How to ask question to maximize replies (private VS public)
We know that how you ask makes the world of difference.
But the channel you choose often also makes a big difference.
Quoting (and editing) myself while answering a YouTube question:
Her: do you offer student discounts for Power University?
Me:
To maximize your odds of success, you want to ask general questions and product-related questions PUBLICLY because there's a bigger incentive for the receiver to reply publicly.
BUT...
You want to ask exception-seeking questions privately, because a "yes" is potentially costly for the receiver, since the exception would then become the norm.
Iin this case, even if there was the possibility of such a discount, you're incentivizing me to ignore, or to say no.
Doing so otherwise would mean that lots of people who'd read this answer would magically become students, leading to a possible decrease in revenue, much admin work, plenty of emails I don't necessarily want to receive, and loss of time
If I have understood main theme of this thread correctly it about making things easy for them by managing tasks by exception instead of being dragged into a lot of interaction.
Kicking in on this. With senior colleagues who I don’t work with as regularly, I will usually say, “To stay on track, I’ll need to proceed with X course of action by 12 PM Friday, so please send your input by 11 AM if you have any, or let me know if you won’t be able to make that deadline.”
Idea is to power protect by leaving deadline as negotiable but still not block it and they only have to reply if they want.
Quote from Transitioned on July 17, 2022, 4:58 amIf I have understood main theme of this thread correctly it about making things easy for them by managing tasks by exception instead of being dragged into a lot of interaction.
Kicking in on this. With senior colleagues who I don’t work with as regularly, I will usually say, “To stay on track, I’ll need to proceed with X course of action by 12 PM Friday, so please send your input by 11 AM if you have any, or let me know if you won’t be able to make that deadline.”
Idea is to power protect by leaving deadline as negotiable but still not block it and they only have to reply if they want.
Part of it is to make it easy, but also to align with the receiver's best interest.
For example, in my case, I can't say "yes" to the exception publicly because that would open the door to a lot of folks who'd seek to be the exception.
But if one were to write in private and, say, link or promise to do a public review later on, then it's possible I may consider it.
In your example, if you have a non-negotiable deadline or condition to work with them and you want to impose it as a "take it or leave it", you may want to tell them so privately, so they don't feel attacked publicly.
If instead someone is asking for your help on a task that is out of scope and you want to help them, you may tell them to "only discuss this 1:1 and keep it private", so that people don't misunderstand your kindness for an opportunity to ask for more and more of your time.