Organize your Slack channels by How Often, not What

The core idea is to organize Slack not by topic but by the frequency you need to check each channel. By grouping channels into Read Now, Read Hourly, Read Daily, and Read Whenever, you surface the most urgent conversations and let the less critical ones sit until you have capacity. The author reports feeling more responsive, less stressed, and able to maintain a daily Inbox Zero in Slack.

The article walks through a concrete layout: high-priority sections like Threads, DMs, and "Read Now" sit at the top, followed by channels you skim hourly or daily, and finally those you only glance at when you have spare moments. This mirrors the Eisenhower Matrix, treating urgency as the primary axis for channel importance. When a channel's relevance shifts-say a project moves from active development to maintenance-you simply slide it to a different frequency bucket.

Mis-prioritized channels are a hidden source of burnout; noisy, important channels get lost, while low-value chatter clutters the view. By separating "what" from "how often," you reduce cognitive overload and keep the signal-to-noise ratio high. The framework is flexible enough to accommodate office, social, and project channels, letting you adapt as team needs evolve.

For technical leaders, the takeaway is practical: restructure your team's Slack workspace around read frequency to improve communication efficiency, protect team morale, and give yourself a clear mental model for handling messages without feeling overwhelmed.