Unleashing the power of communication: exploring the dynamics of slack channel networks and project success

Abstract

Communication is at the center of any human organisation. In this thesis I analyse the communication patterns of employees from a company called Superside by extracting data from Slack, their communication platform, and analysing it as a network. I find that the distribution of users among channels is optimal when looked at from the perspective of robustness. Additionally I analyse the participation of users in conversations and find that the network they form is a scale-free network, which makes the company weaker to targeted attacks (loosing central employees). In that same line I perform an experiment in order to find out the network related metric to look at when performing layoffs, which turns out to be Betweeness Centrality. Finally I dig into performance and I find indication that projects assigned to overworked employees tend to be delivered late, moreover, I show that the Project Manager’s centrality in the projects plays a significant role on the project being delivered late or on time.