Private Slack conversations should not be the default

I’m allergic to private conversations and channels on Slack. 🤫

Don’t get me wrong.

There are definitely valid reasons to keep some things private.

Sensitive health issues, hiring and firing discussions, and direct feedback are all examples of topics that should probably have a limited audience.

But private shouldn’t be the default.

Bringing posts and discussions to public channels have so many benefits.

🧑‍🏫 It allows people to learn from colleagues through discussions, shared insights, and answers.

🤝It gives colleagues a chance to collaborate on a solution, often leading to a much better solution overall.

☑️ It makes the decision process and the reasoning behind it more clear.

📋 It makes it more obvious what topics are discussed frequently, and might need a focused approach.

A large amount of private conversations is usually a sign of some other, deeper problem in the company culture.

As with many things related to company culture and behavior, this is tightly related to the concept of psychological safety.

I wish there was a simple rule to know when the secrecy is getting out of hand. But as always it comes down to circumstances and individual judgement.

To help you understand the situation, Slack offers an Analytics Dashboard where anyone in the organization can see, among other things, the proportion between private and public messages written over time.