Talk in channels, groups and direct messages

The kind is fixed when the conversation is created — you cannot convert a private group into an open channel later, so choose deliberately.

Discuss is for talk that spans records. The moment a message decides something about a specific quotation, task, survey or delivery, write it in that record's chatter instead: it is then attached to the document an auditor or a colleague will open next year, and it notifies the followers of that record automatically. A channel is a conversation; a chatter entry is a document. Most arguments about "where did we agree that?" are really this choice made carelessly.

Somebody says they never saw a message — a mention is what notifies. In a busy channel most people run on Mentions Only, so a message that names nobody reaches nobody's attention; mention the person or the team's role.

A colleague cannot find your channel — it is a group or a chat, which are private to the people invited; only a channel can be discovered and joined.

You need a conversation that outlives the people in it — use a channel, not a group of individuals. Groups become orphaned the moment their members change roles.

An attachment is missing from a record — an attachment dropped in Discuss belongs to the conversation, not to the order. Re-attach it in the record's chatter if that is where it needs to live.