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Instant messaging is great when you need to quickly communicate or share something with colleagues. In the past Namatians have used many different platforms for this which has led to confusion about where to connect with colleagues. 

 

To that end, going forward we will continue to use two primary platforms based on your role at Namati. Staff with primarily desk-based roles (e.g. leadership, operations and admin, program management, cross-cutting) will use Slack, while paralegals/advocates who often work in remote areas with less reliable internet will continue to use either WhatsApp or Signal to communicate with their teams. 

 

For staff with both desk-based and community-focused roles, we strongly encourage communicating over Slack when possible. The Slack mobile app has similar bandwidth requirements as WhatsApp, while offering expanded capability, for example, syncing with Google Calendar. Additionally with the use of Slack status updates, staff can indicate when they are at their desk and online or when they are traveling and may not be as quick to respond. 

 

One major benefit of using Slack over other apps is the ability to translate messages into other languages, allowing everyone at Namati to communicate in the language that is most comfortable. 

 

Slack is used for:

    • Ongoing conversations about work (if not using Asana): within a specific project channel, asking for questions and impressions and sharing updates.  
    • Casual announcements: announcements that we do not need to be saved for institutional knowledge-purposes (e.g. out-of-office announcements). 
  • Quick or time-sensitive requests: either within teams or in direct messages to specific individuals.
  • Small group audio or video calls: calls can be initiated with up to 8 people on Slack.
  • Celebrating and appreciating, or other random just-for-fun conversation

 

Slack’s powerful search functionality can help you easily locate past conversations and files. Recent updates to Slack’s search includes the ability to filter your search by Messages, Files, Channels, and People. See Namati’s Slack tutorials for more details. 

 

Additionally, staff are encouraged to use the Google Calendar and Asana integrations within Slack. For example, with the Google Calendar integration in Slack, without needing to navigate to your calendar you can:

  • quickly schedule meetings, 
  • receive meeting reminders, 
  • automatically alert others that you are in a meeting,
  • and,  join meetings directly from Slack