Customers whom Slack ought to target earlier – tech nerds – are already using Slack.
Now if the company has to expand beyond its existing userbase – it has to break the mould of software for nerds and design for everyone.
Slack has some quirks to it – “parts of the user interface are hard to discover and customize. Slack is trying to address some of these flaws with far better sidebar customization, a new compose button, a top navigation bar, and many other tweaks and changes.”, says Verge.
The new compose button – that works as a universal way to start a message – however, seems like an anti-pattern.
Slack markets itself as a smart alternative to email – so why are they recreating email?
“Previously, you had to first create a group before you could message the members of that group. Now you can compose the message, then decide who should receive it — a workflow that will be familiar to anyone who uses email.” – Will Oremus
“You have people who’ve been using email for years,” said Slack’s VP of enterprise product. “Now they come into Slack, and we’re asking them to select a channel before they start typing a message. Email, for all its faults, at least has one button you click when you want to send something, and that’s where you start.”
The goal with the new compose button is to “borrow from the familiarity of email” to ease people’s transition to Slack.
Prashant Bagga 