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How to Gather Examples

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Gathering Examples with Slack

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CoPs Members Guide Orientation

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What is the Purpose of this Presentation?

The purpose of this document is to help you �

Learn how to gather examples with resources available on Slack
Understand why this process is valuable to you and the organization
Document what you find

Want to learn more about the Guides team (the people behind this), visit the Guides Team wiki.

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Table of Contents

Item 1
Item 2
Item 3
Item 4

Using Slack to Find Resources
Finding a Project’s Slack Channel
Finding Resources Inside Slack Messages
Searching Slack C hannel Files
Annotate Your Findings
List of Instructional Slides
Q&A
Find Out Who Made this Guide

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Using Slack to Find Resources

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Gathering Examples with Slack

What to Observe 1

See how other projects use Slack to communicate with team members

What to Observe 2

What kind of reminders or pinned messages do they have? How many channels are there for each project? Which team’s approach to Slack do you prefer?

The Hack for LA Slack includes channels for each of the active projects and the communities of practice.

Each team uses Slack in different ways, but it generally serves as a platform for team reminders and quick messaging between meetings. It is the primary way you will communicate with other teams.

A project’s Slack channel history can contain files or conversation threads relevant to your guide that aren’t captured by GitHub issues or project board cards.

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Slack Message Limits

Warning!!!

Hack for LA does not have a paid Slack.
Our messages are only stored for 90 days.
It's CRUCIAL that you copy anything from Slack that you will want to reference later. We recommend you

screenshot conversations
save links to documents
copy thread links, so that you can get back to them (see how to copy Slack thread links)

Ideally, when you message with the team in a thread. If they reply to you outside the thread, try to get it back on track by replying to them in a thread on their message.
Sometimes we are in a free trial period, and you can go back further than 90 days. Do not count on this happening. It can be as little as once a year, and we get no notice it's going to happen.

➡️

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Finding a Project’s Slack Channel

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Finding a Project’s Slack Channel

Go to project page on hackforla.org and select desired project’s Slack link
Once you arrive at the link, note the name of the channel, you will need it for the next step.

If the project you are looking for is not on the website, try using channel search for the name of the project

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Finding Resources inside �Slack Messages

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Searching a Slack Channel for Examples

Use the search bar at the top of Slack

Search for words relevant to your topic inside the channel

STEP 1�Search their Slack channel files to see if there is a mention of the example you are looking for

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Searching a Slack Channel for Examples cont.

Using this search

shows us several results, one of which is promising

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Understanding Slack Message Context

STEP 2�View the message in its original context by choosing View in channel

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Reading the Message Thread

Once you are in the channel, scroll back through the messages, looking for the beginning of the conversation. It will help you determine if there is information that’s relevant to your issue. ��Record your findings in the comment section of your issue’s GitHub page through text and images. ��Note: Guidance on how to record your findings can be found later in this presentation: Found Example: Annotating Findings

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Click the icon to view the video in full screen

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Searching Slack Channel Files

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Open Slack Channel Details to Find Files

STEP 1�Search their Slack channel files to find resources beyond the Slack message limit

Click the name of the Slack channel at the top to open the channel details

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See All the Files in Slack Channel

STEP 2 �Find the Show More in the Files section

Scroll to the bottom of the pop up box to find the ‘Show more’ link at the bottom of Files
Click the ‘Show more’ button to see all files in the channel
Note: If you don’t see the ‘Show more’ link, all the files your team has are visible on this pop up

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Sort Files by Using Filters

STEP 3�Search by both Keyword and File Type if applicable

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Get File Details

STEP 4 �Get more details about useful files

Click the three dots on the right hand side of the specific search result
Select ‘View file details’

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Finding a File’s Original Context

Following the link will take you to a page that looks like this.

To see the file in its original message context, click the channel name at the bottom.

Each channel name directs to a different time the file was shared in a channel.

STEP 5 �Look at the file’s details

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Finding a File’s Original Context

STEP 6 �Look at the file’s context

Review Slack message that appears in the context and determine if the file is valuable to your issue

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Copying a Link to the File

STEP 6 �Get file link

If you found something that is useful for your issue

‘Copy Link to File’
Add the file link to your issue*

*In the next section you will find how to Annotate Your Findings ➡️

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Annotate Your Findings

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Recording Findings in Your Issue

Unlike the information in GitHub issues or team wikis, resources you find through Slack are more likely to become inaccessible due to Slack’s message limit.

Rather than copying a link to the Slack message into your issue under the project’s name, document your Slack findings by screenshotting the relevant messages and adding it to a comment under your issue.

See the next slide for information on properly annotating Slack screenshots

Properly Documented GitHub Resource - Links to Issue Under Project List

Properly Documented Slack Resource - Screenshot of Message in Comment

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Found Example: Annotating Findings

When you comment your findings, provide the following information:

Name of the project

Source of information

Any URLs that you need from the screenshot

Screenshot(s) if you happen to take any. Usually you can copy your screenshot direct into the comment box, using Paste command.�

Reminder: It's CRUCIAL that you copy the link to the resource, because we don’t have a paid Slack, so the Slack message you can see today will be gone in 90 days.

If that does not work for you, see �GitHub help file for uploading images to your issue

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