Slack is a beautiful, chaotic place. One day it’s a lifeline for your project team; the next, it’s 84 channels named some variation of #project, #proj-1, #thing-we-talked-about-that-one-time, and #help-plz.

At Haekka, we’ve seen a lot of Slack setups. Some brilliant. Some... deeply cursed.

So here it is: our incredibly opinionated, slightly judgmental, and hopefully helpful guide to naming your Slack channels like an actual functioning organization.

1. Prefixes aren’t optional. They’re oxygen.

If your channels don’t have consistent prefixes, your Slack is already rotting from the inside. Prefixes help sort and filter. They make onboarding easier. They make search not suck. Use them.

Here are the must-haves:

• #team- for actual departments or working teams
  • #team-sales, #team-design, #team-customer-success
• #proj- for projects with a deadline and a deliverable
  • #proj-website-revamp, #proj-nps-survey-q3
• #topic- for ongoing conversations, not tied to a project
  • #topic-remote-work, #topic-ai-tools
• #fun- for memes, birthdays, fantasy football and hot takes
  • #fun-watercooler, #fun-pets, #fun-march-madness
• #help- for “please make this your first stop before DMing someone”
  • #help-it, #help-hr, #help-ops

Without prefixes, your Slack is just a soup of vague words and broken dreams.

2. Avoid underscores like the plague_they_are_awful

Slack already uses hyphens as the standard. Underscores look like you’re fighting the interface. Respect the vibes. Stick with hyphens.

✅ #proj-new-website
🚫 #proj_new_website
🚫 #projnewwebsite (what are you, a JavaScript variable?)

3. Be brief, but don’t be cryptic

Your new hire shouldn’t need a decoder ring to figure out #xfn-bizops-cx-qbr-2024.

Instead, write it like a human:

✅ #proj-q2-cx-review
🚫 #cxqbr2024

No one wants to play Slack Jeopardy.

4. Archive aggressively

Slack is not your company’s knowledge base. If the project’s done or the campaign’s over, archive the channel. Dead channels clutter up search and mislead people into thinking they're still active.

Pro tip: Set a calendar reminder to audit channels every quarter. Spring cleaning for your digital HQ.

5. Lock down the naming anarchy

If you’re at a company over ~20 people, set some guidelines and enforce them. You don’t need a 10-page manifesto. Just a pinned doc in #admin or #team-ops that outlines:

• The allowed prefixes
• Naming format (e.g. proj-thing, not thing-proj)
• When to archive
• Who approves new top-level channels

Slack governance isn't sexy, but neither is a channel called #project_final_real_thisone.

Bonus Hot Takes

• No emojis in channel names. You’re not 13.
• Private channels by default? Recipe for silos. Be public unless you truly need it.
• Don't let every team create their own naming system. You're one company, not 12.

TL;DR

Naming your Slack channels isn't busywork. It's the foundation of async collaboration, onboarding, search, and not annoying everyone who joins the org after you.

Keep it simple. Keep it consistent. Prefix everything. Hyphens, not underscores. Be a little ruthless with archiving.

Because the only thing worse than Slack overload... is Slack entropy.

Want to level up Slack beyond naming? Haekka delivers microlearning in Slack — training your team where they already work. No new tabs, no context-switching, no boring LMS logins.

Check us out. Your future self will thank you.

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