Slack App Home · Workstreams.ai · Jesse Van Mouwerik

Background

A task manager that lived inside Slack.

Workstreams.ai was a startup building a Slack-first task manager. Slack’s App Directory lists the apps that plug into Slack, and each app can have an App Home: its own tab inside Slack. You could use Workstreams.ai on the web too, but everything centered on talking about tasks in specific Slack channels.

A Slack window with a channel selected, and an arrow leading to the Workstreams.ai app icon — Conversations in Slack channels became tasks in Workstreams.ai.

Spread the home office love: three people working from home, each in their own house, connected by dotted lines to a shared board of task columns with hearts above — Spread the home office love: remote teammates, one shared view of the work.

Problem

Remote teams leaned on Slack to stay aligned.

Workstreams.ai was a Slack-first app: every task lived in the Slack channel where the team discussed it. In 2020, people who weren’t used to digital collaboration were relying on Slack more than ever, and needed help keeping track of tasks across channels and staying aligned.

Desired outcome

Slack was a user too.

Outcome for the user See all my tasks across channels in one place, without leaving Slack.

Product output A native App Home dashboard with every task in one view.

Outcome for the business Feel native enough for Slack to feature it, and grow the user base.

Solution

How the workflow changed.

Before

A task comes up in a channel
The message scrolls away
Someone asks again
Status is lost across channels

After

A task comes up in a channel
Turn the message into a task
It lands on the team board
Everyone sees their tasks in App Home

Where it broke downWhat changed

An App Home dashboard, inside Slack.

Tasks stayed in the channels where teams talked about them, and App Home gathered every task from every channel into one view, grouped and actionable, without leaving Slack.

The Workstreams App Home in Slack: a personal overview of current tasks and recent activity, and a performance overview with a cumulative flow chart for a taskboard — The App Home we submitted to the hackathon: a personal overview, then a performance overview for any taskboard.

People could see their own tasks across channels, then pick any taskboard to see its status and a cumulative flow chart over time.

Results

Outcome

Teams could see every task from every Slack channel in one App Home view, and Slack named Workstreams.ai its best modernized directory app.

Award Slack’s best modernized directory app

Top listing In the Slack App Directory

Workstreams.ai won Slack’s best modernized directory app award, and Slack listed it first in the App Directory’s Staff Picks for working from home.

The Slack App Directory Staff Picks page for Working from home, with Workstreams listed first, next to Polly and Toast — Workstreams listed first in the Slack App Directory’s Staff Picks for working from home.

Across my time at Workstreams.ai, the user base grew and retention improved.

Process

The research, decisions and steps behind the result.

An App Home dashboard for tasks in Slack