Match the Message to the Medium

The same message
can succeed or fail
based only on where you send it.

A hard conversation
does not belong in a chat message.
Nuance dies there.
Tone gets invented by the reader,
usually for the worse.

A simple status update
does not belong in a meeting.
You just stole thirty minutes
from five people
for something a sentence could carry.

Before you send,
ask one question:
is this the right channel
for this kind of message?

Complex or emotional?
Talk. Voice or face.
Simple or informational?
Write it down,
async, where people can read it
when they're ready.

Decisions people need to find later?
Put them somewhere permanent,
not buried in a thread.

Good communicators
aren't just careful about what they say.
They're careful about where.

Match the message to the medium.

Half of being misunderstood
is just using the wrong one.

– Asael Shinder