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There is a coworker who regularly ignores my emails, even though his technical input is critical to my portion of the design. I usually have to send him a "bump" email after a week to remind him that I am still waiting, but now even the bump emails get no response. This has gone on for a few months. I really do prefer getting a response in email form instead of talking face to face since there is traceability. In my opinion, he should be able to come up with the answers within a couple short minutes. If that is not the case, it would be nice to get some sort of "I am working on this and will get you a response by ..." acknowledgement.

What would be the correct action here to end this practice?

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    Have you tried showing up at his desk, and say "Hey XXX, have you received my email? Could you please ... [whatever you want him to do]"?
    – Alic
    Apr 26, 2017 at 19:06

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The simplest solution would be to simply go to his desk and get his input, then when you get back to your desk, just send him an email saying, 'Just as confirmation/As discussed, I will be doing ____' and repeat it back to him. If he doesn't respond, you still have an email trace to say that he had no objections to what you talked about.

I would also recommend talking to his boss as a second option but this can be solved without escalating the issue.

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When you need critical input from him, CC his boss on the emails. I would do this on every email going forward.

If the behavior still does not change, talk to his boss.

Note: I'm assuming you've addressed this with him as this has gone on for several months.

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  • Alternatively, talk to whoever manages his time. He might be heavily loaded and not sure how he's supposed to prioritize your requests. If you're asking him to do work when his manager is expecting 100% of time to go to something else, you have to fix that with his manager. (If that's too far outside the scope of your job/authority, then speak to your manager. It's his job to fix things that are preventing you from getting your job done.)
    – David Schwartz
    Apr 26, 2017 at 23:36

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