Prioritize tasks quickly with triage channels

If your role requires you to prioritize and respond to requests in a timely fashion, you know how tough it can be to track issues that pop up unexpectedly. From customer support tickets to billing inquiries, we’ll show you how to use channels to organize incoming tasks efficiently. ✅

The benefits

• Clarify ownership by increasing visibility
• Reduce time spent assigning duties and updating external issue trackers
• Create a searchable history of past requests and how they were handled
  
  

Tip: Once you've set up your triage channel, you can use a Slack list to help prioritize the requests. Learn more from our tutorial about collecting and triaging requests.

Step 1: Create #triage channels

Create public channels using the #triage- prefix and designate their function. For example, use #triage-billing for questions about invoicing and payments. The prefix signals to everyone that the channel will be used to sort and prioritize incoming messages on that subject. Making the channel public lets your whole workspace see what issues are pending and what’s been resolved. 

Step 2: Share guidelines

It’s important to set expectations for how the channel is meant to be used. Create a canvas that explains how you’d like members to make requests and report issues. Here are a few suggestions for these guidelines:

• Indicate priority with emoji. Choose a set of emoji that classify how quickly a message should be addressed.
  
  🔴  :red_circle: emoji means the issue is urgent.
  🔵  :blue_circle: emoji denotes a question or problem.
  ⚪️  :white_circle: emoji shows something is feedback.
• Include a brief description. Outline the information members need to include in their request.
• Assign and claim tasks with reactions. Select emoji reactions that tell others what’s being worked on and by whom.
  
  👀  :eyes: emoji reaction means "I’m looking at this for you".
  ✅  :white_check_mark: emoji reaction means "I’ve fixed the issue".
• Follow up in threads. Make it clear to whoever is working on the request that they should leave comments in a thread if the issue requires additional input, revision, or approval.

Tip: Pin the guidelines to the triage channel, or add them to the channel canvas for all to see!

Step 3: Use apps and workflows

If your triage channel gets a lot of action, developers can build a bot that scans the channel at preset times of day for specific emoji reactions to messages. This will help your team to track any outstanding issues.

You can also create a workflow to use in your triage channel that you can customize to automate your responses. If you add connector steps to your workflow, you can connect triage requests to your external tools.

Step 4: Choose a triage captain (optional)

In some cases, it’s beneficial to assign someone to monitor the channel and keep things running smoothly for a set period of time — a triage captain, if you will. 👩‍✈️

The triage captain is in charge of making sure all incoming messages get the attention they need. They can also help make tough judgment calls when it comes to prioritizing issues and outsourcing for help. When their shift is over, they can hand over the reins to the next person on duty.  

Update the channel topic to let everyone know who’s on duty for the hour, day, week, or month. We recommend rotating your captain on a regular basis to prevent burnout.