DIBS ON STUFF

FOR TAKING TURNS IN SLACK


Add to Slack

Dibs On Stuff was used in Slack
over 29,000 times in 2022



When you want to claim a thing, put this in Slack:
/dibs on THING
(e.g. /dibs on staging-server)

If no one else is using the THING, it's yours. Otherwise you join the queue for THING and will get a Slack notification once it's your turn.

Dibs is the friendly way to take turns with anything - most of the time for calling shotgun on dev/staging servers, and some of the time for fairly dealing out sales leads to sales teams.
What else can I do with dibs?
If your Slack organization activates the extra features you can use timers in your queues to automatically release the item. Or use Slack buttons instead of typing. Or use abbreviations if you like typing. Or set up all sorts of other special chicanery - random, anonymous queues? (yep, bit of Halloween mischief in that one)
The Extra Features
The normal functionality is all free - or your entire organization can get access to the extra features for $9 per month.


Feature Basic   Extra
Unlimited team members using dibs  
Unlimited /dibs on and /dibs off requests  
Unlimited queues per Slack channel  
Unlimited views on all queues  
Bump the THING to the next person in line  
Automatic /dibs off after a specified duration  
Join and leave queues using Slack buttons (less typing)  
Allow only approved queue names  
API access to your Slack queues  
Add reasons for calling dibs on things  
Use abbreviations when typing queue names  
Randomly ordered queues for delightful surprises  
Enforce the use of timers on particular queues  
Secret queues with people's names hidden  
Automatic re-queuing for long-life queues/rosters  
Queue jumping for emergencies  
Queue renaming  
Prioritized support + new features!  


Activate the extra features
Paypal | BMAC

Extra #1: Automatic release

Automatically release the item after an amount of time that you specify.

Use the keyword "for" to indicate the time period.

/dibs on server1 for 45 minutes

(note: time unit can be: m, h, d, min, hour, day and more)
Extra #2: Add a description

Add a description to each item that you seize, to help other team members understand more.

Use the keyword "because" to indicate the reason.

/dibs on server1 because issue #4758

(note: you can use it in combination with Automatic release)
Extra #3: API access

Manipulate items inside your instance of Slack from the API. See conchable.com for more API info. Eg:
curl https://conchable.com/seize
 -X POST
 -H 'Content-type:application/json'
 -d '{
       "conch": "SLACK_TEAM/CONCH",
       "slack_team_id": "TEAM_ID",
       "name": "SLACK_USERNAME",
       "email": "YOUR_EMAIL"
     }'
Extra #4: Approved names

Ability to define a fixed list of approved item names.

No more spelling errors, eg: "/dibs on staging" works, but "/dibs on stageing" won't.

/dibs set staging approved
/dibs on staging
/dibs on sta (abbreviation supported!)

Extra #5: Support for Repeating Rosters

A brand new extra feature: Repeating THINGS. Good for roster duty, or taking turns with after hours support, or any other turn taking event that repeats day after day.

Once a person discards the THING, they'll automatically get placed onto the end of the queue again.

Just update the relevant THING to make it repeating eg:

/dibs set water-cooler-refill repeat

It can also be mixed with the Automatic release functionality for a hands-off rotation, so that when people enter:

/dibs on water-cooler-refill for 1 day

Their job will be to fill up the water-cooler for that day, and it will automatically be their turn again, only once everyone else has had their day.
 

Extra #6: Support for Random Queues

A brand new extra feature: Random Queues! Everyone is in line, but the queue gets shuffled everytime someone new joins the line (what fun).

Can't decide who the lucky person is today? Better than drawing names from a hat, use a random queue to decide who's next!

Mix and match this setting with Repeating Queues and create an automatically repeating randomly ordered queue. For even more mischief mix and match it with Secret queues to prevent anyone peeking at the order of people in the queue.

Just update the relevant THING to make it random, repeating and secret eg:

/dibs set feed-fish random
/dibs set feed-fish repeat
/dibs set feed-fish secret

And don't forget you can always use wildcards to specify multiple queues, eg /dibs set servers/* random
 

Extra #7: Buttons!?

A brand new extra feature: One-click buttons to join and leave your queues!

Running /dibs q will present you with a list of all your conches and provide a handy button next to each, allowing you to join or leave each queue instantly.



A little bit of an extra feature (that took a hell of a lot of extra work).
 


Privacy Policy
The information that is put into this service is used only to run this service. No spam etc. Here's the long version Privacy Policy and Terms of Service
Contact me
Any questions or support queries: trouble @ conchable.com
Alex Lance
Other projects
Some other stuff I've been working on:

tfstate.com bring your terraform infrastructure a little bit closer

Conchable.com a general API for queuing systems - the engine underneath Dibs On Stuff

Autoexpire.com transfer sensitive information to your clients (for sharing passwords or other credentials, and customizing the security controls)

Streetmates.net join up the people in your street in a non-intrusive fashion (give each street on the planet a mailing list)

 

 
Alex Lance ABN 87 223 400 386