@ mind your mentions

Mind your mentions.

A mention is a task, not an FYI. Before you @ someone, ask: do they actually need to do something?

Every @mention fires a notification - it buzzes a phone, breaks a focus block, and demands attention. Tagging people who have nothing to act on, or blasting @everyone when only two people are involved, spends the whole team's attention to save yourself a moment of thought. Mentions are interruptions. Spend them like they cost something.

01 The blast ⬡Teams
✕ Don't
⬡Platform Crew
You2:03 PM
@everyone anyone know where the Q3 deck lives?
✓ Better
⬡Platform Crew
You2:03 PM
@maria @sam - do either of you know where the Q3 deck lives?

Tag only the one or two people who'd actually know.

02 The group over-tag #Slack
✕ Don't
#design
You4:17 PM
@design-team can someone review this button color?
✓ Better
#design
You4:17 PM
@maria could you review this button color when you get a sec?

Pick a person. “Someone” means everyone feels a little on the hook.

03 The whole-team question ◆Jira
✕ Don't
PLAT-512 To Do
TLS certificate missing on api-gateway (prod)

Comments

You11:02
@sec-team does anyone know why the cert on api-gateway is missing?
ReplyLike
✓ Better
PLAT-512 To Do
TLS certificate missing on api-gateway (prod)

Comments

You11:02
@nadia you set this gateway up - any idea why its cert went missing?
ReplyLike
Add a comment…

One person owns this. @ them directly - don't make a whole team triage your question.

04 The name-drop ⬡Teams
✕ Don't
⬡Infra Crew
You10:14 AM
I worked with @john to get the staging flake sorted - should be stable now.
✓ Better
⬡Infra Crew
You10:14 AM
I worked with John to get the staging flake sorted - should be stable now.

You're naming him as context, not handing him a task. Plain text reads the same - without the buzz.

✓ When the @ is right