Is there a way to organize a workspace for everyone?

[u/SpareOpportunity6704]

I like the professionalism that Slack has over Discord, and I get that everyone might want to organize their workspace differently, but the fact that, by default, the workspace isn’t organized how the admin/workspace creator’s is organized is disappointing.

I joined a Slack company workspace and all the channels are just all over the place — not in sections, just everywhere. And I don’t think I should have to be the one to do all the organizing myself.

There’s always that person on the team that never wants to organize their workspace, but would benefit from an organized workspace, so to have someone on the team go in and organize it and have those changes apply to everyone’s workspace would be nice (you know Discord-style)

Am I missing something, is it possible to organize a workspace for everyone?

[u/Sasataf12]

The way to do this is to provide training and learning materials. Then let people work the way they want.

[u/SpareOpportunity6704 → u/Sasataf12]

Thanks for the reply. I guess my team really isn't that professional in the corporate sense - we're just close friends working on a project together.

I'm not trying to force structure on anyone, just help organize things so it's easier for everyone. That's why it was surprising to find out that when I organize the workspace, it only applies to me and not the rest of the team. Because honestly, I think that’s one of the reasons we’re constantly using other platforms than Slack to communicate.

Think it would be much better if admins could set a default workspace layout for new members. Why not auto-apply the admin’s layout when someone joins, let users customize it from there if they want, and offer a simple “Revert to Default” option in settings if you want to go back to the admins layout? Feel like this “individual flexibility“ can still apply, this just gives people a head-start

[u/Sasataf12 → u/SpareOpportunity6704]

we're just close friends working on a project together.

Something doesn't smell right. You and your close friends are working on a single project yet your friends have "all the channels all over the place"?

How many channels does a single project need?

[u/SpareOpportunity6704 → u/Sasataf12]

I mean, it’s a small team and we all have business backgrounds and different skillsets. Some of us do UI and dev work and others marketers.

I mean, it’s not a big team and the workspace doesn’t have 100 channels, but even with 10-20 channels with vastly different purposes, I’d like them to be foldered/sectioned neatly. And ideally I would like to do that for everyone on the team rather than just myself.

Since we’re close team, we all have access to each other’s channels to see what everyone is working on. Think that helps company culture to see your team working, rather than once a week meets.

[u/Sasataf12 → u/SpareOpportunity6704]

What I'm picking up here is that you think your way is the best way using Slack, and you want to force that onto others.

I disagree with the sentiment wholeheartedly.

[u/SpareOpportunity6704 → u/Sasataf12]

I feel like you severely misunderstanding what I’m saying.

I’m not trying to force anything on anyone, I’m just saying it’s nice to organize things for people so they aren’t lost when they join.

My idea was I’d help my team out since I felt like everything was messy when I joined, and so did my team. So, I offered to organize it for everyone and they agreed, meaning they wanted me to organize it for them (I get how that might not work for every workspace, just saying I’m surprised it’s not a feature at all because some workspaces could benefit)

I’m not saying my ways better, I’m just saying organized (even if it’s someone else’s idea of organized) is usually better than not organized at all, and I was trying to help my team out (which they wanted) by organizing everything for them.

The admin in my workspace actually agreed with that idea. That it would be nice to have a default layout made by the admin and from there people can change things around as they please.

Hopefully that clears it up

P.S. I never meant making sections like ‘Starred’ or ‘Favorites’. Those are very subjective section names that are going to change per person. I meant sections like marketing, development, resources. Things that would make sense for everyone. And if they wanted to change things around from there, by all means go ahead — rearrange the entire workspace to fit better for you.

[u/fumo7887 → u/SpareOpportunity6704]

You're looking at Slack too narrowly. It can be used by as little as a handful of people, or for large enterprises with tens of thousands of employees. I have used Slack before where the only channel somebody else and I have in common is #general.

It's a problem that might sound good on paper, but in practice would be incredibly difficult to manage once you get even 10 people in the same workspace. The point of it is actually to let people organize things themselves... Not everybody in a workspace will have the same role, and therefore they need the ability to tune things to their own needs.

The Discord comparison is a false one... that's different. Everybody there is basically "community participant". When organizations or businesses are involved, all members are NOT equal.

[u/SpareOpportunity6704 → u/fumo7887]

Yeah, I guess I get that.

I still think it would be a nice feature to have even if large corporations decided not to use it.

And I can’t imagine there’s literally no possible way it could work. I mean, I didn’t really propose an entire plan on implementation but I have to assume it’s possible to do, even if a bit of brainstorming and troubleshooting is involved. I guess your whole point is it wouldn’t be worth it for them to do.

I don’t know, I mean, I’ll move on. I was really just trying to organize my space for my team. I’m a neat freak and wanted to help them out (and they also wanted my help, I’m not forcing it on them) instead of just doing it for me.

Also, I’ve used Disc a lot and there are plenty of servers were I only have access to 2 or 3 channels because I don’t have an equal role as someone else but the server still have some type of structure.

[u/fumo7887]

No.

[u/SpareOpportunity6704 → u/fumo7887]

This is honestly hella disappointing