I don't agree at all. I don't like IM because I'm in either of two states while in a conversation:
* Distracted from my work that requires concentration while someone slowly asks me questions
* Blocked in my work until someone slowly answers my questions
(Yes, these are two sides of the same coin.)
If my work mostly consisted of conversations, it wouldn't be a problem. But my work doesn't.
IM is slightly better than email for getting people to answer all points, but an email thread with inline replies would be my overall preference, like in newsgroups back in the day. However most people nowadays treat email as an inefficient IM, and only answer the first or last points.
A Google Doc with collaboration in comments is a viable alternative, especially for something where there's a product (e.g. design or decision) from the conversation.
This. We use slack at work, but not really as an IM, its more like an easy to use message board. I have slack closed most of the time and only check in a few times a day. If somebody has a problem they need an answer too right now, they can call me.
We've actually just built what you're using at work: Slack, but async. It's an extension of the message board idea, using Reddit-like threads within a Slack context in place of live chat. The free version is live (it's used as a P2P message boards): https://getaether.net.
I think you guys solved it pretty well, but in the case you want a dedicated tool for your workflow, we're currently piloting the private version, happy to give you access if interesting. (email in profile)
Teams has separate chat and the "Teams" functionality you describe - personally I think I'd prefer these to be more similar so that chats were, in effect, a team of 2 - but I guess that wouldn't be practical given everything else that is associated with a Team (groups, SharePoint site etc.).
Teams has separate chat and the "Teams" functionality you describe - personally I think I'd prefer these to be more similar so that chats were, in effect, a team of 2 - but I guess that wouldn't be practical given everything else that is associated with a Team (group, SharePoint site etc.).
Aether’s private version is (attempts to) better able to handle detailed, multi-branch conversations (like Reddit, with n-level comment trees) than Teams, which looks similar to Facebook with only one level, though I have to admit I haven’t used Teams myself.
* Distracted from my work that requires concentration while someone slowly asks me questions
* Blocked in my work until someone slowly answers my questions
(Yes, these are two sides of the same coin.)
If my work mostly consisted of conversations, it wouldn't be a problem. But my work doesn't.
IM is slightly better than email for getting people to answer all points, but an email thread with inline replies would be my overall preference, like in newsgroups back in the day. However most people nowadays treat email as an inefficient IM, and only answer the first or last points.
A Google Doc with collaboration in comments is a viable alternative, especially for something where there's a product (e.g. design or decision) from the conversation.