A new team communication app called Twist has a way for people to get more done at work: fewer notifications.
Created by Doist, the team behind productivity app Todoist, Twist’s biggest differentiator is that it’s based on asynchronous communication. With an interface that feels more like a message board, Twist has channels, which then contain threaded conversations underneath. The threads are meant to encourage in-depth conversations versus one-line interactions, and every response in a thread can be set to notify the entire group, or only certain people. All notifications are centralized, and appear in the Inbox, located in the top left.
Image: Doist
Twist, which launched in beta in January and opened to public today, also does away with an online presence indicator altogether. Online presence indicators, says Doist, become an expectation tool — when you see a teammate online, an immediate response is anticipated. Likewise, if a teammate is not online, a person is more likely to postpone sending non-imperative information.
The company believes that without an online presence indicator, the act of messaging functions rather differently. While it admits that conversations happen over a slower period of time, Doist wants Twist to encourage more “real work” by not distracting people with scattered pings and real-time messaging.