Ask HN: How does your company manage communication response etiquette?

17 points by geeky4qwerty 3 years ago | 10 comments

Hello HN!

I've just started working at a large (~5000 employee) company in a senior IT management role and in the last two weeks there have been several mission critical issues that key, senior people I've emailed, then IM'd on teams thst have been completely unresponsive.

These are all fully remote positions and "forwarding the email to their boss" in our org structure would be the CIO, and having only started two weeks ago I'm not really ready to be -that guy-....yet.

How does your company handle slow or no reply communication issues?

r_hoods_ghost 3 years ago |

Have you tried calling them on an actual phone (not Teams, Slack etc.) instead of emailing or messaging? Or reaching out to one of their direct reports and asking what the best way of getting hold of them is? If you're a new hire in a large company, do the people you are trying to contact know who you are already or are you "cold calling / emailing" them? Have you introduced yourself? This was easier in the before times when you could stick your head round theor door. I know several seniors who screen their emails to the extent that if you're not on their mental list, or have a rule that allows you to bypass their mail filter, then you're not getting a response. Hell I've done this myself sometimes. Executives, and seniors generally, rarely pay any attention to Teams Messages or other sorts of IMs as their time and attention is in short supply.

ganoushoreilly 3 years ago |

First, Document Document Document just to cover your ass internally (maybe email a recap of problems to yourself).

As for actually addressing the issue, Is there a shared Executive Assistant or Program manager on the teams you're reaching out to? One thing i've had success with is reaching out to one of their senior direct reports (when appropriate). I would usually say something like "Hi, There's an issue with XYZ, what are your thoughts on how we can improve it with the least impact to your team? I'd like to get this in front of Y as soon as possible, any thoughts?" What I found is that people are eager to get brownie points with the boss, leverage that and get your initiative pushed through the team rather than from outside the team. Again, I realize this doesn't work for every situation, but it's helpful.

Sometimes you just have to socially engineer the outcome you need.

Good luck!

dpifke 3 years ago |

Ask your manager for advice and/or assistance.

This is a) what they're there for, and b) someone who will have more insight than random people on HN into the specific circumstances/company culture/politics/etc.

afarrell 3 years ago |

Different people/teams have ownership of different areas. They decide their responsiveness based on the their responsibilities and the agreements they have with the people that rely on them to fulfill those responsibilities. We are careful to try to avoid sending false signals of urgency as if something is on fire when it could just flow smoothly into the team's normal workflow.

fpdavis 3 years ago |

Here are my expected turn around times during regular business hours and excluding weekends holidays, and out of office replies. This is also the order in which I escalate communications...

* Email: Within 24 hours

* Instant Message/Chat: Immediately, Within 2 hours.

* Phone: Immediately, return a voice mail within 4 hours.

* Scheduled meeting: Give at least 24 hour notice.

If you really need a response, pick up the phone, multiple times if necessary. You could also schedule a meeting with the person. For some people/situations I know I will need to include someone else on their team, sometimes a supervisor, to get any traction.

You should escalate on the third non-response by including their supervisor on an email, group chat, or meeting. Include previous communications with dates. Take this advice with a grain of salt and take into account previous interactions with the person of course.

If you have a ticketing system, copy and document each communication into the system. In some situations you may want to start with the ticketing system even if you could send the request directly to the person to begin with.

coffeefirst 3 years ago |

Why not ask them directly? What gives, and what’s the best way to work with them in the future when you need a timely response?

toast0 3 years ago | |

It sounds like there's no communication. Asking more questions through the same medium is likely to result in the same lack of communication.

At my last job, email was definitely the wrong way to contact anyone in my group. IM usually worked though. Phone calls would be iffy (how many spam calls do you get? would you answer an unexpected call while fighting fires as there are apparently critical issues going on?). My job ended before Covid, so stopping by desks was a possibility and often fruitful.

superchroma 3 years ago |

Try booking a virtual meeting with relevant stakeholders and get them on a call? People often ignore emails but will attend to meeting requests.

JonChesterfield 3 years ago |

> there have been several mission critical issues

First thought is that you and the senior engineers are not in agreement as to said criticality. Escalating things to the C suite should resolve that.

faangiq 3 years ago |

Welcome to corporate America. No one cares, just don’t be left holding the bag. As the new guy you’re the default bag holder.