Top 5 tips for getting started in Pumble

From creating your first channel to gathering your team with all the resources they need to communicate and collaborate better, this guide will help you get to know the basics of using Pumble. 

You can run Pumble on your phone or your computer. There are mobile apps for Android and iOS. On a computer, you can run it in your web browser if you want to keep it simple or download a desktop app for Windows, Linux, and MacOS.

Learn Pumble basics

Before we start with the tips, you have to know what a Pumble workspace is. 

A Pumble workspace is your team’s virtual workplace. If you have joined one lately, this guideline will help you get started. 

Make sure you have downloaded the desktop app, and you’re able to sign in to the workspace.

Every team member should set their profile starting with a profile photo and position in the company. A profile will help coworkers get to know each other.

How to set up a profile?

To set up a profile in a Pumble workspace, you’ll need to do the following:

1. Click on your profile picture in the top right corner.
2. Select the Edit profile button.
3. Fill in the missing info or add more details about yourself.
4. Click on the Save changes button when you’re done.

Tip #1: Learn how best to chat in Pumble

Pumble fundamentals are channels. If you need to communicate with a group of teammates about a certain topic, just create a channel. 

Pumble works best if the entire team commits themselves to sharing important information, updates, and files in a specific Pumble channel. 

Instead of dispersing team discussions about a project or issue across a wide range of email topics, the channels give teams a single area for easy search and communication. 

Moreover, channels allow you and your teammates to join or leave a discussion as needed. With your whole team working in channels, you can enjoy the following benefits: 

• Everybody gets access to the most up-to-date information, so you can focus on problem-solving and decision-making rather than handling conversations.
• You get quicker responses, which means you don’t have to wait as long as you usually wait for responses to your emails.
• Files, information, and people are easy to find, thanks to structured channels and a great search feature.
• Project and discussion histories are saved in Pumble so that new members can get up to speed swiftly.

To better understand these benefits, here’s a video that goes deeper into why channels are a better way to work:

Public vs private channels

Channels are flexible spaces for all the people, tools, and files you need to get the work done.

When you want to communicate with your colleagues with full transparency and inclusivity, use public channels in your Pumble workspace. Any member of your workspace (except guests) can view and join a public channel, meaning everyone has access to the same shared information.

For example, an organization may create public channels for #announcements or #system_issues. The rationale here is simple: all employees should be able to view important company information.

Each public channel serves a different purpose, so you can create as many channels as you want.

On the other hand, private Pumble channels are only visible to those invited to join that channel. You need to be invited by someone who is already a member of the channel. Content and messages in private channels will only show up in a search for members of that channel.

Discussions in #payroll_issues, #research, and #hr_staffing_plansare probably confidential, and that’s why there are  Pumble’s private channels.

Unlike public channels, private channels appear in users’ channel directories only if they are already members of these private channels. Put differently, if you’re not a member, in theory, you wouldn’t know that certain private channels even existed.

Direct messages

If you want to communicate with just one team member (or a small group of team members) use a direct message option. Direct messages (DMs) are ideal for messages that do not need the participation of the whole channel. Namely, direct messages are smaller chats that take place outside of the channels and can include up to seven additional team members.

The main difference between group direct messages and private channels is that in group messages you can discuss any topic — no matter if it is marketing stuff, sales, or product. 

When it comes to private channels, you usually discuss only one topic, important for that channel. 

Threads

Within DMs and channels, threads help you organize conversations around certain messages. 

They allow for focused and structured conversations and let you go further into a topic without disturbing a channel or direct message chat. Replies are linked to the original message when you reply to a topic.

Tip #2: Reach colleagues quicker with @mention

You may sometimes need an emergency answer or approval from your coworkers. When the problem is time-sensitive, you can mention your colleague in a message, by using the @ symbol (e.g. @leslieduke). The colleague you’ve mentioned will get a notification and, hopefully, help you with your problem.

In one message, you can mention as many people as you want and:

• hare with them their tasks, 
• Check if the tasks are finished, or 
• Look into how much time they need to finish them.

Examples of when you should use mentions

Example #1:

Before every meeting, you can go to the dedicated Pumble channel and write bullet points as an agenda for the meeting. 

Make sure you write key information such as:

• Which decisions you have to reach in the meeting,
• What the next steps for each team are — for each step, mention team members for their part of the task.
• Topics your coworkers possibly have for you.

Example #2:

Let’s say you have updates for three different teams within your company. Here is how you can use a Pumble channel to notify all of them in one message:

• Type the updates.
• Use mention to notify user groups you need — for the design team, use @designers, for the development team, use @developers, and, for the business analytics team, use @analysts.
• All members of mentioned user groups will be notified about updates.

Example #3:

If you want to notify your colleagues about some administrative stuff, use @everyone which notifies every person in the #general channel. 

If you want to notify only members of a particular channel, use @channel, and if you want to notify only the active members on the channel use @here.

Tip #3: Add emoji reaction to messages

In Pumble, we use emojis to express reactions to different messages. 

In the example below, you can see how you can use emojis in Pumble:

• Seeking feedback, a marketing colleague has shared the final version of a scenario for the video in the #marketing channel. 
• Teammates used the 👍 emoji to let the colleague know they’ve reviewed the plan, so she doesn’t need to follow up (it’s enough for her to hover over the 👍 emoji to see who responded).
• The ✅ emoji is used by the approver to indicate that the work is approved.

For additional fun in your team, you can create your own emojis. To get started with creating your own emoji, click the emoji icon in any Pumble text bar. Then, click the “Add Emoji” button in the modal.

Fill out the form to create your custom emoji. First, you’ll need to upload an emoji image. Then, provide a name for the icon — this is what you will enter to display the emoji. Pumble asks that you use a square image no larger than 128px in width or height, with a file size smaller than 64K.

All emojis created in your workspace are visible to everyone in the emoji modal.

Tip #4: Adjust notifications to your needs

With the default notification settings, you get notified about new direct messages and Pumble mentions. So, if someone messages or mentions you (or @channel/@here) in a channel you’ve joined, you’ll get a notification, and a big red badge will show up.

Depending on the situation, this might or might not work for you. The key to mastering your notifications is to know what suits you best.

If the constant sound of notifications drains your focus, you might want to choose a less invasive sound.  Alternatively, you can turn off sounds from notifications, or make use of DND mode more often.

On the other hand, if you want to get more notifications, you can change your preferences to notify you about all new messages sent in conversations you’re a part of.

Conversely, you can mute channels that you want to be in but don’t follow closely. This is especially handy for channels with lots of messages or channels you visit only for specific requests.

Muted channels won’t appear as bolded when there’s unread activity, letting you read through them at your own convenience. If someone mentions your username in the channels you’ve muted, though, don’t worry — you’ll still receive a red badge.

You can customize your notifications for each specific channel, too. So, if you want to mute all notifications from one channel, but turn them on for all messages in another, you can do that.

Do not Disturb mode (DND)

Pumble is great for staying connected with everyone, but sometimes you need to devote your entire attention to a single task.

That’s what “Do Not Disturb” mode is for. Switch this mode on when you’ve got deep work to do.

Your profile in Pumble will show that you’re away, so your team members will know you’re temporarily unavailable. It will also pause notifications during this time.

People will still be able to send a notification to you if it’s urgent. Your profile will show that you’re in DND mode, but they’ll have the option to notify you anyway.

If your company allows it, you can simply close Pumble, and keep push notifications on your mobile device disabled whenever you need to focus on deep work.

However, some of us have to stay connected during work hours. To stay in the loop, we can turn mobile notifications on.

Moreover, it’s just as important to pause notifications, when you need to focus. On top of that, to honor work-life balance, you should also set up your non-working hours, so you don’t get notifications outside of working hours.

Tip #5: Set your current status

Whenever you step away from Pumble — to grab lunch, take a week off or just focus on a task for a few hours — you can use a custom status to manage your coworkers’ expectations. 

Your status is also an easy way to share what you’re working on or whom your coworkers should contact in your absence.

Pumble comes with five default choices for status, including:

• 🗓 in a meeting, 
•  🥗lunch break,
• 🏞️ on vacation,
• 🚟 commuting, or
• 🤒 out sick. 

For anything else, you can create your own custom status. Maybe you want to let your team know you’re on deadline and will be slow to respond to messages. Or, that you stepped out for a bit. Each status can be up to 100 characters long and feature an emoji of your choice.

Conclusion

When you’ve got a busy day ahead, finding ways to put your tools to work on your behalf can save you time, hassle, and headaches. Pumble goes above and beyond to give you options that make your life easier. 

Use the tips provided in this guide to make your start in Pumble easier for you and your team, and adopt a more effective communication practice in your organization.