Updated January 13, 2017.
1 collaboration service team + 1 brainwave =1 great project management tool
Have you used (or heard of) Slack? This freemium online service ensures group communication Slack makes group communication faster and easier Slack makes group communication faster and easier Group emails can really kill productivity. It's time to put email clients to sleep and use collaboration services like the recently launched Slack. Read More For quite some time, we at MakeUseOf have been using Slack for team collaboration, with positive results.
I recently realized that with Slack's smart feature set and a well-planned, distraction-free user interface, the platform can double as a project management tool for many people. See if you're one of those people, and learn how you can set up Slack to be your personal online assistant.
Using Slack for project management is ideal for solo businesses and two-person teams. With a little clever organization, it can also work for larger teams. If your team is too big or your projects are too complex, setup can get complicated, and you might be better off looking for a different project management app. Of course, for team collaboration. How collaborative writing tools make your life easier. How collaborative writing tools make your life easier. Thanks to the Internet, collaborating on a writing project should be a breeze. If you've ever co-produced one, you know this can be difficult. It shouldn't be with the right tool. Read More
Setting up a Slack account is easy, though there are a few steps you need to take first. Fill out the signup form on the Slack home page, and follow the on-screen instructions as you go.
Once you have a Slack account up and running, it's up to you how to creatively use its endless stream of features. Your options will depend on what you're looking for in a project management tool, to be sure, but here are some tips to get you started.
Channels form the crux of Slack's communication setup. They are simply streams of information or messages accessible to everyone on the team. Of course, if you are a one person team, it will be notes to yourself. Create separate channels for individual projects so information related to each one stays organized. Include a channel to write down ideas.
It's easy to end up with too many channels because you have the freedom to create them. To keep your pipelines manageable, have enough to separate your main projects. Here's a look at some of the channels I've created for my personal Slack account.
To jot down random notes, send a direct message to Slackbot , Slack's built-in robot, which gives you a blank whiteboard to take notes on. Everything you write in this default notepad is for your eyes only. This solution is also great if you already use Slack for team collaboration, and want something simple to keep track of your work, without having to deal with the complexity of a personal Slack account.
Additionally, you can create a private group and skip the option to invite members to the group, so your content is only available to you. But Slackbot is definitely the simpler option.
Want to add a task to your to-do list? Write the task as a message in any channel (or in Slackbot, if you're part of a team), press the Enter key key, and then star that message. All featured items appear in a separate list at http://your-team-url.slack.com/stars . the Featured Articles section can double as your to-do list. Once you have finished a particular task, uncheck the corresponding message and it will disappear from your makeshift task manager.
Integration with various third party applications is one of the most useful features of Slack. This makes it easy to bring data from your accounts on those platforms into Slack. Twitter, Dropbox, MailChimp, and Google Drive are some of the popular apps that you can choose to integrate with your Slack account. With the Asana or Trello integration, you can have a shared to-do list for your team members within Slack.
The free version of Slack offers. 5GB from space. Make the best use of it by keeping your important files close at hand, whether they're Google docs, PDFs, or images. Use the Create Fragment function to configure templates for the content you need on a regular basis.
Let Slackbot give you a well-timed tap to stay on top of tasks that are likely to cross your mind. Schedule reminders for those tasks in Slack with the /remind slash command, using the syntax:
/ remember [who] [what] [when]
For example, if you need a reminder in two hours to create a work schedule for the next week, type this in the message box at some channel:
/ Remind me to create a weekly work plan in two hours.
If you need this reminder, say, every Friday, modify your command to:
/ Remind me to create a weekly work plan every Friday.
Don't worry if the syntax command is wrong. Slackbot will prompt you with a sample command or two if you don't understand what you're saying.
Now check out these other slash commands to tidy up Slack and integrate your favorite services into Slack. The best way to get Slack to work with your favorite services. The best way to get Slack to work with your favorite services. In addition to communication, there are many ways. to bring information inside Slack, but there are few integrations that let you control external services from within Slack, until now. Read more.
You can also set reminders for various tasks using the Slack-IFTTT integration. Do you have a meeting at five o'clock every Thursday? Turn on the desktop notifications feature in Slack and set up an IFTTT recipe (our IFTTT guide) to get a reminder at 4:30, on the channel of your choice.
From the Account Settings In the section, schedule Slack to show something funny or inspiring every time the app loads. Need a reminder to take more breaks from your computer? Slack can tell you that repeatedly until you start to remember it on your own. Here's a reminder that I find helpful.
Slack Automated Bots Are The 14 Best Automated Bots You Need For Your Slack Channel is standing. With more important things, like conquering the world. Read More With the help of these efficient minions, you can book an Uber, get RSS updates, search the web 25 Weird And Wonderful Slack Integrations You Must Try From the depths of the internet, and taking on too many Red Bulls, I've managed to create a list of 25 Slack integrations (less than 45) that should... Read More all without leaving Slack.
Make a list of the apps you get to often and the tasks you have to take care of every day. Now see if there's an automated bot that can do the job for you, and set it up to bid.
Slack works across multiple devices and platforms. Whether you have a Windows machine, a Mac, an Android tablet, or a Linux laptop, you can use it to log in to Slack. Keep this service handy by installing the appropriate native app or shortcut for your device. In the free version of Slack, the message archive can search up to 10,000 messages, which is a lot of wiggle room if you're the only one using the account.
If all you want is a simple annotated overview of your projects, then Slack as a project management tool is probably overkill. But if you want a feature-rich organizer, Slack is the right candidate for the job.
You can also have Slack as a dashboard to manage other items like your wish list, reading list, birthday calendar, address book, etc. The tips listed here are just to get you started. If you put your mind to it, you can invent many more tricks to customize Slack and adapt it to your needs..
Have you used Slack or any other app this way again? Use the comments section to tell us how.
