Slack and Microsoft Teams only solve half of your teams’ productivity problems

The one problem I see in the tech industry, and I've been in it about 14 years now, is that they try to answer a lot of immaterial problems with material solutions... such as technology.

You can't force someone to be more productive. A company could facilitate all possible means for the goal of productivity, but at the end of the day, some people are just more productive than others.

Laziness is not something that can be measured, it is a spiritual problem. Lethargy is not something that can be measured, it is a spiritual problem. Stress cannot be measured, it is a spiritual problem. Same with depression and anxiety. Some of these things can be helped with the use of pharmaceuticals, but not always, and they don't always cure the root cause, they mask the symptoms more often than not.

Tech companies need to stop focusing on trying to fix everything with technology, because technology is not the answer to everything. Stop treating people like they're mindless automatons and treat them with dignity and respect. Accept the human element. Accept that people may actually want more than 2 weeks paid vacation a year. Give dads paid paternity leave. Don't make them use PTO for a dentist appointment.

There are so many factors that go into why productivity may go down. Giving people an essentially sleeker chat room doesn't solve the issues.