Slack is where context goes to die

[Evan Fishman - Quely for Jira]

Saw this post on Reddit where a PM asked how people manage the chaos in Slack.

Team uses Slack heavily, but:
→ Decisions get lost → Ideas resurface every few weeks → Same questions keep coming up → No one remembers what was agreed last sprint meeting

This is a context problem

Slack was built for communication, not context/knowledge retention.

And that shows.

There were some great tips in the comments

Create threads (but they still disappear after a week)
Use dedicated #decision or #summary channels
Sync to Notion or Confluence

But most of these are manual workarounds.

They still depend on people remembering to document things properly, tagging the right people, or sharing the summary afterward.

We solve this differently.

Instead of hoping Slack becomes more structured, we give teams a shared space to scope, align, and make decisions, without losing context.

→ Kick off a session on "Q3 Launch Priorities"
→ Bring in input from Slack, Jira, Confluence, Asana.
→ Document discussions, decisions, tradeoffs, all automatically
→ Everything links back to your tools (not buried in Slack threads)

So when you need to recall why a decision was made, or who pushed back on a tradeoff, you don't waste hours scrolling through Slack threads or asking around.

That context isn't lost in someone's DMs or memory.

It lives in the session, organized, searchable, and connected to your tools.

Because you shouldn't be spending half your day chasing context.

PS: Turning this into a series 😅

[Andy Gladstone]

I have a mantra in our organization - 'Slack is where the conversation takes place, Confluence is where it is documented' -> constantly reminding our team that even the best Slack post will never be looked at again once it scrolls offscreen, and that we need to take the time to commit the knowledge shared in Slack posts to Confluence pages. 

[Evan Fishman - Quely for Jira]

Love this@ @Andy Gladstone 

The only snag though is exactly what you said: "we need to take the time".

That’s the part most teams struggle with, remembering to document, having someone own it, doing it consistently, and keeping it up to date.

[Elena_Communardo Products]

Absolutely agree. Slack is great for quick chats, but terrible for keeping track of important context or to-dos. As @Andy Gladstone  rightly said, Confluence (and I’d add Jira too) should be where those Slack conversations lead next. That way, we’re not digging through threads later. It’s made a big difference in staying aligned.

[Evan Fishman - Quely for Jira]

@Elena_Communardo Products How about a space where all your important context related to a particular task or work item lives?

Engineering context could be pulled from Jira, Slack, meetings, confluence etc, Same for all agile ceremonies.