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A manager told me to stop over-explaining in emails, and it changed how I handle client requests
After 6 months of getting replies that made no sense, my boss said 'you're burying the ask in all that context,' so now I lead with the direct question and put the background info after, has anyone else had to unlearn the habit of giving too much detail?
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abby_kim551mo ago
...which is funny because my whole life people told me I was too vague, and then I overcorrected hard. I started writing emails like I was drafting a small novel, complete with backstory and footnotes in my head. One time I sent a three paragraph reply to a simple yes or no question about a meeting time, and the guy just replied with the time again like I was an idiot.
My tactic now is to pretend I'm texting a friend who's busy and easily annoyed. If the first sentence doesn't give them what they need, they're gone. So I just blurt out the question, then add the context as a "by the way" in case they actually care. It's uncomfortable at first, but nobody has complained yet, and honestly it saves me from having to re-read my own rambling later.
But here's the sideways part, I once applied that same logic to a recipe I was sharing with my mom, and she got mad because she wanted the full history of why I chose that specific brand of butter. So maybe it's all about who's on the other side of the screen. Some people want the story, some just want the answer. Your boss just happens to be the latter.
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