last job, we were all on chat all the time, and it felt like we were always busy but never got real work done. I remember trying to code a new feature and getting pinged every few minutes for small questions. It broke my focus so much that I made silly mistakes and had to redo parts. My manager thought more chat meant more collaboration, but I saw my projects take longer. Now, I ask my team to use email for non urgent stuff and save chat for quick calls only. My productivity shot up because I can think without constant breaks. What do you all do to cut down on chat noise?
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the_tyler7mo ago
Back in 2020, my team was all about Slack for every little thing. I used to love how quick it was to get answers. But then I saw my focused time disappear because of non stop pings. I was writing a report once and got asked three times about meeting times in ten minutes, which totally broke my flow. Your post made me realize I was not alone in feeling this way. Now I push for scheduled check ins instead of always on chat, and it helps a lot.
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valschmidt7mo ago
My old boss used to send "urgent" emails for things that could wait a week, which trained everyone to ignore actual deadlines. It really shows how bad notification habits wreck the whole team's focus, not just one person's. Finding that balance between quick talk and deep work is a constant battle.
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miles_burns7mo ago
What if you label emails as today or next week?
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