Do not apologize for replying late to my email
by Ploum on 2026-02-11
You don’t need to apologize for taking hours, days, or years to reply to one of my emails.
If we are not close collaborators, and if I didn’t explicitly tell you I was waiting for your answer within a specific timeframe, then please stop apologizing for replying late!
This is a trend I’m witnessing, probably caused by the addiction to instant messaging. Most of the emails I receive these days contain some sort of apology. I received an apology from someone who took five hours to reply to what was a cold and unimportant email. I received apologies in what was a reply to a reply I had sent only a couple of days earlier.
Apologizing for taking time to reply to my email is awkward and makes me uncomfortable.
It also puts a lot of pressure on me: what if I take more time than you to reply? Isn’t the whole point of asynchronous communication to be… asynchronous? Each on its own rhythm?
I was not waiting for your email in the first place.
As soon as my email was sent, I probably forgot about it. I may have thought a lot before writing it. I may have drafted it multiple times. Or not. But as soon as it was in my outbox, it was also out of my mind.
That’s the very point of asynchronous communication. That’s why I use email. I’m not making any assumptions about your availability.
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