Hi there,

We’ve all been there.

Pinged a colleague with a question.

Then remembered oh wait, I have this question too. So we quickly ping with the second question before we forget.

But your colleague only replies to the second question.

And after 5 minutes of back and forth you remember – wait, what happened to that first question I asked? 

It became The Disappearing Question.

Remote Octopus recommends labeling a few Slack questions in a row with 1️⃣, 2️⃣, and 3️⃣ to streamline responses in a fast-paced environment.

Labeling with 1️⃣ – or (1) or any variation really – quickly guides the eye of your colleague when responding. They’re moving fast. They see a 1️⃣ and a 2️⃣ and they know to answer two distinct questions.

These labels also make responding a breeze to multiple questions in a row.

You might use this strategy when stringing several questions in a row simultaneously. This strategy also works well if you tag in the 1️⃣ and  2️⃣ retroactively with the Edit feature in Slack for your previous messages.

For example, I might ask someone to share edit access to a document around 10 am and then around 12 noon (while I still haven’t heard from them about the doc access) I then ask the same colleague when a new hire is starting.

A few simple numbers are the key to avoiding The Disappearing Question. 🪄🐰

Ready to level up operational excellence for your team? Check out our resources: