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Please Don't Say Just Hello in Chat

nohello.com

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Re: Please Don't Say Just Hello in Chat

#11

Post by gdubs »

strictnein wrote: post #9

I kind of disagree with this. If you post your problem to someone without asking if they have the time, it interrupts their flow to a much greater degree, because it's simply not possible to read that question without your mind engaging with it. Posting just "Hey" is kind of dumb, but starting with "Hey, do you have a minute? I have an issue" is fine. It's easy to respond to with "no, sorry" and keep working.

"Hey, do you have a minute? I have an issue"

Except a lot of people are going to read that and then wonder – for what feels like an eternity – what's the 'issue' and how serious is it?

Re: Please Don't Say Just Hello in Chat

#12

Post by kartan »

2010-07-19 12:00:00 co-worker: Hi

2010-07-19 12:00:30 me: Hello

2010-07-19 12:10:00 co-worker: I have a question about Facebook. Are you the right person to ask?

2010-07-19 12:10:25 me: May be. What's your question?

2010-07-19 12:20:25 co-worker: I want to know ...

2010-07-19 12:21:10 me: No, sorry. For that, you need to contact ...

Fast version:

2010-07-19 12:00:00 co-worker: Hi. I don't know if you are the right question, I want to know ...

2010-07-19 12:01:10 me: Hello. No, sorry. For that, you need to contact ...

Re: Please Don't Say Just Hello in Chat

#14

Post by alexandercrohde »

So this is one way to do it. But it has its downsides too [and thus I find the webpage slightly pedantic for ignoring the tradeoffs]. I think the "Hello" is like "Syn." Cases where you may want to use hello are

1. You need an immediate response, if they are afk then you don't want to ask them the question at all because you'll ask somebody else.

2. You want to signal that you'd like to talk to them when they're free, but that your message is low priority. Generally I'd take a "hey" off-hours to mean "don't answer this unless you're on slack at your computer. Pong me back when you're in the office"

3. Some people care more about the communication being natural and human interaction than they do responding to the maximal number of things in a day. If we have to sacrifice our ability to enjoy our intercations with other people for our job, I'd ask that we don't sacrifice without a fight.

Re: Please Don't Say Just Hello in Chat

#15

Post by seanp2k2 »

gdubs wrote: post #11
strictnein wrote: post #9

I kind of disagree with this. If you post your problem to someone without asking if they have the time, it interrupts their flow to a much greater degree, because it's simply not possible to read that question without your mind engaging with it. Posting just "Hey" is kind of dumb, but starting with "Hey, do you have a minute? I have an issue" is fine. It's easy to respond to with "no, sorry" and keep working.

"Hey, do you have a minute? I have an issue" Except a lot of people are going to read that and then wonder – for what feels like an eternity – what's the 'issue' and how serious is it?

This. If I don't have time, I'll say "I can look at this at [time]" or just not answer if I'm e.g. presenting or something. It makes my life a lot easier when someone just gives me the facts, and it gets them to done faster as well. Pleasantries are fine and great, but in work chat, I don't consider it rude to just ask a question to someone directly. Ideally, a channel can answer, but sometimes you're working with someone specific on a thing. I also don't have a problem referring people to channels when I don't have time or don't want to get into the habit of answering that type of thing myself 100% of the time.

TL;DR help the person you want help from by doing the legwork of figuring out the exact error, and get to the point where you're asking an answerable question. Give them all the relevant details, and try to take as little of their time as possible. This, to me, is a sign of professional politeness and respect. It also tends to get you an answer quickly, and a high likelihood of that person helping you again in the future.

Re: Please Don't Say Just Hello in Chat

#19

Post by sebbean »

alexandercrohde wrote: post #14

So this is one way to do it. But it has its downsides too [and thus I find the webpage slightly pedantic for ignoring the tradeoffs]. I think the "Hello" is like "Syn." Cases where you may want to use hello are 1. You need an immediate response, if they are afk then you don't want to ask them the question at all because you'll ask somebody else. 2. You want to signal that you'd like to talk to them when they're free,…

staring a slack window after receiving "hey" and not doing the work i was doing before receiving said "hey" is very very aggrivating.
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