--- title: "How to reach me, v. 1 ☎️ 🤙" author: "Stan Voo" url: https://www.99rabbits.com/blog/how-to-reach-me published: 2022-01-17 summary: "Where to message me, when I take calls, why I may take a week to reply, and which voice messages are not cool." --- # How to reach me, v. 1 ☎️ 🤙 Last reviewed: August 22, 2022 ## The main thing I try to answer every message, whatever the channel, within a reasonable time. My reasonable time may seem too long to you. Sometimes I'm busy and will reply in a week or two. > 📎 If I'm taking a long time to reply, I most likely have a task somewhere to answer you, and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Please don't be offended: it's not because I think your message is unimportant. I don't support the culture of urgency and being online 24/7, and I protect my personal space. Right now I'm in the GMT+2 time zone, an hour ahead of Kyiv. That means > 🕗 🕐 I'm open to synchronous communication (calls, with or without video) from 12 noon to 5 p.m. Kyiv time. ## How I work 1. Message me [on Telegram](https://t.me/mrvooooo): that's easiest. After 10 p.m. it's better to send silent messages, but I've had sound notifications off 24/7 since 2014, so it's fine even at three in the morning. 2. Sometimes I reply "+" or "Got it". That means I agree with what's written above and will do what we agreed. It doesn't mean I've already done what we're talking about. You can reply to me like that too. 3. I try not to miss messages or forget about them. But if I haven't answered for **more** than a week, write again. 4. I keep an empty inbox in Telegram, so once I've read a message, I won't lose it. It's normal if I've read it but haven't replied right away. 5. I use Google Calendar to schedule meetings. If you want me to add you to an event, send me your email address. 6. I hold video calls in Google Meet. I usually send the room link a couple of minutes before the meeting. If we've put the meeting in the calendar, the room link will be in the event description. We meet there. ## How I don't work 1. I use Telegram for personal and work contacts. I rarely open the other messengers (Facebook, Viber, WhatsApp and LinkedIn) and don't go through the notifications there. Better not to write to me there. 2. I don't go through my email either. A message sent by email needs to be repeated in a messenger, or just don't send it there (what the hell for?). 3. I don't work in messengers. If we have a project together, we set up a task manager, any task manager, and work in it. My team works in Planfix, but for a small project we can meet in Notion or Trello. 4. **Important!** Don't set up a task manager you won't look at. Better invite me into your own internal task manager: I'll figure it out quickly without anyone's help. ## What's synchronous and what isn't 💼 I try to keep synchronous communication to a minimum for work and to a maximum for personal things. I want to call my friends more often, and to get on calls for work less. 📞 I most likely won't pick up if you call without warning. I may be working, eating or sleeping at that moment. Write me what happened. I'll call back as soon as I see it, if it's really urgent. 📋 Work meetings should have an agenda: a list of the topics we need to discuss and the questions you want answered. Send me the agenda at least a day before the meeting, so we spend the time productively. Sometimes a work meeting can do without an agenda, and that's OK too. ## For employees Message me on Slack about urgent matters and in Planfix about everything else. If in doubt, write in Planfix. If I'm slow to reply in Planfix and it's burning, knock on Slack right away with a link to the Planfix task. Don't hesitate to write to me over your manager's head if something worries you and you couldn't sort it out with them. Hierarchy has nothing to do with it. Message me on other messengers only if your Slack isn't working. Follow the communication rules in our [Playbook](https://www.notion.so/alisa/e11fc9bcfc0042d6a1a5e1aa4bbe4624). ## Voice messages: OK? 🎥 I'll gladly watch your video circles (Telegram's round video messages) and listen to your voice messages, but text gets priority. If you have a long, emotional story, tell it in a video circle and add a text note on what's inside. That said: ⛔ Short voice messages instead of text: not cool. ⛔ Voice messages with no text to go with them: not cool. ⛔ A long voice message that could fit into one sentence of text: really not cool. ## My notes on the subject [⌘240. Zero inbox in Telegram](https://t.me/bizdevstvuet/240) [⌘196. How to use work chats effectively](https://t.me/bizdevstvuet/196) [⌘197. On chats for work, part 2. Do we need them after all? Yes!](https://t.me/bizdevstvuet/197) Why I made this page: [⌘244. "Did you get a chance to look?"](https://t.me/bizdevstvuet/244)