Your Profile

Please set up your Slack profile to help existing and new team members put a face to the name and learn more about you. We are growing and it is becoming more and more difficult to know everyone. Let’s try to make it easier for ourselves by following these guidelines:

• upload an easily recognizable photo of yourself
• include your real first and last name in the “Full name” field
• use your first name/nickname (the given name you are commonly referred to) as your Slack display name (first name/nickname + last name in case there are other Togglers with the same first name/nickname)
• add the company (Toggl/Toggl Hire) you work into the "Company" field
• add the team you are part of to the "Team" field
• add your job title to the “What I do” field
• add your GitHub profile to the "GitHub" field
• add Country you live in (optional, the country you grew up in)
• add something cool in the “Fun fact about me” section (optionally)

Code of Conduct

Track, Plan, Hire and Work are sharing a Slack Workspace.

Communication Etiquette

• Asynchronous by Default: Despite the instantaneous nature of chat, Slack should be considered an asynchronous ****tool. A green dot doesn’t guarantee immediate availability, nor does its absence mean someone is unreachable.
• Unblocking Teammates: At the same time, you should respond to all messages the soon as you can. RESPECT others and don't let them wait for too long for your answer. The maximum reasonable time to respond to someone is 24h during workdays.
• Proactive Communication: Be clear and proactive when messaging. Specify your request (e.g., feedback, approval), and include links or context. Use tags like “✅ANSWERED” or “❓QUESTION” or “📌ACTION” to clarify the message's purpose.
• Set Boundaries and Availability: You are not expected to respond outside working hours or while on vacation. https://toggl.slack.com/help/articles/201864558-Set-your-Slack-status-and-availability when you are away, specifying when you'll return and who to contact in your absence.
  • Example of a good vacation status message
• Use TLDR: For longer messages, use TLDR summaries to keep communication efficient. See more about how to use TLDRs here.
• Adapt Communication: Tailor your messages to your audience. Find more details on how to do it at How We Communicate Internally
• Avoid cross-posting unless necessary. If you do cross-post to multiple channels, tailor your message based on your audience in each place and always link to the original message.

Best Practices for Slack Usage

• Public Over Private: Default to public channels when possible to promote transparency and faster responses. Public conversations are searchable and allow others to help if needed.
• Private messages are private. Do not share them with others, even in Toggl, without the permission of everyone involved.
• Use User Groups to ping people only when you are sure you want to ping everyone from that User Group - especially when using @channel, @everyone, @here, etc. Unnecessary pings create distractions and kill productivity.
• Avoid Documenting Decisions on Slack: Slack is great for discussions but document important decisions in project management tools or Notion for easy reference later.
• We highly recommend you not to have Slack notifications turned on on your phone (or not have the app installed on the phone at all) except during meetups, or in situations when you really need it.

Using Slack Threads

• Thread Conversations: Use threads for discussions that go beyond a quick back-and-forth exchange to avoid cluttering the main channel.
• Stay on Topic: Keep threads focused on the original topic. If the conversation goes off-topic, it’s best to start a new thread.
• Summarize for New Participants: When inviting others into a thread, provide a brief summary of the discussion and the reason for their inclusion to avoid confusion. Avoid simply pinging people and asking for their opinion without any context, as this can be disruptive and unproductive. Giving a TLDR and clear context helps ensure that everyone involved can stay on the same page and contribute meaningfully to the conversation.

Misc

• Slackbot Auto-Responses: Ensure auto-responses aren’t triggered by common words or phrases (example: do it, not today, off, etc). Responses like these disrupt communication in Slack and get bothersome pretty quickly. If you find any of Slackbot responses annoying, feel free to change its trigger to a more complicated word/phrase or remove it completely.
• Quarterly Channel Reviews: Please review your channels every quarter and archive any channels that have not been used in the last 3 months. This will help keep our Slack workspace organized and make it easier to find relevant conversations.

Mastering Deep Work with Slack

🔕 Managing Notifications

• Default settings ensure channels are bolded for unread messages and a red badge appears for mentions or custom keywords.
• Custom Notifications: Set custom keywords for critical alerts but choose wisely to avoid distractions.
• Prioritize Key Channels: configure notifications for crucial projects to receive every message update, especially for time-sensitive tasks. Adjust this as deadlines shift.
• Mute Less Critical Channels: Mute channels that are less relevant to your work. They won’t appear as bold but will still show a red badge if you’re tagged, so you can address them when you have time.
• Additional tip: Disable the red notification badge to reduce stress and help prioritize only essential communication. Learn how at https://zapier.com/blog/turn-off-red-dot-slack/

💡 More at https://slack.com/resources/using-slack/customize-your-notifications-in-slack

🧠 Using Do Not Disturb (DND) & Focus Mode

• DND Mode: Use the /dnd command to snooze notifications and set specific time frames for deep work. You can also schedule recurring DND hours for regular focus blocks
• Focus Mode/Deep Work: As an alternative, use a "Focus Mode/Deep Work 🧠**"** status to signal that you’re in deep work and responses may be delayed.
• Add these time blocks to your calendar so others know when you’re unavailable. You can also plan them ahead of time.

💡 More at https://slack.com/help/articles/214908388-Pause-notifications-with-Do-Not-Disturb

📁  Organizing Channels

• Group channels into sections like priority projects, so critical messages are easy to manage.

💡 More at https://slack.com/help/articles/360043207674-Organize-your-sidebar-with-custom-sections

<aside> ❗ When you read a message in #general channel, react with ✅ to the message, so the sender knows the message reached the whole team.

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<aside> 💗 We use emojis in Slack a lot. They help us express our thoughts and feelings to others. Please be cautious about how you use them and how others might interpret them.

PRO TIP: try out our values emojis (type :toggl-value… in Slack to find them)

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Channels

Prefix Guide:

• no prefix - for channels that concern Track or the whole Toggl
• #plan - for Plan related channels
• #hire - for Hire related channels
• #work - for Work related channels
• #project - for specific project-related channels
• #misc - for interest-based channels for fun

Recommended channels for everyone

• #general

• #team-updates

• #security

• #operations-team

• #chitchat

• #cheers

• #donut-buddies

• #raft

• #wins

• #lets-learn

Interest-based channels for fun

• #misc-health

• #misc-cooking

• #misc-gaming

• #misc-keynotes

• #misc-movies-series

• #misc-programming

• #misc-music

• #misc-anime-japan-desu

• #misc-my-office-today

• #misc-books

• #misc-arts-and-crafts

<aside> 👉 Feel free to join any public channel, and please consider using existing channels before creating new ones.

If you do create a new public channel, please share information about it in #team-updates so that others who are interested can join.

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