> 1. Only use private messages when you absolutely have to

Disagree. Private messages are the analog of walking over to someone and just talking to them, and one-on-one discussion has valid purposes (e.g. discussing user stories or parts of the design before writing a spec).

> 2. NEVER EVER do this: @ username can i ask you a question? Just ask the question.

YES YES YES. This is a huge problem, esp. with colleagues from cultures where this bullshit is considered polite.

> 5. Don’t stare at your chat client all day, it’s easy to fool yourself into thinking replying to chats is the same as being productive.

I have to work on this. I have three monitors, one of which is reserved for Slack (and Outlook). Maybe I should cut that out for a while.