As an Engineering Manager, I strive for efficient communication and value other’s time. In the past I discussed with several co-workers on our preferred communication tools and their expected response time. This alignment is useful because we then know when to use which tool to get the most out of our communication. Eventually this leads to less distraction and eventually fewer meetings since information is shared and decisions are made effectively.
This post outlines my thoughts on the expected response time of different communication tools, and how to apply these expectations into our day-to-day communication. The goal is to create a shared view for a group of individuals. The numbers serve as a starting point for these conversations. They are by no means hard requirements people need to follow strictly.
| Communication Tool | Time to respond | Scenario |
|---|---|---|
| 📱 Phone call | < 15 mins | Incident happens and you are on-call or asked to help resolve the issue |
| 💬 Instant Messenger (Slack, etc): direct message or at-mentioned | < 3 hours | Applied to most instant messages except urgent ones (for instance, you are asked on Slack to join an incident troubleshooting) |
| 🗒 Other essential discussions where you are directly involved (at-mentioned, assigned as reviewer, etc) | < 24 hours | Include but not limited to: * Jira * Google Docs comments * Github PR |
| 📧 Email: directed to you | < 3 work days | |
| 👫 Communication addressed to a group | no expectation | Slack, email or any messages not directed to you (e.g. to a group you are part of) |
Applications
- Use email if a topic does not require attention from another person under a few hours
- No need to respond to Slack messages immediately if they are not urgent
- If you send a message to a group, a public channel, or anything that represents a group of individuals, without specifying who should respond, there is no expectation for response
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