There's a Time for Email and a Time for Slack. How to Know the Difference. With too many tools, your staff can get confused.

So you've adopted Slack, Flowdock, HipChat, or some of the myriad other collaboration apps. Plus you've still got email. Now how do you make them work for your team?

Related: 5 Ways to Effectively Communicate With Employees

It's a scene happening in offices around the world: The boss installs a tool like Slack and asks all employees to use it. Some do. Some resist. Email threads and chat-room conversations happen concurrently. Confusion reigns. And eventually everyone asks: When am I supposed to use this stuff? Steve Goldsmith, GM of Austin-based HipChat, has an answer: You need to identify how each tool can make your team efficient and then get everyone onboard.