In today’s corporations, the volume of communication circulating through Slack channels can be overwhelming, particularly at large enterprises with thousands of employees. Matt Grimm, the Chief Operating Officer of Anduril Industries, a prominent defense technology company, shared his personal approach to staying abreast of Slack conversations while managing a demanding schedule.
Grimm, who co-founded Anduril alongside Palmer Luckey, Brian Schimpf, Trae Stephens, and Joseph Chen, has led the company since its inception. His experience includes a tenure at Palantir, which likely informed his perspective on handling complex communication networks in tech-driven environments.
During an interview with Sourcery, Grimm described that he occasionally enters Slack channels unexpectedly, contributing to threads without prior notice. This spontaneous participation often surprises his colleagues, who wonder how he manages to discover such conversations.
"They will see me chirp in on some random thread in some random channel," Grimm explained. "People will be like, 'How the hell did you see this?'"
His technique involves organizing Slack message feeds by both unread status and recency. He capitalizes on brief moments between meetings, when transitioning between buildings, or during small pockets of downtime to skim through messages following that sorting order. This approach allows him to glean the essential updates without becoming overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of messages.
Grimm emphasized that this system is not flawless. Given Anduril’s size, boasting roughly 7,000 employees, it is impractical for any single person to read every message transmitted on the platform. The method is specifically designed for monitoring the pulse of channel-based conversations rather than all communications.
In instances where matters demand his immediate attention, Grimm relies on receiving direct messages, ensuring urgent topics are flagged clearly to him.
"If something really needs my attention," he said, "I trust that I will get a direct message."
This strategy, Grimm noted, is sufficient to develop an overarching sense of the company’s ongoing discussions without necessitating exhaustive review.
Contrasting with Grimm’s approach, other corporate leaders have unique Slack management tactics. For example, Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, uses Slack to post extended essays that promote reflective debate. Sholto Douglas, a technical staff member at Anthropic, remarked that reviewing these essays offers a historical perspective on company discourse.
Meanwhile, Canva's CEO, Melanie Perkins, intentionally limits her Slack accessibility by not installing the app on her phone. This choice enables her to disconnect when she closes her laptop; in emergencies, she is reachable by phone instead of through Slack notifications.
Slack co-founder Cal Henderson has shared strategies focused on channel prioritization, setting strict reply windows, and experimenting with video clips to reduce meeting frequency—methods designed to optimize the application’s efficiency and prevent communication overload.
Looking ahead, Slack users will soon have access to features resembling a "year in review," highlighting the most active messengers in a workspace as 2025 approaches its end.
Returning to the scale of Anduril, Grimm acknowledged the global complexity of the company’s communications, noting the presence across roughly 14 time zones. He described Slack activity as continuous and uninterrupted.
"We're in like 14 time zones," Grimm said. "They're just all day, every day, all the time."
This pervasive communication environment explains the need for methods that allow senior executives to absorb relevant information without succumbing to informational overload. Grimm’s approach reflects the balance of responsiveness and efficiency necessary for leadership in high-growth enterprises with global teams.
In summary, Matt Grimm’s insights contribute to a broader understanding of how leadership can manage electronic workplace communications effectively through prioritization, selective engagement, and trust in direct messaging pathways for critical issues. His technique, combined with diverse executive Slack practices, underlines the evolving strategies companies deploy to navigate the challenges posed by modern digital collaboration platforms.