I originally posted this post on my blog a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

---

Want to be ignored on Slack or Teams at work?

Type "Hello, how are you?" and press enter.

You'll get ignored immediately. Especially if you're working in a remote team with people all over the world. And especially if you're reaching out to a busy manager or executive.

This is how that "Hello, how are you?" conversation will look:

• Hello, how are you?
• ...
• Good, thanks. And you?
• ...
• Good too, thanks.
• Hey, I just wanted...

But, what if your recipient is on the other side of the world? 24 hours could pass between each message. And for sure, you don't want to wait 48 hours to start the real conversation.

While working remotely at a past job, I used nohello.net as my Slack status. That page shows a fake "hello, how are you?" conversation, getting ignored.

And I still got "Hello, how are you?" messages. Arrrggg!

Would you send an email saying just "Hello, how are you" at work?

I know you wouldn't. Then, why do the same on Slack or Teams at work?

Next time you want to reach out to someone at work:

Don't just send "Hello, how are you?" Say hi and in the same message, without waiting for an answer, say what you really want to say.

Let me say that again, in the same message, without waiting for an answer.

That should be "Remote Working 101" when onboarding new team members at any remote company.

---

Starting out or already on the software engineering journey? Join my free 7-day email course to refactor your coding career and save years and thousands of dollars' worth of career mistakes.