Why This Matters
This piece critiques a common workplace chat habit—sending a greeting or 'are you around?' message before asking the actual question—which wastes time for both parties. In an era where remote and asynchronous communication is the norm, small inefficiencies like this add up across teams and organizations, making clear communication norms a meaningful productivity issue for tech workers.
Key Takeaways
- Chat is not the same as face-to-face or phone conversation, so social norms like greeting first before asking don't translate well.
- Prefacing a question with 'hello' or 'got a sec?' delays the recipient's ability to think about and respond to the actual request.
- Simply asking the question upfront saves time for both parties and improves overall communication efficiency.
Note that Keith could have got his answer minutes sooner, and needn't have kept Tim waiting. In fact, Tim could have started thinking about the question right away!
People who do this are generally trying to be polite by not jumping right into the request, like one would in person or on the phone - and that's great! But it's 2022 and chat is neither of those things. For most people, typing is much slower than talking. So despite best intentions, you're actually just making the other person wait for you to phrase your question, which is lost productivity (and kinda annoying).
The same goes for:
"Hello, are you around?"
"hi sophie - quick question."
"You got a sec?"
"yt?"
"ping"
etc.
Just ask the question! 😫
GoKawiil