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Warning: I tried a weird trick to get my boss to notice my work and it actually worked
My manager never seemed to read my detailed project updates, so last month I started putting the main point in the email subject line as a simple yes/no question, like 'Approve the $500 budget for the Denver client?'. He started replying within an hour, every time. Has anyone else found a silly little trick that finally got someone to pay attention?
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troyjackson1mo ago
Genius move with the subject line. People are busy and just want the bottom line. I started adding a one sentence tl dr at the top of long emails and it cut down reply time by a ton. It feels dumb but you have to work with how people actually read things. Your boss probably just scans his inbox for action items.
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jamesmason1mo ago
My friend's a project manager who started putting "Action needed: yes/no" right after the greeting in her team emails. She said the number of "what do you need from me?" replies dropped to zero overnight. People just read that line and either archived it or jumped to the bullet points. It's a bit sad how well it works.
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claire_ramirez2226d ago
Honestly, it's kind of sad we have to trick people into doing basic parts of their job, like reading an email. The subject line thing is pure genius though. Troyjackson is right, you just have to accept that nobody reads anything anymore. My whole team would be lost without those one sentence tl drs at the top. Feels like we're training adults instead of working with them. But hey, if it gets the budget approved, who cares how silly it looks.
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