Slack has introduced a new feature, one that brings lightweight audio communication to the platform.

As the pandemic forced individuals to work remotely, audio and video communication platforms surged in popularity and necessity. While Slack was the early leader in the corporate communication market, it has been eclipsed by Microsoft Teams and Zoom, both of which focus heavily on video and audio.

Slack Huddles is a new feature designed to bring a fast, lightweight approach to audio, within the context of a Slack channel or direct message.

Similar to the way you might drop by a colleague’s desk to solve a thorny problem or grab a few teammates on the way out of a meeting and debrief, huddles create a space to talk through work on the fly. Plus, everyone in that channel or DM is free to join or leave the conversation as they please.

Slack’s goal is to help make the transition from text to audio and back again as seamless and organic as possible, as opposed to having to schedule a video call as other platforms do.

The feature is already gaining support among companies using Slack.

“Slack Huddles provide an extremely low-friction way to transition from typing to talking and back again, whether you are brainstorming, chasing a bug, or just catching up with colleagues,” says Karl Owen, Senior Distinguished Engineer, Dell Technologies.

“Engineers who are interested and available will join, we accomplish our goal and the postmortem is handled back in the channel. We’re able to go from multitasking to focused work and back to multitasking with minimal friction.”