How to improve team productivity with Unread Messages view in Slack?

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FOR PROJECT MANAGERS

Improve Team Productivity with Unread Messages View in Slack

by Yanick Abraham | Oct 19, 2023

How Teams Can Communicate Better with Slack.

Have you ever wondered about the potential consequences of missing your team members’ messages/replies while collaborating on platforms such as Slack? Drawing from our own experience, broken communication flows can have severe repercussions on day-to-day project execution.

Avoid these potential pitfalls by making sure your team have the Unread Message View activated on Slack, as this feature might not be enabled by default.

Missing a beat on your projects can often lead to unintended but entirely preventable consequences, including…

Missed Deadlines: If you miss important messages related to project deadlines or updates, it can lead to delays in completing tasks or projects.
Communication Breakdown: Missing messages can result in miscommunication or misunderstandings within the team, affecting collaboration and coordination.
Reduced Responsiveness: Failing to respond promptly to messages may give the impression of unavailability or disinterest, potentially affecting team morale.
Overlooked Opportunities: Important announcements or opportunities shared in Slack may go unnoticed, causing your team to miss out on valuable information or initiatives.
Increased Workload: Colleagues may need to follow up or resend messages, creating extra work for both you and them.
Decreased Efficiency: Having to backtrack and catch up on missed messages can disrupt your workflow and decrease overall efficiency.
Strained Relationships: Repeatedly missing messages can strain relationships with team members who rely on timely responses and contributions.
Loss of Context: Missing messages may result in a lack of context for ongoing discussions, making it harder to contribute meaningfully when you do catch up.

How to set up and use Unreads view in Slack?

1. Access Unreads: From your desktop, click “Unreads” on the left sidebar. Don’t see this option? Adjust your sidebar preferences.

2. Pin to Sidebar: Adjust sidebar preferences to always show Unreads.

3. Sort & Filter: Use the “Sort” and “Filter” menus to organize messages.

4. Mark as Read: Click “Mark as Read” to clear read messages.

5. Jump to a Channel: Click a message timestamp to visit a channel for more context.

To minimize the impacts of broken comms on your team’s productivity, it’s essential to consistently review and promptly respond to messages in Slack. Additionally, consider making Slack features such as the Unread Messages View a standard practice within your teams to ensure collaborators never miss out on important project information.