Parveen Kaler

Rules of Communication: Not Trying To Be Rude

I am connected and online almost all of the time. I’m also known to send almost all of my phone calls to voice mail. I don’t reply to many emails either.

I’m not trying to be rude.

I am busy. You are busy. We are all busy. Myself and most of the people in my life are knowledge workers. That’s just a fancy term that means we turn content and information into something that is actually useful. This requires concentration and blocks of uninterrupted time.

So if you call and I send you to voicemail please don’t be offended. If you message me and I ask you, “Is this urgent?” Don’t be offended.

My attention is interruptible. It is interruptible only if the matter is urgent.

FYI or Actionable

So here are some tips. If you are sending me a piece of communication, please clearly mark what is FOR MY INFORMATION with an “FYI” tag. If you are sending me a piece of communication, please tag what is ACTIONABLE on my part.

Asynchronous vs Synchronous

Use an asynchronous method of communication if your request is not urgent. Email, Twitter, and Jaiku are asynchronous. Instant messenger and the phone is synchronous.

If there is a lot of back-and-forth required to settle a matter, use something synchronous. A good example is trying to set up a meeting time.

Escalate

If there is a long chain of emails to try to resolve an issue and we are running around in circles, please escalate to IM. If we can’t resolve the situation by IM, then please escalate to a phone call. And some meetings just need to happen face-to-face.

If you find yourself resolving the same issue over and over again please archive the resolution in something like a wiki.

Never Eat Alone

There is a very good book named Never Eat Alone, or so I’m told. I’ve never actually read the book but I try to share dinner with someone every single day. So, if you would like to see me face-to-face out there in meatspace, please schedule a dinner with me.