Tough question. Honestly I'll have to think about it a bit. I'll post a follow up comment shortly.
Ask HN: How do you say “I don’t know, but I’ll get back to you” confidently?
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Re: Ask HN: How do you say “I don’t know, but I’ll get back to you” confidently?
#32I try to give a clear timeframe of when I’ll get back.
Re: Ask HN: How do you say “I don’t know, but I’ll get back to you” confidently?
#33"That's a good question, let me do some research and I'll get back to you"
Re: Ask HN: How do you say “I don’t know, but I’ll get back to you” confidently?
#34I agree that when people say "I'll have to get back to you" it sounds a little less than inspiring. In the military, we always called that "taking a look up" or a "due out," but it helps to be able to articulate well at the time why you can't give a more complete answer (ie what data you need to look up).
Re: Ask HN: How do you say “I don’t know, but I’ll get back to you” confidently?
#35I say it exactly like that. "I don't know, but I'll find out and get back to you." They key isn't how you say it, the key is that you consistently do it so that people learn that when you say it, you mean it.
Yea, I think the wording in the title seems fine.
I probably end up slightly wordier...
"Hmm, not sure. My best guess is that we're probably pulling some values from context and then using that to determine the behavior you're seeing, but I know my manager has a few contacts on that side of the org, I'll reach out to her and get back to you, probably in the next few days"
And then yea, just... delivering on what you say you're gonna do or updating if there's some bends in the road you didn't see.
Re: Ask HN: How do you say “I don’t know, but I’ll get back to you” confidently?
#36I have a customer facing role, then it's easy to get questions about details that I don't know from the customers.
My approach is easy: always being very transparent. I can say "I am not 100% sure, then I will verify with my colleagues and with R&D and let you know" or just "I don't know right now, but I am taking notes and let you know ASAP". This approach also helps me to ask the right questions to the customer, just to understand what the customer wants.
I was on the other side for years and I hate when consultants try to avoid the questions or give me foggy replies.
Re: Ask HN: How do you say “I don’t know, but I’ll get back to you” confidently?
#37"this requires some investigation. I can check X, Y and Z"
Or if you want to not do it: "this requires some investigation. X person or Y team is best place to look into it"
Re: Ask HN: How do you say “I don’t know, but I’ll get back to you” confidently?
#38Exactly as you put it, but with a date. "I'll get back to you within 3 days." If that's not possible, provide a date for a date: "I'll know by Tuesday when that will be ready."
Re: Ask HN: How do you say “I don’t know, but I’ll get back to you” confidently?
#39Tell them that you are slow thinker and you need your time to think thoroughly so you can come back with answers. If they don't believe you, tell them Derek Sivers, the CD Baby creator is also a slow thinker https://sive.rs/slow
I would avoid that phrase since people may take it to mean you're admitting to being bad at thinking and therefore not a very useful employee. Instead, I'd spin it to say you need more time to investigate thoroughly to give them an accurate answer.
Agreed. Saying you don't know is bad enough in some dysfunctional organizations. (viewed as a good thing in healthy organizations)
Re: Ask HN: How do you say “I don’t know, but I’ll get back to you” confidently?
#40I try to give a clear timeframe of when I’ll get back.
Yeah, I think the jargon which will impress some people in the room is "I'll timebox an investigation of 2hrs/days/weeks".