Option to display all unread @mentions in the inbox for the same task
If Person A @mentions Person B in a task to review something time-sensitive, normally, this @mention would show up in Person B's inbox.
Example:
INBOX
[Task for a Client]
Person A: @Person B Please review this. We need a decision to be made promptly.
However, if they don't see it and the conversation continues on with collaborators, and Person C @mentions Person B at some point later in that same task, the original @mention from Person A get's overwritten in the inbox.
INBOX
[Task for a Client]
Person C: @Person A @Person B This didn't take too long. I can probably get another done this week
Person A: @Person C Was the task window too short?
Person C: @Person A I'm glad we got this done in time for the client
(5)
We've run into this issue a few times now where some important messages made via @mentions go to someone's inbox, but because the project is being collaborated on, follow-up conversation and @mentions overwrite that initial note in the inbox. In the above scenario, just by looking at the inbox, Person B wouldn't know that an important ask was made of them in that task.
Furthermore, if Person B clicks on that message, they have to keep scrolling up and up and up because the task only loads a few messages at a time. And ultimately Person B has to go back in and re-read the task conversation because of the inability to pick up where they left off. Because this keeps happening and there's no indication of an @mention higher up in the thread, Person B might think "I've clicked the 'Show more updates' button like 5 times and there appears to be nothing here for me. So I guess this was just an informational @mention".
Because of this gap, we now have to have an internal policy where we are @mentioning people inside of Slack for time-sensitive stuff because Wrike can't be relied upon for this design flaw. Once again, it's managing the management software.
Not all @mentions are created equal.
Some are opinions. Some are just letting you know the project is done. Some are an ask to get something reviewed ASAP. It's all contextual, based on the person, the task, and the project.
I see some solutions here.
- We have Wrike stop overwriting @mentions in the inbox by providing the option to disable the 'conversation' style so that it's literally a stream of all @mentions, regardless of task grouping. Example:
INBOX
[Task for a Client]
Person C: @Person A @Person B This didn't take too long. I can probably get another done this week
[Task for a Client]
Person A: @Person B Please review this. We need a decision to be made promptly. - Have the ability to include all unread @mentions in the message preview in the inbox. Example:
INBOX
[Task for a Client]
Person C: @Person A @Person B This didn't take too long. I can probably get another done this week
Person A: @Person C Was the task window too short?
Person C: @Person A I'm glad we got this done in time for the client
[…]
Person A: @Person B Please review this. We need a decision to be made promptly. - Change the inbox settings so comment previews are disabled entirely and it's only @mentions. Example:
INBOX
[Task for a Client]
Person C: @Person A @Person B This didn't take too long. I can probably get another done this week
[…]
Person A: @Person B Please review this. We need a decision to be made promptly.
I'm partial to options 2 and 3, especially the little conversation indicator […] which sets up expectations for what to look for. And it would be nice if by default that when a user clicks on that message, they are automatically taken to that part of the conversation – the earliest unread @mention. That way they don't have to keep clicking "show more updates" 5 times to get there.
This would help immensely by eliminating a lot of the re-reading and stop the missed @mentions. This might seem like an edge case scenario, and normally it's not a problem. But when it is a problem, it's a big one. Especially if the missed communication is critical.
Please consider adding this feature 😊. It seems like implementing option 2 wouldn't be that big of a lift because it's just appending something to the existing structure.
And before anyone suggests it, we are trying to not work out of our email inbox because we are a marketing agency and the volume of email we deal with is insane. We can't rely on those email notifications for project management communication.
Thanks!
Hi Arien Freymuth, thank you for your detailed feedback and suggestions for the inbox function.
I've passed it on to our Product team. Here is a useful article explaining what happens after we receive Product feedback 🖊