This type of workplace software is part of what’s currently a $3.5 billion global “team collaborative applications” market, according to research firm IDC, forecast to grow nearly 70 percent in the next three years. (Recode and Vox use Slack for story planning and news sharing as well as for posting pictures of our children and pets.) These services charge on a monthly, per-user basis and offer everything from video conferencing to workflow structuring to spaces for digital water-cooler gossip. And Facebook has entered the game, too, with Workplace, an attempt to get its 2.7 billion users to employ its products in more productive ways than sharing conspiracy theories. Google’s G Suite includes Gmail, Hangouts Chat and Meet, and Calendar as well as its cloud-based document-sharing programs. Teams comes as part of Microsoft’s pervasive Office offerings like Word and Excel. Slack is one of numerous types of workplace software that companies are using to facilitate collaboration and communication in an increasingly digital world. If wielded poorly, it can even make it worse. “Imagine what you’ll accomplish together.”īut an increasing emphasis on new technology to moderate our workdays isn’t necessarily making our work better or making us more productive. “Slack is where work happens,” reads the company’s website copy.

Or, more often, a nonlinear argument is unfurling as everyone tries to get the last word in first, and chaos envelops the very system meant to keep you organized. Important news is breaking and everyone wants to know. It can mean a few things: A vibrant discussion is taking place in which you and your colleagues are excitedly collaborating around a central topic. If you’ve spent any time with Slack, you’ve likely seen this message float below the text field of your company’s communications software.

Slack away message