Where do I find missing information after a coworker leaves the company?

When someone leaves a company, their Slack is a treasure trove of knowledge that would otherwise be lost. And yet we’re reluctant to look at it.

Going into your DMs with someone who’s left the company feels like walking into the perfectly-preserved bedroom of someone who passed away before their time. 

Eerie, reverent, forbidden.

In a group channel, we pause for a moment on the grey avatar of Deactivated User for a moment of nostalgia before quickly scrolling away again. 

The reaction emoji that only they used still comes up as a suggestion. You pause for a moment to consider how a 'Captain Picard facepalm' really did hit different than the traditional kind. Will you ever recover the camaraderie and acceptance of Picard's chagrin again?

If you’ve been let go, it can feel like a kind of death. It may feel like a crime, 

gross negligence, 

or just an unfortunate accident. 

But your impact on the organization is still there, in the thousands of tiny digital artifacts you left behind.

For months, even years after your departure, people will stumble on the answers they thought were lost for good in your DMs. 

The bangers you used to post in #random will come up in lunch conversations and happy hours for years to come. And your friends will laugh again, even harder than the first time.

Someday, someone you’ve never met will make a minor mistake and find the Captain Picard facepalm emoji waiting there to perfectly capture their chagrin. They will adopt it as their own. 

And every time they use it, your legacy will help them feel a little less alienated.

If you’ve been let go, failure is not your legacy. It’s these moments that people will remember you by. 

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👋 I’m Claire. My friends Krista, AnnE and I made a podcast about getting fired, and why it might not be as bad as you think. Give it a listen, if you want.

Listen here