The 'No Hello' principle

Today I learned about the ‘No Hello’ principle, courtesy of nohello.net. Here’s the deal: starting a conversation with just “Hi” or “Hello” might feel polite, but it’s actually a sneaky time thief. Why? Because it kicks off a game of asynchronous ping-pong. You say, “Hi.” They say, “Hello, how can I help?” And then, finally, you get to the point.

The result? A simple exchange that could’ve taken one message now takes three. That’s like introducing lag into your own communication pipeline-yikes. Instead, the idea is to skip the “hello” limbo and dive right in: “Hi! Could you review PR #123 by EOD?” or “Hello! Got a sec to debug this rogue API response?” Boom—polite, efficient, and straight to the point.

Respecting each other’s time is peak teamwork, and honestly, it’s a big vibe for anyone who’s ever stared at Slack, waiting for the next message to drop.

TL;DR: Politeness and efficiency aren’t mutually exclusive. Next time, skip the solo “Hello” and go straight for the win. Your team—and your throughput—will thank you.