Great set of questions, answers below.
Chats continue to be for lightweight, back and forth between smaller groups. And channels for durable collaboration with small to large groups. Bringing them together is to help users stay on top and collaborate effectively.
The new interface looks very similar to Slack’s interface. Are you trying to turn Teams into Slack?
The new chats and channels experience is designed based on the user feedback we received from Teams users, to help users stay on top of all their conversations and collaborate effectively. The experience is flexible and adaptable, users can choose to keep chats and channels together or separate.
With the merging of all chats, does the notification bell, which also includes filters, still have its utility?
Yes, as it includes notifications outside of messaging, including apps, calendar invites and more.
With the merging of all chats, don’t you fear that the mix between group conversations and team channel conversations (put on the same level) will create confusion among users who already have difficulty distinguishing between group conversations, standard channel conversations, and private channel conversations? The notion of short-term/medium-term/long-term becomes very blurred for users.
The experience for each is distinct and clarifies the scope. This is similar to how the experience is in Activity for example, when the user switches from activity in chat to channel.
With the merging of all chats, how will a novice user in Teams understand that for some conversations they have the ability to add whoever they want, and for other conversations (those of the teams) they won’t have the ability to do so?
The experience of each clarifies this, no change in how chats and channels behave in Teams.
With the merging of all chats, what will happen to the specific editing features of team channel messages? I’m thinking of announcements… I think of the user who won’t understand that in the chat block some messages can be fully edited (subject/header) and for other messages (group chat) they cannot be.
No change in behavior of how chats and channels work.
With the disappearance of the Teams app, will the Teams & Channels section only show active channel messages with the user unable to see the entire channel structure within the team?
The default view shows the teams and channels structure. User can choose to view only channels they are interested in. They’ll still have a way to get to see team and all its channels. User can also choose to keep Chat and Teams app separate.
With the disappearance of the Teams app, how will a user be able to see all the teams they are part of without being limited only to the view of teams where there is active communication? What about very long scrolling if there are many teams…
In addition to previous reply, there are new experiences like sections, filters, Goto (Ctrl/Cmd + G) that help users navigate to their teams and channels quickly.
With the disappearance of the Teams app, will private channel icons and shared channel icons be visible?
Yes, no changes to private and shared channels.
With the disappearance of the Teams app, doesn’t this endanger the structuring and proper distribution of communication in different channels within the teams?
No, no changes to what channels are meant for and how they work.
Why don’t you provide controls for the administrator? I understand that this will be deployed by default and that it will be up to the user to revert back. In my opinion, it would be more interesting to implement a policy to deploy by waves of users. The change will be less brutal. What do you think?
We evaluated this carefully, including with customers in private preview and decided that giving users the control was the best so they can decide which configuration works best for them.
Will there be a forced transition to this new experience in the long term?
All users will be upgraded to the new experience once they become eligible.
