Example polls
Paste any of these into the message box in Slack.
Choice poll. A pick-a-side question that closes before tomorrow's (Premium for the close).
/poll "Question of the day: beach or mountains?" "Beach" :beach_with_umbrella: "Mountains" :mountain: "Neither, I stay indoors" :house: close after 24 hours
Premium: closing automatically
Close automatically: after 1 day
Short text with voting. An open question. People heart the answers they like. Free.
/poll "Question of the day: what is the best thing you ate this week?" short text :heart:
Free
Scale from 1 to 5. A Friday rating with five labels. Free.
/poll "Question of the day: rate your week" "Rough" "Meh" "Fine" "Good" "Great" scale
Free
Monday questions (easy starts)
- What is one thing you are looking forward to this week?
- Coffee, tea or neither?
- How many hours of sleep did you get last night: under 6, 6 to 8, or more?
- What did you do this weekend in three words?
- Which day this week will be the busiest?
- What is the first thing you do when you start work?
- What is on your playlist this morning?
- Early bird or night owl?
- What is one small goal for this week?
- Best breakfast: sweet or savoury?
Tuesday questions (get to know you)
- What was your first job?
- Where did you grow up?
- Which skill would you learn instantly if you could?
- What is a hobby you picked up as an adult?
- What is a place you would go back to tomorrow?
- Which book did you read more than once?
- What is something you are surprisingly good at?
- Cats, dogs, both or neither?
- What job did you want when you were ten?
- Which language would you like to speak fluently?
Wednesday questions (about work, lightly)
- Which tool could the team not live without?
- What is the best piece of work advice you have been given?
- Which meeting would you keep if you could only keep one?
- What is a shortcut that saves you time every day?
- Where do you do your best thinking?
- Inbox zero or inbox infinity?
- What is something you learned at work this month?
- Music while working: yes, no, or only without lyrics?
- Which part of your day is the most focused?
- What is one thing that would make Mondays better?
Thursday questions (pick a side)
- Beach or mountains?
- Call or message?
- Sunrise or sunset?
- Book or film adaptation?
- Spicy or mild?
- Board games or video games?
- Summer or winter?
- Plan everything or figure it out on the day?
- Sweet snack or salty snack?
- Window seat or aisle seat?
More in this or that questions for work.
Friday questions (wind down)
- What was the highlight of your week?
- What are you doing this weekend?
- Who on the team helped you out this week?
- What is the best thing you ate this week?
- Recommend one thing to watch, read or listen to.
- What is something you finished this week?
- Rate your week from 1 to 5.
- What would make next week easier?
- What is the best photo on your phone from this week?
- Which emoji sums up your week?
Schedule the week ahead
For a different question every day, spend five minutes on Monday scheduling the week:
create each poll with /poll on its own to open the form, click Schedule and pick the
day and a time people are online, for example 9:30. Each poll gets its own day. Scheduling
is Premium. If you'd rather not, rotate who posts it.
For a fixed daily prompt like "What are you working on today?", make it a recurring poll
instead: set it once to repeat every weekday and it posts the same question each morning
(Premium). The recurring poll guide has
the steps. Either way, add close after 24 hours (Premium) so yesterday's poll is closed
when today's arrives.
Keep it in one channel, such as #random or #watercooler, never in a work channel where it buries real messages. Answer it yourself first; a question with one answer gets more.
Questions
What is a good question of the day for work?
One that takes seconds to answer, has no wrong answer and does not sort people by money, age or background. "Beach or mountains?" is good. "Where are you going on holiday?" leaves out people who are not going anywhere.
Can Simple Poll post a different question every day automatically?
A recurring poll repeats the same question. For different questions, schedule several
polls ahead with the form's Schedule button, picking a different day for each (Premium).
To queue just the next day's question, end the /poll text with schedule tomorrow 9am.
Should answers be anonymous?
No. The point is getting to know each other, so names help. Keep anonymous for questions
about feelings or feedback.
Daily or weekly?
Daily works in a social channel when the question is easy. If answers drop off after a few weeks, move to once a week with the icebreaker questions.
Related
- How to create a recurring poll in Slack
To create a recurring poll in Slack, type /poll on its own to open Simple Poll's form, write the poll, click Schedule, and pick a repeat: daily, every weekday, weekly, every 2 weeks, monthly or annually. Simple Poll then posts it on that schedule, so your weekly pulse or daily check-in never depends on someone remembering. Recurring polls are a Premium feature.
- How to schedule a poll in Slack
A scheduled poll is written now and posted later, at a time when people will see it: Monday at 9am rather than Friday at 6pm. Simple Poll can schedule a poll from the /poll text or from the poll form. Scheduling is a Premium feature, though it also works on Free for the whole of December.
- Icebreaker question polls for Slack
When a channel is all work and no chatter, a new team is forming, or remote teammates need an easy way to get to know each other.
- Funny poll questions for work
When a channel needs a laugh, a meeting needs a warm-up, or you want a light weekly poll that people answer without being asked twice.
- This or that questions for work
When you want the lowest-effort way to get a quiet channel talking: two words, one click, and a reason to reply in the thread.
- Slack polls for remote teams
On a remote team, Slack is the office, and a lot of what an office does for free has to be asked for on purpose: who is around when, how people are doing, where to meet up once a year. Polls are how you ask without scheduling another call.