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Continue with Chapter 1Back to overviewA few simple habits make everyday work with him easier. Here are the most important ones.
1 · When he slows down: make room with /new.
Every conversation with him keeps growing. Everything you write to each other, every file and every interim result stays in view for him as long as the conversation is running. That’s a good thing, because it means he always knows what you’re working on. But after many hours or days, it fills up.
Think of it like your computer’s RAM. With too many programs and windows open, everything gets sluggish. Close them, and it’s lightning fast again. That’s exactly what you do with /new.
And don’t worry: when you close windows, your files stay on the hard drive. In the same way, everything he has remembered stays with him: your rules, your documents, your standing tasks. Only the current conversation starts fresh.
How you can tell. He answers more slowly, asks about something you’ve already told him, or stops responding.
1 · Have him write it down: “Make a quick note of where we are and what comes next.”
2 · Send /new: Type “/new” into the chat as a separate message with no other text.
3 · Carry on: “Continue with …”
Good moments for it: first thing in the morning, after a big project, or when you switch topics. Not in the middle of a briefing or while he’s working on something.
Do you work with him as a team? Then you share one conversation. It fills up faster, and a /new applies to everyone. Have a quick word with each other before anyone sends it (Chapter 8).
2 · One long message beats five short ones.
He reacts to every message right away and gets straight to work on it. If you send him five short messages in a row, he first handles each one on its own. That takes time, and he may only get important information later on.
A long message, on the other hand, he reads all the way through in one go and responds to everything at once. That way he has the whole picture from the start. It’s best to make this a habit right from the beginning.
If you have a lot to share at once, like several files, photos or voice messages, use the briefing from Chapter 2.
3 · Have him confirm that he understood you.
With an important instruction or after a briefing, you want to be sure everything came across correctly. Then simply add at the end:
“Briefly confirm that you’ve understood my instruction (my briefing).”
He briefly confirms what he understood. Then he starts on the actual task.
4 · When something’s stuck: the most common cases.
Almost anything that gets stuck in day-to-day work, you can fix with one sentence.
He doesn’t answer. Look for the 👀 on your message. It means: received. If it’s there, he’s working on it. Ask “How far along are you?” once instead of following up five times. If there’s still no 👀 after a few minutes: try the second channel, then the Doctor (Part 1, Step 6). If neither of them answers, that’s an outage. Outages take priority for us.
You’ve sent him several things. Quickly check with him that everything arrived, ideally with the number: “I sent you five voice messages, three photos and two files. Did you get everything?” That way you know for sure what he has before he starts working (Chapter 2, briefing).
He misunderstood your voice message. Names, numbers, email addresses and amounts are better typed. For anything important: “Briefly sum up what you understood.”
He’s heading in the wrong direction. Type “Stop” as a separate message in the chat, then set things straight. For the next bigger task, have him show you his concept first (Chapter 2).
You don’t understand a message from him. Sometimes he sends you a status or error message that you don’t understand or can’t link to any task. Just ask him: “What do you mean by that?” He’ll explain why he wrote it and what it means. And if needed, he’ll correct it himself right away.
He forgot what you told him. Your chat with him isn’t his memory. His memory is more like a notebook: he writes important things in it, as files on his computer in your office. Whatever is in the notebook stays, even after /new. The current conversation, on the other hand, is like the open windows from Tip 1. At some point it fills up, and then he summarizes older parts himself to make room again. That’s fine, but details can get lost along the way. So anything that should stick, you put in his notebook explicitly: “Remember this as a hard rule.” (Chapter 3). You can check anytime: “What have you remembered about …?”
He mixes up topics. When the two of you are deep into an important topic, try not to interrupt it with other topics. If you do need to get something else off your chest quickly, tell him so: “Quick change of subject, then we’ll get back to our topic.” Then he knows it’s just an aside and picks up seamlessly afterward. If you want to switch for real, type “/new” or “New topic: …”. On the road from your car, though, it’s perfectly fine for things to get all mixed up (Chapter 2).
A large file doesn’t come through. Put large files, such as videos, in your shared folder and tell him the file name. He’ll grab them straight from there, so you don’t have to send them through the chat (Part 1, Step 4).
He says he can’t do it right now. Usually he’s missing a login, a document or some other piece of information. Ask him back: “What do you need from me so you can solve this on your own?” That way you both move forward faster and work together toward the goal (Chapter 6).
He stopped halfway through. “Where are you at? Keep going.” For long tasks, agree on progress updates up front (Chapter 5).
He suddenly writes a few sentences in English. If you chat with him in another language, this can happen, and it’s not a mistake. In the background he works with commands, programs and error messages, and nearly all of them are in English. When he jots down a quick note about what he’s doing, that note sometimes slips into his reply. It usually concerns these work steps, not the content that matters to you. If it bothers you: “Remember this as a hard rule: Always write to me in [your language], progress updates included.” (Chapter 3)
When things run smoothly, all hundred hands are at work.
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