5 ways Slack’s senior director of engineering uses the app to plan vacation

Instead of a traditional out-of-office email, Garcia says all of his team’s work happens in Slack. So, two weeks before any planned vacation, he’ll update his Slack status with details about when he’ll be out. This way, his message will appear anywhere his name pops up in channels and direct messages.

“It helps prepare the organization so it’s not a surprise,” he says.

Even with advanced notice, things will come in last-minute. That’s when reminders come in handy. If Garcia gets a message on his way to the airport, for example, he’ll set Slack to remind him of the message later so he can follow up on it when he’s back.

When he’s finally off the clock, Garcia will update his Slack status that he’s out of office and mark his return date to remind his team when they can get back in touch with him.

He’ll also include a list of who to contact for specific business needs so everyone covering for him stays in the loop.

While Slack offers the option to delay-send a message, Garcia will still get incoming pings while away. So, he uses Slack’s “do not disturb” mode, scheduled for the duration of his trip, so he can control when he gets messages and notifications.

For any true emergencies, users can override the “do not disturb” function and send a direct message and notification once per day.