04/03/2025
🚀 Dependency is a nightmare. You’re ready to move forward, make progress, hit that milestone… but wait—someone else holds the key. And they’re busy. Or slow. Or just ghosting you like a bad Tinder date.
So, how annoying can I be before it backfires? 🤔
- Do I send a polite follow-up?
- Do I gently remind them every 48 hours?
- Do I camp outside their office with coffee and desperation in my eyes?
The Unspoken Rules of “Waiting” (By Environment)
📌 Startup:
- No rules. Everyone is busy wearing five hats, and waiting is a luxury.
- The person you’re chasing might literally be building a feature while debugging another at 2 AM.
- Push hard, but bring coffee. ☕
📌 Corporate:
- Ah, the land of “Let’s circle back” and “This is on my radar.”
- If you don’t remind people multiple times, you risk getting buried under the weight of 17 calendar invites and PowerPoint decks.
- Be persistent, but use fancy words. (“Just checking in” = “DO THE THING NOW”).
📌 Your Own Business:
- You are the bottleneck. Congratulations. 🎉
- No one else is going to follow up for you. Every delay = lost revenue = your problem.
- Push as hard as needed because no one cares more than you do.
The Industry Factor: Does it Change?
💻 IT & Online Business:
Delays are normal. If your dev tells you “2 weeks,” multiply by 3 and hope for the best.
Following up too much = annoying. Not following up = project delays. Pick your struggle.
Best approach? Gentle nudging + memes in Slack.
🏢 Offline Business (Suppliers, Logistics, Manufacturing):
"We’re on it" usually means they haven’t started yet.
If you don’t scream about delays, YOU take the hit.
Golden Rule: The closer you are to the customer, the fewer rules there are—because failure is yours to own.
So… How Pushy Can You Be?
🔹 If you’re a customer: You have all the power. Complain loudly. Demand deadlines. (Would you scream at a supplier? Maybe. Will they hate you? Probably. But will you get your product? YES.)
🔹 If you’re an employee: Your boss wants early risk signals, but how you say it matters. “We might have an issue” hits differently than “We are about to fail, please panic.”
🔹 If you’re the boss: You expect employees to surface risks early, but do you actually make it safe for them to do so?
Final Thought:
🎯 The closer you are to the customer, the more accountable you are. That means fewer rules, more urgency, and no one else to blame.
💬 So tell me—how pushy is too pushy? How do YOU chase people without feeling like a stalker? Drop your best follow-up strategies below! 👇
