How to Set Up Coffee Chats in Slack (Complete Guide)

Remote teams struggle with connection. Coffee chats fix this: short 1:1s between teammates who'd never otherwise meet. But manual programs fail fast. Spreadsheets fall apart, people forget to schedule, and the whole thing fizzles within a month.

This guide covers how to run coffee chats in Slack using Doozy: define a goal, configure smart matching to achieve it, and let automation handle the rest.

Why coffee chats matter

Gallup research shows employees with strong workplace relationships are more engaged, produce higher quality work, and stay longer. Yet only 2 in 10 employees strongly agree they have a best friend at work.

Remote work makes this worse. Without physical proximity, you join a company, meet your immediate team, and never learn who else works there. Silos form by default.

Coffee chats introduce people across teams, levels, and locations who would never otherwise connect. The business case:

• Retention: Employees with workplace relationships stay longer. Replacing someone costs 50-200% of their salary.
• Collaboration: People help colleagues they know. Cross-functional projects move faster.
• Onboarding: New hires who meet people beyond their team ramp faster and feel belonging sooner.

What is coffee roulette

Coffee roulette is automated random matching. A tool pairs people from a defined group, notifies them via Slack, and helps them schedule. Matches happen on a recurring cadence: weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly.

You don't choose who you meet. The algorithm does. This removes the awkwardness of reaching out cold and ensures people connect outside their usual circles.

Most programs match pairs, but trios or quads work well for larger organizations or cross-functional introductions.

Doozy Roulette handles participant selection, smart matching, notifications, reminders, and analytics. Configure it once; connections happen automatically.

Give your program a purpose

Random matching works. Purposeful matching drives real engagement.

The difference between a coffee chat program people skip and one they look forward to is a clear "why." When participants understand what they're supposed to get out of these conversations, they show up prepared and leave with value.

Set a goal

Before launching, decide what you want the program to achieve:

• Knowledge sharing: "Learn one workflow or tool from someone outside your team"
• Cross-functional understanding: "Understand how another department's work connects to yours"
• Innovation: "Share how you're using AI in your role and learn someone else's approach"
• Culture transmission: "Help new hires understand how we actually work here"
• Problem-solving: "Bring a challenge you're facing and get a fresh perspective"

The goal shapes everything: who you match, what you tell participants, and how you measure success.

Align matching to your goal

Random pairing is fine for general networking. But if you have a specific goal, Doozy's smart matching algorithm helps you achieve it:

Goal	Matching settings
Break silos	Cross-team matching on, prioritize different departments
Knowledge transfer	Different tenure (pair veterans with newer employees)
Mentorship culture	Different seniority (connect ICs with senior leaders)
Global connection	Different location (match across offices and time zones)
New hire integration	Match new hires specifically with tenured employees
Peer support	Similar seniority + similar tenure (people at the same stage)

Connect your HRIS and Doozy automatically knows each person's team, level, tenure, and location. The algorithm optimizes every match toward your goal, not just randomness.

Communicate the why

Generic "build connections" messaging doesn't motivate anyone. Be specific about what participants should get out of each conversation.

Weak: "We're running coffee chats to build relationships across teams."

Strong: "Every team is figuring out AI differently. Engineering uses Copilot for code review. Marketing built custom GPTs for content briefs. Sales has prompt templates for outreach. But none of this knowledge crosses team boundaries. These coffee chats exist to fix that. Each conversation, share one AI tool, workflow, or prompt that's made you more productive, and learn one from your match. In 30 minutes, you'll walk away with something you can use tomorrow."

The second version tells people exactly what to do and why it matters. Participation goes up because the value is obvious.

Give participants a prompt

Include a suggested topic in your intro message. Examples:

• "Share one tool, shortcut, or workflow that's made you more productive"
• "Discuss a recent project win and what made it work"
• "Compare how your teams approach [planning / feedback / async communication]"
• "Talk about how AI is changing your day-to-day work"

Prompts are optional guardrails. Some pairs will ignore them and have great free-flowing conversations. Others need the structure to get started.

Track whether the goal is landing

After a few rounds, survey participants: "Did you learn something useful? Did you make a connection that helps your work?" If the answer is no, iterate on the goal, the matching, or the prompts.

The magic isn't random connection. It's intentional connection at scale.

How to set up coffee chats in Slack

Setup takes under five minutes with Doozy.

1. Start a new Roulette

Open the Doozy app in Slack → Start activity → Introductions → Doozy Roulette.

2. Choose participants

Select who should be included in the matching pool:

Source	Description
Channel members	Everyone in a Slack channel. Good for team-wide or company-wide programs.
Individuals	Specific people you select manually. Good for pilot programs or small cohorts.
Groups	Department or team members synced from your HRIS. Requires HRIS integration.
New hires	Employees who joined recently. Automatically updated as people join. Requires HRIS.
Managers	People with direct reports in your HRIS. Useful for leadership networking.

For company-wide programs, create a #coffee-roulette channel and have employees join to opt in. For department programs, use HRIS groups.

Tip: Enable "Match with another group" to pair different populations (new hires with tenured employees, engineers with PMs).

3. Configure matching preferences

Control how the algorithm pairs people:

Setting	Options	When to use
Group size	2, 3, or 4 people	Pairs (2) for deeper conversation. Trios or quads for broader networking.
Cross-team	Prioritize different teams	Enable to break silos. Disable for within-team bonding.
Seniority	Similar or different levels	Different levels for mentorship vibes. Similar for peer connection.
Tenure	Similar or different tenure	Different tenure pairs veterans with newcomers.
Location	Same or different locations	Different locations for global connection. Same for potential in-person meetups.

Cross-team, seniority, tenure, and location preferences require HRIS integration. Without HRIS, Doozy matches randomly.

Intro message: Custom text sent with match notifications. Use it to set expectations or suggest topics.

4. Set the schedule

• Weekly: For fast-growing teams or intensive onboarding
• Bi-weekly: Most common. Enough time to schedule without feeling rushed.
• Monthly: Lower commitment. Good for busy teams.

Pick a start date. Matches go out on that date and repeat at the chosen frequency.

5. Configure meeting options

Setting	Options
Duration	15, 30, or 60 minutes
Location	Doozy (built-in video), Google Meet, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, or In Person
Reminders	Nudge matches who haven't scheduled (after 3 or 6 days)
Activity	Add a quiz or icebreaker to Doozy video calls

The Pick a time button in match notifications opens scheduling. Doozy creates calendar events with the appropriate video link.

6. Advanced options

• Notify channel: Post matches publicly for visibility and social proof
• Upcoming notification: Alert users before matches so they can skip if needed
• Allow opt-out: Let users permanently opt out
• Exclude users: Block specific people from matching (executives, people on leave)

7. Launch

Click Start. Doozy sends match notifications on your start date and repeats on schedule.

See the Doozy Roulette help docs for screenshots and details.

Use cases

Company-wide networking

Create a #coffee-roulette channel, invite the company, enable cross-team matching. The classic setup.

Settings: Bi-weekly, pairs, cross-team, 30 minutes.

New hire onboarding

Match new hires with tenured employees to accelerate relationship-building in the first 90 days. Use "Match with another group" to pair cohorts specifically.

Settings: Weekly for first month, pairs, different tenure, 15 minutes.

Combine with Doozy Tracks to deliver introductions alongside training and check-ins.

Cross-functional collaboration

Break silos between teams that should work together: engineering with product, sales with CS, marketing with design. Create dedicated Roulettes for each pairing.

Settings: Monthly, pairs or trios, cross-team, 30 minutes.

Manager skip-levels

Connect ICs with managers from other teams for informal mentorship and cross-org visibility.

Settings: Monthly, pairs, different seniority, 30 minutes.

ERG networking

Help distributed ERG members build relationships within their community.

Settings: Bi-weekly or monthly, pairs, 30 minutes, channel notification for visibility.

Remote team bonding

For fully remote teams, weekly coffee chats provide recurring human connection. For small teams (under 20), this might be the primary social infrastructure.

Settings: Weekly, pairs, 15 minutes, icebreaker activity added.

Managing your program

Opt-outs and skips

Doozy sends "upcoming match" notifications before each round so people can skip busy weeks. Enable "Allow opt-out" for permanent removal from the pool. Admins can exclude specific users entirely.

Analytics

Introduction analytics show matches made, meetings scheduled, participation by person, and full match history. Export to CSV for deeper analysis, or use the Doozy API to send data to your BI tools, people analytics platform, or internal dashboards.

Iteration

Start simple. Launch with defaults, run a few rounds, gather feedback. Common tweaks:

• Frequency: Bi-weekly hits the sweet spot for most teams
• Group size: Pairs for depth, trios/quads when calendars are tight
• Duration: 15 min for quick intros, 30 min for real conversation

Use "Manage activities" in Slack to update settings on a running Roulette.

Coffee chats vs. other approaches

Approach	Pros	Cons
Automated coffee roulette	Scales, removes friction, creates accountability	Some matches are duds
Manual 1:1 introductions	Targeted, personal	Doesn't scale, ongoing admin effort
Slack channel networking	Low effort, organic	Passive, favors extroverts, inconsistent
Team events	Group bonding, memorable	Infrequent, time-intensive, not 1:1

For most orgs, automated roulette is the foundation. Supplement with manual intros for high-value connections and periodic events for group bonding.

FAQ

How do I get people to actually meet?

Match notifications include "Pick a time" for one-click scheduling. Auto-reminders nudge stragglers. Public channel notifications create social accountability. Leadership participation helps too.

What if someone keeps skipping?

Check analytics for patterns. Have a direct conversation rather than forcing participation.

Can I run multiple Roulettes?

Yes. Company-wide, department-specific, and new hire Roulettes can run simultaneously with independent settings.

What makes a good coffee chat?

Low expectations, open-ended conversation, curiosity. Doozy can add icebreaker questions to matches if participants want prompts.

How do I measure success?

Participation rate, qualitative feedback, and downstream indicators (eNPS, retention, cross-team collaboration). Attribution is hard: coffee chats create conditions for connection whose benefits compound over time.

Start running coffee chats in Slack

Coffee chats build the relationships that make distributed work sustainable. Doozy automates matching, scheduling, and reminders so you can focus on connections, not logistics.

Set up Doozy Roulette, configure matching preferences, and let it run. Five minutes of setup creates ongoing connection across your org.

Add Doozy to Slack →

Introductions · Engagement · HRIS Integration

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