As Slack’s Head of Research, I lead the team that studies how the world uses Slack — from new hires just getting started to power users who’ve turned it into a productivity supertool. We observe patterns, interview workers, and dig into the data to make Slack a simpler, more pleasant, and more productive part of your life and work.
Although most people start with Slack as a messaging tool, power users know that’s just the tip of the iceberg. By customizing features* and integrations, they use Slack like a personalized command center — moving projects forward, driving smarter decisions, and saving time. As one user told us, “Slack is simple—if all you need is simple. But with all the integrations, it can be the dashboard for an entire workweek.”
Over time, we’ve noticed a handful of consistent habits among Slack’s most effective users. Here are the five most impactful ways to level up your Slack game.
1. Slack super users default to channels, not DMs
The most effective Slack users keep most work in the open. That means using channels — not direct messages — as the go-to for most conversations. Why? Because channels help teams stay aligned, catch up on the details, and jump in when needed. DMs are fine for quick, one-off chats, but when information lives in channels, it becomes a shared, searchable resource — providing valuable context for teammates, AI tools, and future hires alike.
“Slack is simple — if all you need is simple. But with all the integrations, it can be the dashboard for an entire workweek.”
Fun fact: Slack is a backronym for “Searchable Log of All Communication and Knowledge.” Working in channels is an investment in your organization’s institutional memory. As one user put it, “With so much turnover these days, being able to search past threads has helped bridge the gap when experts move on.”
2. They curate and customize their Slack
Power users don’t let Slack run them — they shape Slack to work for them. That starts by dialing in their notifications, so they only get pinged when it matters. They also keep busy channels organized by pinning key information to a canvas at the top of the channel. And when fast-moving conversations are needed, they jump into huddles to tap into the “bursty” communication style research shows is best for teamwork.
From customizing their sidebars to muting or leaving under-used channels, super-users know their way around the settings menu — and they tweak it to match how they work best.
“You can customize the theme—or pick from a large selection of premade themes — to make sure what you need is highlighted for you in the way you need it to be. You can automate when to stop receiving notifications, which is really useful for those of us on shift work.”
3. They bring everyone they work with into Slack
Slack isn’t just for internal teams. Super-users invite external partners, vendors, agencies — anyone they work with regularly — into shared channels using Slack Connect. When everyone is in one place and you’re not having to dig through email threads or toggle between platforms, conversations stay current and projects move faster; in our customer research, we’ve found that Slack Connect users report 3.5 times greater ease of information sharing with outside partners compared to Slack users who don’t use Slack Connect.
“Using Slack Connect seems like a no-brainer to me. When I talk to somebody in Slack, they respond in 5 seconds — it is SO much faster than email. We open a channel with everyone we plan to keep talking to after our initial meeting. The benefits are pretty clear: Faster communication, better feedback loops, the whole team stays plugged into prospect conversations, real-time discussions instead of email ping pong, creates a shared space that’s easy to invite people into.”
4. They automate repetitive tasks with apps and workflows
Routing approvals, setting daily standups, sending reminders — it’s the “work of work,” and it will suck up your whole day if you let it. Instead of chasing people for updates, Slack MVPs build simple automations right in Slack — keeping work moving with less manual effort. And instead of switching between tools, super-users bring their favorite applications into Slack, from critical business tools like Jira and the Google suite to fun extras like Giphy to help make Slack feel even more personalized.
Apps and integrations are a core part of how super-users shape Slack to fit their daily work, and their impact is real: users who regularly use both workflows and app integrations report 26% higher productivity gains compared to those who don’t.
“Slack workflows, when a user enters a channel or posts a certain phrase, are absolute gold… Too many orgs treat Slack as a comms-only platform and leave the collaboration aspect on the back burner. When a user joins a shared channel about help, give them the TLDR of how to interact up front. If you get common questions in a channel, have a FAQ workflow that can respond to them with the answer… This is the power of Slack, putting context in front of a user when they perform an action.”
5. They save time with AI
Slack super-users are tapping AI features to work even smarter. Tools like recap help them catch up on channel activity without scrolling through endless messages, while AI summaries of channels, threads, DMs or files quickly highlight next steps and decisions. 
Slack’s AI-powered search lets users ask questions in plain language and get concise answers based on relevant knowledge already in Slack. And with our new Enterprise Search, teams can search across a growing list of third-party connectors like Google Drive and GitHub, creating a single, centralized search for all of their company’s knowledge and data. On average, using Slack AI saves users about 97 minutes per week.
What we’ve learned from our power users is proof: When you use it to its potential, Slack becomes so much more than a messaging app. It’s a powerful and all-encompassing operating system for work that connects your people, tools, contextual data, and now AI — so you can take your productivity to the next level and achieve your business’s mission.
* Some features require a paid plan upgrade.
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