8 Ways To Get More From Your Slack Standup Bot
The second Slack went mainstream, Slack bots hit the big-time as well. Slack bots make work-life easier by automating a range of routine tasks. One of the key ones being: daily standups.
These days, thousands of companies use a Slack standup bot instead of running face-to-face or Zoom-based standups. Typically, for one of two reasons:
- Either the company or several teams are remote-first, meaning timezone differences make it a challenge to find a standup time that works for everyone, or;
- Routine standups simply take too much time, turning from 15-minute updates into hour-long decision-making meetings, code reviews, or general chit-chat.
If you fall into either of the above categories, it might be time you tested a Slack standup bot.
They let you run asynchronous daily standups, hosted entirely in Slack. Meaning teams of all sizes, in any location, can still enjoy the benefits of a swift standup meeting — all without interrupting workflows or spending hours on a Zoom call.
Imagine if you could stay in-sync with what your team is working on, let others know when you’re stuck, enjoy some (virtual) water-cooler chat, and still feel productive? With the right Slack standup bot, you can do all the above… and more.
Here are eight ways to get more from your bot.
How To Make The Most Of Your Slack Standup Bot
There are lots of Slack standup bots out there. Many offer features beyond daily standups: here are eight functions you might not know about:
- Team Retrospectives
If you run daily standups, you likely run team retrospectives as well. If you do, then you’ll want a Slack standup bot that can just as easily handle retros. Slack-based retrospectives give you a written record of your team members’ views of how a project went, which you can reference ‘after the fact’ whenever you want.
And by hosting team retrospectives in Slack, you can set them to run on a routine schedule — be it weekly, bi-weekly, or ad-hoc.
2. Product Change-log
Daily standups can track progress, but they may not track product changes. If you have a Slack standup bot that can also record changes in product development, you’re onto a winner. Product change-logs keep teams organized and on-track, even when the roadmap changes course.
And with everything recorded in Slack, you can see how and when your product changed, even filtering by specific periods.
3. Mistake Log
In the same way that it’s helpful to track product changes, there’s value in recording mistakes. Doing so promotes a learning-based culture by encouraging teammates to share when they made an error — and what they did to correct their course.
With the mistake log in Slack, you might see if common patterns emerge, helping you take action to avoid certain errors in the future.
4. Meeting Notes
The best Slack standup bots should do more than simply focus on development-related events. Ideally, they’ll flex to any meeting type, capture notes from said meeting, and distribute the most important contents in Slack for a team to review at an appropriate time.
5. Sales Reports
Why not get more specific with your meeting notes and turn them into sales reports? Tweaking your bot to track your progress towards sales goals, using the written record of your team’s performance as a motivational force.
You can even refer back to it at any moment, checking your sales over time and using the insights to spot trends.
6. “Today, I learned…”
Not every update has to focus on ‘next-steps.’ Some should promote learning. Slack bots can help turn knowledge-share into a consistent routine by encouraging people to tell others what they’ve discovered on any given day.
In doing so, everyone becomes a source of new ideas, and you can still stumble upon innovations, even though people don’t have the fabled water-cooler chat.
7. Team Feedback
Some updates should be a simple ‘pat on the back’ or ‘here’s how you can improve.’ While the beauty of running these feedback sessions in Slack is they can be anonymous (if it helps), with the set schedule making sure you remember to check-in with your team and let them know how they’re doing.
8. Pizza Toppings
“Huh?” you say. “What’s pizza got to do with work?” Well, only everything. And a Slack standup bot is a great way to get your team to relax, ask personal questions, and bond over shared favorite pizza toppings.
If you don’t like pizza, ask about movies. If you prefer computer games, go there. All we’re saying is, there are no limits to what you can ask — and your Slack standup bot should be flexible enough to accommodate (nearly) every need.
