ThinkingTime

Add ThinkingTime to Slack

ThinkingTime is a Slack App that gives your team time to think. You use the App to post a question to your channel and then collect all responses to be released at the same time.

One of the best things about today’s communications tools like email, Slack, and messaging are they are incredibly fast and efficient. One of the worst things about today’s communication tools like email, Slack, and messaging are they are incredibly noisy, interruptive, and responding fast is often rewarded over responding thoughtfully.

Everyone has been in countless groups, threads, and channels where someone asks a thoughtful question and wants feedback. Very quickly someone replies with a snarky comment and the whole thread devolves and the asker never got any thoughtful feedback. These are the bad versions of “first responders”. (On that note, we love and deeply appreciate and thank our community first responders for all they do, especially in these complicated times!). On the other hand, even worse is when everyone waits until the most senior person in the group weighs in and then agrees with them without anyone sharing their independent thoughts.

With ThinkingTime, everyone on your team gets time to think first, then respond, and then read each other’s responses before the true conversation begins. This encourages conversation and contribution… and thinking.

Use Cases

Here are a few use cases we’ve already heard for when this can be useful:

Initial design feedback to a new mockup, proposal, logo, or really any creative (we’ve all been there when the first response is “hate it” and you go on immediate defense)
Gathering questions ahead of a meeting or an all-hands
Starting a weekly retrospective over Slack and getting people to give meaningful input
Discussing a candidate after a full day of interviewing where you don’t want to bias each other’s feedback
Initiating a brainstorm around a tricky problem
Requesting input or suggestions for a team bonding event
… and so many more! Look back in your recent slacks and email threads and see how many times conversations got derailed by the first responder!