2020 is in its full swing, we can't say it hasn't put up some challenges to be overcome and also can't say it hasn't tested our nerves and perseverance, but what we can is that there has been a lot of progress in terms of options of how we can improve our working conditions as far as communication goes.

That's why in this article I bring you ideas for the top 5 plugins I recommend using to make your daily work life that much more pleasant.

Table of contents:
1. Geekbot
2. Donut
3. Google Calendar
4. Simple poll
5: The Top Chat

1. Geekbot (https://geekbot.com/)

Ladies and gentlemen, this is one of the hottest plugin if you're using agile methodologies in your team and want to monitor happiness of your team simply by using those automated Slack workflows.

geekbot screenshot

Currently, Geekbot supports the following:
- Daily standups
- Today I learnt
- Team Feedback
- Team Retrospective
- Pizza toppings
- Sales report
- Meeting notes

Onboarding is super easy to start, Geekbot offers you 14 days free trial so if you haven't already, check out their website https://geekbot.com/ and certainly check that out!

2. Donut (https://www.donut.com/)

There are dozens of Slack bots that connect people on workplace and in my opinion, this is the most interesting one. First and foremost, I absolutely love their website and the idea behind it is just brilliantly simple.

So what this Slack bot does is that Donut regularly pairs up team members who don’t know each other well to spread trust and collaboration across your organization.

The idea behind may seem a surprisingly simple, yet is very powerful. I remember when I was new in an organisation and we were not using Slack, I wished someone would connect me to other people and this small incentive is a perfect way how to connect!

Donut is all free to to be used for a limited use and if you want to make your organisation that much more powerful, head to Donut's website https://www.donut.com/ and try this plugin out!

3. Google Calendar (https://apps.slack.com/apps/ADZ494LHY-google-calendar)

It should be no surprise this one has got its place in this list. A calendar is one of the most used apps within any organisation and the integration with Slack will make your life easier and offload you from lots of interactions with calendar apps, which are mostly a pain in the awse to use.

Google Calendar Slack integration allows you to do the following:
- it will automatically set and update your status when you are attending a meeting
- it allows you to seamlessly create events from Slack
- see an overview of your schedule directly in Slack
- receive notifications about event starts and events you are to attend
- respond to event invitations

This app was developed directly by Slack team and is free! Who would not love free! If you'd like to make your life easier by a better way of managing events, navigate to the Slack app directory to install this integration now https://apps.slack.com/apps/ADZ494LHY-google-calendar.

4. Simple poll (https://simplepoll.rocks/)

🍔 or 🍕 today? Burger! No, pizza! Pizza please! Yes, everybody love discussion, but it always results in a some kind of poll 😂, ain't it?

And this is why there is this amazing, yet very simple slack plugin that allows you to easily and quickly create polls directly inside Slack. It immediately shows who voted and for which option!

Obviously, voting for a pizza or a burger is not the only thing this plugin accomplishes. It's got packed a bunch of fundaments features you'd expect from a poll plugin, like the following:
- anonymous polls
- recurring polls
- limit the number of votes on polls
- in case you're on entreprise slack grid, you'd get priority support, account manager, custom featured and so on...

Simple Poll is free to start, just head to their website https://simplepoll.rocks/ and add it to your workspace now!

5. The Top Chat

"Oh boy, I can't go to that meeting, I have some things to discuss here on Slack and I can't do it now, because I will be interrupting!"

Are there times you wish somebody would the messages for you? Or that the messages will have been sent automatically in the future?

Focus without interruptions | The Top Chat | Sending delayed Slack messages

Well, this is where the power of The Top Chat comes in. The Top Chat is a Slack plugin that allows you to delay and schedule sending of your messages in the future - so as you can write them now, set the sending time and just go out doing your business, for example attending that important meeting, doing focused work or just chilling and sipping your afternoon cup of ☕!

The Top Chat will send the message automatically in the time frame you choose and the most importantly - the message will be sent on behalf of your own profile - so you can be sure that your message will be delivered properly - as if you were there! 😊

The Top Chat is currently in the late BETA and is still free to use, but soon will be released with its pricing plans so if you haven't already signed up, head to our homepage https://thetopchat.com/, click Install and as a bonus get special offer in the form of early-access promo code that will allow you to get the paid plans with special discount!

Wrapping up

And those are the top 5 plugins I recommend trying out and seeing for yourself. You might uninstall them after the first try, or your whole organisation might start to adore them 🥰 ! You never know, unless you try!

Yours in working,

Ivan