Sudden panic when the meeting alert never came
I used to trust Slack notifications too much. My whole week is basically a Jenga tower of calendar invites and half finished automations, so when Slack didn’t remind me about a call with a client, it felt like the rug being pulled out. I had everything set up: my Google Calendar connected, notifications turned on, even thought I configured it properly with /remind commands. But the app was silent until I opened it later and saw everyone already saying “thanks for the update” in the channel. My heart sank. The weird part is that sometimes the reminders do show and sometimes they bury themselves under a flood of unread channel messages. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Using slash command reminders that actually stick
This is the simplest option, but even here things go wrong. If you type `/remind me to join client call at 230pm` Slack is supposed to ping you right before. Most of the time it does, but sometimes it feels like the reminder arrives after the meeting already started, which defeats the whole purpose. The fix that worked best for me wasn’t fancy automation. Instead of reminding myself “at 230pm,” I started setting the reminder for a few minutes before, like `/remind me at 220pm join client call`. That way I have time to find the Zoom link or the right doc. Another key thing: reminders can be sent into channels too, not just DMs. So I made a #personal-reminders channel that only I’m in, and now Slack directs all meeting alerts there instead of getting lost between coworkers chatting about lunch orders 😛
Pitfalls of relying on Google Calendar integration
Slack has a Google Calendar app, and in theory it should be perfect. It’s supposed to automatically show your schedule, give you a notification 10 minutes before, and let you join directly. My issue was double notifications or no notifications at all. Sometimes I’d get a popup from Google itself and Slack would quietly show an event card in a channel but without the push alert. Other times Slack sent me two identical alerts, one in DM and one in the channel, which just added clutter. My personal workaround was to only allow the app to DM me and to turn off the “post to channel” feature. It feels less collaborative but at least I get a clear ping without duplicates warning me like some desperate robot.
Building quick automations with Zapier when Slack forgets
I ended up testing a backup with Zapier. It was messy at first because I already had other Zaps tied to my calendar, and triggers would fire twice. The trick was to use “New Event Start” as the trigger instead of “Event Begins” because the latter fired too late. I then added a filter step to only send reminders for events containing the keyword “Meeting” in the title. Finally Zapier would send a private Slack message to me exactly five minutes before the event. There was a day when it failed because Google renamed one of the calendars with a weird suffix, so Zapier didn’t recognize it. That small hiccup reminded me these automations don’t self repair. You need to keep an eye when calendars or event titles change.
Creating recurring Slack reminders for team syncs
Sometimes it’s not about one off events but recurring meetings like weekly standups. Instead of depending on calendar apps, I used `/remind #channel every Tuesday at 9am standup meeting now`. The cool part is that Slack respects this recurrence exactly, even across holidays, which can be both helpful and annoying. For example, it will still remind you on days when everyone is off. My habit is to pause the reminder temporarily if the team schedules a break. Funny thing though: if you delete the reminder you can’t easily see it anywhere unless you go to `/remind list`. And then there’s always that one reminder I created months ago that still shows up and confuses everyone. I should clean them but somehow they multiply like weeds.
Experimenting with cross tool backup notifications
I tried connecting Google Calendar to Slack, and then Slack to email, and finally email back into Todoist. Complete overkill, but it gave me a consistent echo effect that ensured I saw at least one of the reminders. The downside is notification fatigue. At one point my phone buzzed, my laptop pinged, and Todoist lit up all for the same meeting. It worked but it was ridiculous. Eventually I settled with Slack as the primary and Todoist as a secondary. If Slack fails for some unknown mystical reason, Todoist saves me. You could technically use Microsoft Outlook instead of Google Calendar too, since Slack has an official Outlook app that sends alerts. The setup is almost the same.
Tracking down missed reminders like a detective
When a reminder fails, the first thing I do is type `/remind list` and check if the reminder still exists. More often than not, I mistyped the time format or wrote pm without the space. Slack is picky about syntax. For calendar events, I check the workspace app settings to see if notifications are enabled. One time a teammate muted the Google Calendar bot in their preferences, so they were silently missing every alert while blaming the app. Another day I discovered Slack paused all notifications because I set “Do Not Disturb” the previous night and forgot. That one hurt. The DND moon icon at the top was my giveaway. Basically, whenever something looks broken, it’s usually just hidden under some obscure toggle I forgot about.
Relying on custom bots when native features fall short
If you know a little about APIs, you can make your own small bot to send reminders. I hacked one together with a Google Apps Script that listens for events on my calendar and then posts directly into Slack using a webhook. It bypasses Slack reminders completely. Not something a beginner needs on day one, but it gave me a sense of control since I wasn’t waiting for Slack’s native system to behave. There’s also third party services like ifttt.com that do a simpler version of the same idea if Zapier feels too overwhelming. I keep these as last resorts when all else burns down, because maintaining too many bots is its own chaos factory.
When reminders saved me and when they did not
I remember one specific Tuesday when Slack pinged me exactly one minute before joining a client call, and I was able to slide in perfectly on time and look like a professional. The next week the exact same setup didn’t make a sound, and I stared at my calendar later realizing I’d ghosted the entire team by accident. The emotional whiplash is what makes me keep tinkering for backups. Tools are supposed to be reliable, but anyone who has missed one important meeting knows that even the smartest apps can betray you at the worst moment 🙂