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18 Comments

Water cooler for remote teams on Slack

Hi everyone,

I have been lurking here for a while, but never really contributed. About time to change that.

I have created a side project (not my full time job) that I would love some feedback on.
It is a tool for remote and distributed teams that are on Slack. It aims to make the remote workplace more social and inclusive.

You can find it here: https://watercooler.site

We have been using it at our main job for quite some time with great success.
In terms of feedback, anything goes. From whether the copy stinks or is unclear, to whether the concept isn't explained well, to if you find bugs. The landing page is very text heavy...

I appreciate your time and feedback! Have a great day!

  1. 2

    Is there an option to adjust the frequency? I think daily would be too much, but weekly could be nice.

    Also typo in 'socials': "Semi-randomly pairs online team members for soacials"

    1. 1

      Just a quick note: there's now a way to specify the frequency too. More specifically which days of the week you would like socials to be scheduled. Thank you for the suggestion!

    2. 1

      Thank you for the feedback @rosiesherry, much appreciated!

      I have been thinking about the frequency a bit.
      Changing the frequencies of the socials is one option. Another is to allow for individual and differing frequencies per team member. One of my co-workers would for example prefer to only be scheduled once per week or thereabouts, whereas the rest of my team really likes their daily get togethers.
      Probably both options should exist.

      I fixed the typo. Thank you! If there were other glaring oddities that I missed as a non-native speaker please do let me know!

      Have a great day!

  2. 1

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  4. 1

    Can we replicate this project for other water products like water heather? I'm working on water heater review blog that hosted on Wordpress, you can see here https://expertwaterheater.com/

  5. 1

    Came across this by searching for "Slack water-cooler" on Google. I've built a similar product around a similar time – http://aboutsnack.com/. My bot takes a step further than Donut or your bot since it actually facilitates the video conversation and ice-breakers. Would love to exchange feedback.

    Are you planning to turn this into a full-time gig?

    1. 1

      Hi @gajus. Looks great!
      No, I haven't planned to make it a full-time gig.
      I built it for my day job and just wanted to make it available for others to use too.

      I see you are enforcing a time limit on the snacks. How does that work out in practice? Do people appreciate it, or find it annoying?

      1. 1

        There are definitely people who find it annoying, but removing them would discourage a lot of people from participating.

  6. 1

    The website title and domain says "The WaterCooler", but the product is called "The Socializer"? That's a bit confusing

    1. 1

      Just another little update here. I have now cleaned up the language. I am intending to use "The WaterCooler" throughout the page now. No more mention of "The Socializer". Thank you again for pointing this out!

    2. 1

      You make a very good point! I have been struggling a bit with this to be honest. The idea was that The WaterCooler would be a collection of tools to help make the remote workplace more social and inclusive.
      The Socializer is only to be the first of these. But for all intents and purposes it might be better to rename the socializer to the WaterCooler Bot or something like that...

      I already have:

      • a second bot called "The Librarian" who militaristically keeps a "Library" channel quiet so you can get away from the noise of Slack, and
      • a Mosaic bot in the making which allows people to upload photos of themselves and creates a team mosaic/collage that is posted on a weekly basis so everyone can see themselves together as a group

      Neither of these have made it onto the landing page...

      I'll ponder about this a bit more!

      Thanks again!

  7. 1

    I really like the idea and your execution of it is very nicely done. As an avid user of Slack, I appreciate anything that can bring more value to the overall experience and what you are offering does just that. Also, anything that can help anyone genuinely overcome the downsides to remote work, is a a big win in my book and should be a game changer in the remote working landscape. Well-done! 🙃

    1. 1

      Thank you very much for the feedback. If you feel it could have a place in your team and you would be willing to provide further feedback, let me know, and I'd be happy to give you a free account.

      1. 1

        Thank you @spe! Right now, I am a team of one, but should that change in the future, I won’t hesitate to reach out to you. 🙃

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          Hehe, yes, it's not well optimized for teams of one yet – maybe it should post inspirational quotes in those cases :)

          1. 1

            That is actually a really good idea! 😀

  8. 0

    I'm working on the same project for my water filter guide article. You can read more detail here https://bestosmosissystems.com/best-water-softener-reviews/

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    This comment was deleted 4 years ago.

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