Every means of corporate communication is part of the noise treadmill.

The old way has too much noise and not everyone gets all the messages. The new way seems to have solved those problems. The new way becomes the 'standard' way of doing things. Then the new way has too much noise and users are forced to adopt noise-reduction. Then the process repeats...

That's why companies have posters on notice boards, posters in kitchens and toilets, company-wide e-mails, department-wide e-mails, an intranet, e-mailed newsletters, an in-house magazine, mandatory slack channels - and now, a tool to send slack PMs in bulk.

I guess channel messages are more likely to be missed than direct messages. This approach also helps the conversation flow through one person, rather than everyone having to see each response. Interesting idea!

While I certainly prefer open discussions, I have noticed that most ppl strongly believe that certain sensitive topics, though they maybe a common theme with everyone, are best discussed 1-on-1.

Yes, more personal and harder not to answer.

It's meant for starting multiple private exchanges using the same opener, with one click. An automation tool, basically.