Picked email over Slack for documentation and it worked out better

Last year I had a manager who kept giving instructions in Slack DMs then changing his mind. I had to choose between saving everything in Slack threads or forwarding to email where I could track changes. I went with email and created a folder for each project. After 6 months I had a clear record of 14 different scope changes he tried to deny. The HR mediation went way faster because I could pull up the original emails. Anyone else have a better system for keeping your boss accountable?

2 comments

2 Comments

fisher.reese2d ago

Oh man that's brutal but smart. I had a friend who worked retail and her store manager would pull the same thing - giving verbal instructions then denying it. She started sending quick recap emails after every shift like "per our conversation today you said to discount the overstock by 30 percent" and the manager got so mad but couldn't say anything because it was right there in writing. The funny part is the manager eventually started doing it too after getting burned by the district manager changing a policy on her. It's wild how email just... sits there and proves things while Slack feels so temporary and easy to deny. Folks sleep on the power of a simple paper trail.

robertb302d ago

Yeah @fisher.reese that's basically backfiring in the best way possible haha