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0 pointsn4r95mo ago0 comments

For some reason, IM encourages people to send superficial quickfire messages, which is very inefficient if one party is busy.

The classic example is

Colleague: "Hi".

One hour passes

You: "Hey - what's up, can I help you with something?"

10 minutes pass

Colleague: "Yeah I was wondering if I could ask you about Foo"

One hour passes

You: "Sure, what do you need to know?"

Next day

Colleague: "I'm trying to export but it's not working."

One hour passes

You: "Okay... Is it giving you any error messages? Please give me as much info as you can in one go!"

etc...

0 comments

vel0city5mo ago

I've pressed people who chat this way with me to change, and usually it seems people get it once they get shown how unproductive this kind of conversation is.

Just ask me your question. Feel free to start with pleasantries if that's your style, but get to your point or the ask on the first message.

https://nohello.net/en/

nottorp5mo ago

I never answer hellos. That tends to teach people.

theshrike795mo ago

This is why you reply with this: https://nohello.net/en/

It's purely a cultural thing, people from some cultures find it rude to get to the point, so they need to have this "hi, how are you" -preamble every time, even if the other person is on a completely different timezone, which makes every chat take 2 days.

Our_Benefactors5mo ago

I like to put this as my slack status for a while when I join a new job. It tells my coworkers I mean business, and sets healthy communication patterns right out of the gate.

rkomorn5mo ago

I'm a big proponent of the whole "just start with your question" thing but anytime someone replies to a "hello" with just a link to that page, they immediately come across as a jerk.

theshrike795mo ago

Or I'm setting boundaries.

Getting a "hello" from your superior with nothing else is akin to "come to my office first thing tomorrow morning" without extra context.

That day is ruined as well as the next one unless the manager is 5000% explicit that it's a good thing.

1 more reply

ivanjermakov5mo ago

Interesting. I write messages in Teams about the same way I write emails. Some people prefer splitting each sentence in a separate message, some keep the whole body as one.

Email just nudges to send whole body at once because it usually doesn't have a synchronous chat UI.

stared5mo ago

This.

Also, even if responses are just 20 second after each, there is this constant context switching, which takes more time and attention that if we took literally any other method (in person, email or call).

lostlogin5mo ago

There is the opposite too, which is just as bad. The stream of consciousness messaging.

‘Hi’ ‘I’m’ ‘Trying to get the’ ‘File’ ‘But’ ‘I’ ‘Need’

Etc etc and it’s 20 messages before you have any idea what’s going on. The deluge of notifications is distraction.

jszymborski5mo ago

IMO, this is because every email is a named, searchable thread. Sure Slack, MS Teams, Discord, etc... have threads but they sort of get washed away in the stream of messages imho.

AuthAuth5mo ago

This type of communication style would be a problem on any communication medium. The problem needs to be fixed at the user level.

n4r9OP5mo ago

I dunno, there's something about email that makes a lot of people write more thoughtful and comprehensive messages. Not everyone, obviously. But it feels more like writing a letter - you're not expecting a reply within minutes.

AuthAuth5mo ago

You're right but thats because of the social rules around email. With instant messaging people are very used to casually using it in their day to day life so you're fighting against that. But I still think its worth doing

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 pointsn4r95mo ago0 comments

For some reason, IM encourages people to send superficial quickfire messages, which is very inefficient if one party is busy.

The classic example is

Colleague: "Hi".

One hour passes

You: "Hey - what's up, can I help you with something?"

10 minutes pass

Colleague: "Yeah I was wondering if I could ask you about Foo"

One hour passes

You: "Sure, what do you need to know?"

Next day

Colleague: "I'm trying to export but it's not working."

One hour passes

You: "Okay... Is it giving you any error messages? Please give me as much info as you can in one go!"

etc...

0 comments

vel0city5mo ago

I've pressed people who chat this way with me to change, and usually it seems people get it once they get shown how unproductive this kind of conversation is.

Just ask me your question. Feel free to start with pleasantries if that's your style, but get to your point or the ask on the first message.

https://nohello.net/en/

nottorp5mo ago

I never answer hellos. That tends to teach people.

theshrike795mo ago

This is why you reply with this: https://nohello.net/en/

Our_Benefactors5mo ago

I like to put this as my slack status for a while when I join a new job. It tells my coworkers I mean business, and sets healthy communication patterns right out of the gate.

rkomorn5mo ago

I'm a big proponent of the whole "just start with your question" thing but anytime someone replies to a "hello" with just a link to that page, they immediately come across as a jerk.

theshrike795mo ago

Or I'm setting boundaries.

Getting a "hello" from your superior with nothing else is akin to "come to my office first thing tomorrow morning" without extra context.

That day is ruined as well as the next one unless the manager is 5000% explicit that it's a good thing.

1 more reply

ivanjermakov5mo ago

Interesting. I write messages in Teams about the same way I write emails. Some people prefer splitting each sentence in a separate message, some keep the whole body as one.

Email just nudges to send whole body at once because it usually doesn't have a synchronous chat UI.

stared5mo ago

This.

lostlogin5mo ago

There is the opposite too, which is just as bad. The stream of consciousness messaging.

‘Hi’ ‘I’m’ ‘Trying to get the’ ‘File’ ‘But’ ‘I’ ‘Need’

Etc etc and it’s 20 messages before you have any idea what’s going on. The deluge of notifications is distraction.

jszymborski5mo ago

IMO, this is because every email is a named, searchable thread. Sure Slack, MS Teams, Discord, etc... have threads but they sort of get washed away in the stream of messages imho.

AuthAuth5mo ago

This type of communication style would be a problem on any communication medium. The problem needs to be fixed at the user level.

n4r9OP5mo ago

AuthAuth5mo ago

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse