Getting started with Slack

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Profile

Fill in your profile. A complete profile gives everyone a better chance of knowing who you are.

• Display name: You can use your name or a short handle like @example (they) or @first.last (they/them)
  • Your pronouns are optional but strongly encouraged. Having these visible helps TTS be gender inclusive. They're not required because we want to ensure people who might change their pronouns don’t feel pressure to have an answer at all times.
  • There is a field where you can describe your name pronunciation, and even an option to record yourself saying your name. You are not required to provide this information, though it can help your teammates address you correctly.
• What I do: Include your team here (required)
• Location: Where you are (required)
• For people with GSA emails, the Full name and Phone number are overwritten with your information from GCIMS every time you sign in, so don't bother changing those.

Usage

Slack is used by all TTS staff. Some things you'll want to remember, especially if you're new to Slack:

• Abide by the TTS Code of Conduct. This includes use of avatars, emoji, files, and links. If you see anyone violating our Code of Conduct, see the reporting section.
• Assume everything you share/do in Slack will be made public, and attributed back to you.
• Do not post any sensitive information. See the list of alternatives.

Channel names

Here's what various prefixes and suffixes mean:

Feel free to join any of these channels even if you are not actively part of the group and are just interested.

@channel and @here

In general, the larger a channel is, the more careful you should be about using broadcast notifications. Regardless, please use these sparingly. See also: groups.

Alumni

• Keep the conversation visible within #alumni and don't DM staff. For direct communication, use methods available to the general public, such as email.
• If you would like documents or materials, you can either use publicly available methods to request that we publish them publicly, or you can file a FOIA request for GSA to release them. Don't request materials that aren't already public to be sent to you — even if they were non-sensitive or documents that you personally authored while you were here.
• Don't share job postings. This is especially true for your own employer, but applies to postings generally. We don't want our #alumni channel to be providing advantages to any particular company due to someone's access to it. You can use email or other publicly accessible methods to share job postings.

Security

GSA's Slack Enterprise Grid is authorized at the Moderate level via a FedRAMP authorization.