RFC: Rename product slack channels to `prd-*`
pvinis opened this issue · 17 comments
Proposal:
Rename all slack channels from product-* to prd-*.
Rename all slack channels from product-X to X or X-team.
For example: product-mobile-platform -> mobile-platform or mobile-platform-team.
Reasoning
- Now that we have a lot of product teams, many with long names, its hard to see the names on slack.
It would align with the developer channels calleddev-*.- There is a much better way to "namespace" these channels like here and here
Exceptions
Probably product and product-updates can stay as they are.
Additional Context:
N/A.
How is this RFC resolved?
I will contact the owners of the channels and/or J to rename these. They are just a few, it shouldn't take long to rename them all one by one.
Note that the sidebar is draggable:
it is, I know, but it's basically useless area. I much prefer more space for the chat then the channel names.
In any case, going from product to prd -- a different of 4 characters -- doesn't actually fix the problem, as most product channel names are many characters. On my 15' MBP, the sidebar (where all of the channel names are clearly visible) is 300 pixels wide, and the chat area is 1300 pixels wide. I can drag it to 230 pixels wide (the smallest possible width) and still discern what channel is what. A 4 character width change (~30px) will not make much difference there.
Also note that one can collapse the sidebar by clicking on it.
threads split the chat area, and I usually keep both. but yea, there is always enough space, but also there is the easy rename. namespacing channels feels purely like a thing that could be a slack channel category or something 🤷♂️
One can widen the sidebar to give more space for channel names if desired and it's pretty easy to hide the sidebar completely when you want to focus on chats/threads via the icon or Cmd+Shift+D shortcut.
I personally like to keep the sidebar closed and use Cmd + K to switch channels.
While the org could likely adapt to a new prd- prefix, it doesn't feel as intuitive as a dev- prefix is to developers. This change would also break some links and references in external resources like Notion.
I'm not a fan of the product- namespacing, but I'd rather not introduce another abbreviation either.
These namespaces predate Slack's ability to group channels into "sections." Now that we can each choose the groupings that make sense to us, I think we could eliminate the namespaces altogether. (Instead most of these could just be named *-team, which is self-explanatory.)
totally up for that too. thanks for the suggestion!
@joeyAghion - what is this slack channel grouping feature and why does everyone not know about it!? I'm almost upset right now given how generally chaotic slack is, and now I have a "Teams" section too! Psyched. Now everything wont be straight-up lost in "Channels".
Can we close this then @pvinis, given the magic we just learned?
I would say instead of closing, we repurpose this to change product-X channels to X or X-team.
are all the product leads on GitHub? Is this the right place to poll for their opinion?
Just want to comment that slack has a concept of channel prefixes: https://slack.com/help/articles/360033618294-Create-channel-prefixes-for-your-workspace
The thing with renaming, is folks don't know about folders. We shouldn't make others' slack environments more chaotic, or force folders on folks. This seems to be individual preference.
In my volunteer slack which does not have folders (Free tier) we have introduced single-letter prefixes so they naturally appear grouped at the top of a list.
I agree with @joeyAghion and would not introduce another abbreviation, but on the other hand like a prefix for grouping. Another inconistency I want to point out is that we are almost always using team abbreviations when we speak. When I use PX and NX all day and then have to translate this in my head to "product-partner-experience" and "product-negotiate" I have to make an extra brain effort that I would like to avoid when quickly looking up team channels.
And also @damassi I share your feelings about learning that there is a grouping feature. This RFC has already improved my life.
+1 to @kathytafel comment on consulting with the non engineering folks of PDDE so Notion might be better suited to circulate this info.
I'm understand the drawback of long prefix. What the prefix helps with though is discoverability. When someone new joins PDDE they know they should join most if not all product- channel. Beyond new joiners, data or design folks who straddle multiple teams also benefit from this consistency and discoverability.
I'm not against dropping the prefix but then we need to find a way to make it easy for everyone to know all the relevant PDDE channels. (That's also important for folks outside of PDDE.)
Last, the slack channels also match the email distribution list. Again this consistency has made it easier to know who to ping etc for external stakedholder or new joiners to find what group to be added to get the right calendar events, etc.. What's your proposal to address that?
I think for new joiners it totally makes sense. I have used dev- as a search term to see these channels.
Resolution
Not renaming.
Level of Support
6: RFC Rejected.
Additional Context:
The grouping seems really helpful for some of us, and the namespacing is still helpful to newcomers. Seems like everyone in this RFC, agreeing or not, is at a better place than before.
Next Steps
Have a nice rest of your day.