Do not be that person

In organizations, when talking, especially asynchronously, always give proper context about what you are talking about and the entire background to minimize back and forth.

Do not be that person
Photo by Ilyass SEDDOUG / Unsplash

In organisations, when talking, especially asynchronously, always give proper context about what you are talking about and the entire background to minimize back and forth. This is more important for non-western cultures to understand. For goodness’s sake, do not send a  message which doesn’t explain your intent, with proper context. Here is how some conversations go:

  • Colleague [10:00 AM]: “hello”
  • You [10:05 AM]: “Hi, what’s up?”
  • Colleague [10:11 AM]: “do you have a minute?”
  • You [10:12 AM]: “yup?”
  • Colleague [10:12 AM]: “please review my PR”
  • You [10:16 AM]: “Link please”
  • Colleague [10:25 AM]: “https://github.com/orga/pull/127”

You will always find such a conversationalist in many organisations. Do not, under any circumstances, do not be that guy/girl. This conversation spanning 25 minutes has cost the company ~approximately $100 for no good reason. Ideally, you shouldn’t have to text someone for a PR review but this could have been a single message. Send each message as the person on the receiving end will only reply to you once in 24 hours. Value your and others’ time.