It doesn't need an answer tonightEveryday life

unbry

It doesn't need an answer tonight

A short book about replying to work messages at all hours and training everyone to expect it

26 chapters12,654 wordsAbout 58 minFirst edition

What's inside

·Before you startThis is a short book and you can read it in two or three sittings. It's about one habit, which is answering work messages outside working hours, in the…2 min
1Nine o'clock, the buzz, and the four-minute replyIt's ten past nine. You're on the sofa with the second half of something on, and the phone on the arm of the chair lights up. Not a ring. A buzz, and the…2 min
2Why the four-minute reply makes senseNobody answers a work email at ten past nine because they've thought it through and decided that's the best use of the evening. They answer because the…2 min
3"A reliable person replies quickly"You reply fast because that's what reliable looks like. People know they can count on you. If someone needs something, they don't have to wait until…2 min
4"It's quicker to deal with it now"Answer it now and it's gone. Leave it and it sits there all evening and you deal with it in the morning anyway, with the extra cost of having carried it.…2 min
5"They're expecting an answer tonight"The message arrived tonight. Whoever sent it is sitting there, waiting, and every hour you don't answer is an hour they're wondering where you are.…2 min
6"If I don't reply, it looks like I'm not coping"Silence has a sound. If a message goes unanswered until morning, it says something, and what you're afraid it says is that you've dropped the ball, that…2 min
7"The boss sends at ten, so that's the culture"Your manager sends emails at ten at night. Sometimes half past. That tells you what's expected, doesn't it. If the person above you works at that hour…2 min
8"It's only two minutes"The reply takes two minutes. Two minutes out of an evening of three or four hours is nothing. Even ten replies is twenty minutes, and you'd spend longer…2 min
9"Someone else will answer first"If you don't reply tonight, somebody else on the thread will, and they'll get the credit for being on it. Over time the fast repliers get noticed and the…2 min
10"Being reachable is the price of flexibility"You get to leave at four for the school run. You get to work from home on Fridays. You get to take a long lunch when the sun's out. In return, you're…2 min
11"I'd rather know than wonder"If you don't check, you wonder. What's in there. Was that buzz the thing you've been waiting on. Checking ends the wondering, and the wondering is worse…2 min
12"I only acknowledged it"You didn't answer. You just sent "Seen, will look at this tomorrow" so they'd know it hadn't vanished. That's not working. That's manners. It takes ten…2 min
13What the four-minute reply teachesEverything so far has been about what the reply gives you and what it costs. This chapter is about what it does to the person who receives it, because…2 min
14What it costs youThe cost you've been counting is minutes, and chapter 8 argued the minutes are the wrong unit. This chapter is about the right ones. The first is the…2 min
15What it costs the people at homeThe four-minute reply is quiet. You're still on the sofa. The programme's still on. Nobody at home is being asked to do anything. It feels like a private…2 min
16What it does to the workThe one thing the four-minute reply is supposed to be good for is the work. Even if it costs you the evening, at least the job is better served. This…2 min
17The windowEverything up to here has been reasoning. From here it's method, and the method has three parts, the window, the line and the phone. This chapter is the…2 min
18Say it out loudThe window in your head is a resolution. The window said out loud is a fact about you that other people can use. This chapter is about the line, the one…2 min
19The phone outside the windowThe window is a decision. The phone is where the decision gets tested at ten past nine, and this chapter is about arranging the phone so the decision…2 min
20The first fortnightHere's what I'd expect in the two weeks after the window goes in, so that the things that happen don't look like the method failing. The first evening…2 min
21The decisionEverything so far has been the reasoning. This chapter is the decision, and I'd rather it were one sentence you can keep than a programme you'll abandon.…2 min
22The ten o'clock boss, the manager who is you, on call, time zones, the freelancer, night thinking and the family chatMost readers can stop at chapter 21. This one is for the situations where the window needs a gate, or where the class is harder to teach. The boss who…3 min
23When you answered at eleven againIt'll happen. A Thursday, a hard week, a message that looked bigger than it was, and you answered it at eleven, in bed, with the phone you'd brought up…2 min
24Nine o'clock, the buzz, tomorrowIt's ten past nine, a Tuesday, three months on. You're on the sofa with the second half of something on. The phone is in the kitchen, charging, on a…1 min
·NotesThese notes give the sources behind the claims in each chapter, and say where I'm giving my own interpretation. The book isn't legal or medical advice. If…6 min