Slack lists: Plan work for the next quarter

As you start planning for the next quarter, you might find that your team’s ideas and goals are scattered across channels, docs, and spreadsheets. With Slack lists, you can create a straightforward catalog of planned work, improve visibility across teams, and discuss priorities where you’re already working – in Slack!

Create a catalog of planned work

Let’s say you and your team are thinking through work for next quarter. You can create a catalog of planned projects in a list that you and your team can prioritize and organize as needed.

Create a new list

Start a list from scratch or use one of our templates (the Quarterly planning template is a fantastic option).

1. From your desktop, hover over   More, then select   Lists.
2. In the top-right corner, click   New, then select   List.
3. If you’d like, select the Quarterly planning template from the column on the left, then click Use Template.

Customize your list

Customize the list for information you’d like to include. In the Quarterly planning template, Project, Priority, and Relative effort are added for you, but you can add, edit, or delete fields as needed.

Add a field

Edit a field

Delete a field

1. From the list, click the   plus icon at the end of the top row.
2. Enter a name for the field and choose a field type. Select additional options if prompted.
3. Click Save.

1. Click a field in the top row of the list, then select   Edit field.
2. Edit the name of the field, and select a Field type to change the format of the data.
3. Click Save.

1. Click a field in the top row of the list, then select   Delete field.
2. Confirm to delete the field.

Add items to the list

Once you’ve set up your list, start adding items to it, such as projects and tasks you and the team are planning for the next quarter.

1. Click Untitled item and enter a description.
2. For each item, click the field cells to enter relevant data, such as project name, priority level, and effort. The data will be formatted according to the field type.
3. To add more items, click   Add item at the bottom of the list.

Tip: You can turn any message into a list item! From a conversation, hover over a message and click the   three dots icon, then select Add to list.

Improve visibility across teams

To improve company-wide visibility for the work your team has planned, share your list with cross-functional teams. You can also link to channels within lists to reference where conversations and work are already happening.

Share your list

Share the list with specific people, such as project managers. You can also share lists in project or team channels where conversations about planned work are already happening.

1. From a list, click Share in the top-right corner.
2. From the General tab, select if everyone in your workspace should have Restricted, Can view, or Can edit access, then click Save.
3. From the Channels or People tabs, add the names of people or channels who can collaborate on the list, then click Share. The list will be sent as a message to the people or channels you specified.

Tip: To see who a list has been shared with, click Share in the top-right corner of a list, then navigate between the Channels and People tabs.

Link to channels

Add links to relevant channels to connect list items to the work happening in Slack.

1. If you started with the Quarterly planning list template, a Channel field was created for you, skip to step 4. If not, click the   plus icon at the end of the top row of a list to create a new field.
2. Add a name for the field, then select   Channel from the Field type drop-down menu.
3. Choose if you’d like to allow multiple selections, then click Save.
4. Click the   channel field on an item, then search for and select a channel.

Discuss priorities where you're working

When you and your teammates need to discuss items in a list, you can start conversations without missing any context.

Create a message thread

Have focused conversations about planned projects or tasks by creating dedicated message threads in a list.

1. From the list, hover over an item, then click   Add comment to start a thread or   View comment to continue a thread.
2. Type your message, then press   Send.

Note: You can read and reply to message threads about list items in the same place as your other threads by clicking   Threads in your sidebar.

More ways to use lists