If you work remotely and talk to a lot of different people throughout the day, you’ll know that people can take up your time with unnecessary pleasantries and formalities.
It might be polite, but when you’re talking to 20 people a day who do the same thing, you’ll be losing half your day without realising it. Here are three rules for efficient communication that can help you save time and get to the point faster.
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No hello is the idea that you should get straight to the point when messaging someone asynchronously. If you’re sending a chat message, don’t start with “Hello” or “Hi” and wait for a response before getting to the point. Just start with the point you want to make, and the recipient can respond when they’re ready.
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Don’t ask to ask, just ask - don’t ask if you can ask a question if you’re using an asynchronous method of communication, like instant messaging. Just ask the question. If the person is available, they’ll respond. If they’re not, they’ll respond when they are. Asking for permission to ask a question is just a waste of time as both people will be waiting for the other to respond while having communicated nothing at all.
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The XY Problem is when you ask about your attempted solution for an problem rather than the actual problem itself. If you’re asking for help with something, make sure you’re asking about the real problem you’re trying to solve and the context around it for others to be able to effectively help. You can give context about the solutions you’ve already tried and ruled out, but don’t narrow the focus too much if you can help it.
If you follow these rules, you’ll find you save a lot of time in your day-to-day communication, which will add up to a lot over time.
