Comment by kd5bjo
7 years ago
I’ve seen this used to good effect with coworkers that habitually ask for help before trying to solve the problem themselves. Instead of ignoring them or complaining that they’re wasting your time, wait to respond for a few minutes so that you’re no longer faster than looking the information up for themselves.
Obviously this only works over some kind of messaging service; face-to-face conversations have significantly different expectations around long pauses.
I often just ask my coworkers to give me a minute to finish the detail aim working on at the moment. I don’t think it is rude to let them wait a minute or even five when they come and interrupt my flow.
I try and do this with customers, if I slow the response they often figure things out for themselves.