On Asking Multiple Questions

On the socials @jerzone shares:

My super power is carefully combining a number of relevant questions in the same message so the person doesn’t have to spend a lot of time going back and forth with me on individual questions.

Everyone else’s super power seems to be picking out the least relevant of those questions and responding in an oblique fashion.

In general, I prefer asynchronous communication. The freedom it gives the participants to contribute to the conversation at a time that best works for them can be helpful and sometimes outright required if you are collaborating with folks outside your time zone.

That said, the delay in getting a proper answer can be frustrating.

I used to attempt to preload questions in my own emails/messages to people. Sometimes it would be as simple as a flat list of questions, and other times, I’d give them a logic path for if yes, then question x, or if no, question y. I have learned that this is a mistake.

My experience dictates many people do not work well with this complexity. They miss questions or details entierly. The eventual awkwardness of repeating questions is enough that I will do simple, single questions, one at a time.

This lack of comprehension could result from our distracted culture, which for many includes answering SMS messages and interacting with phone notifications non-stop. I feel disempowered to fight those winds.

Sometimes, I find a peer where multiple questions will work, but that is something that is earned and not assumed.