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If a colleague asks me for something (for example to show them how to use something), is it ok for me to ask them to send me an e-mail with their request, and then for me to answer them also in written form in the e-mail?

I would like to do this to keep a trail of what happens, what requests I get, and to be able to prove what I spend the time on. In addition, some coworkers will sometimes want to mock me in front of someone else for mis-teaching them, and I'm wondering if this email papertrail will help in disproving them in case they attempt to discredit me.

I wanted to ask what some good practices for these are? And if this is acceptable, to ask a colleague (even a new colleague) whenever he has a question to write down the question or the request in written form on email.

Thanks

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  • Can you elaborate on what you mean by your coworkers mocking you? Also, is there anyone in your office specifically responsible for training?
    – Pyrotechnical
    Aug 31, 2019 at 19:59
  • @Pyrotechnical For that particular incident, yes, there was a person in the office that was specifically designated to be a trainer. But this coworker asked me in the daily morning standup meeting with help regarding a topic. Then after I helped him, he called the trainer to "fact-check" with them, and then mocked me to the trainer and twisted my words, with me sitting across the desk from his. How would you tackle this kind of behavior? Thanks
    – throwingthrow
    Sep 2, 2019 at 3:34

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ask them to send me an e-mail with their request, and then for me to answer them also in written form in the e-mail?

Not only is this okay, but this is also a good practice to keep track of the requests that were made to you. When somebody oraly makes a request to you, you can ask something like

Oh okay I will do X. Can you send me an email detailing what YZ you expect me to do in this X task so that I don't forget anything you just said to me?

If the person is reluctent, YOU send that person an email saying :

Hi Bob, As discussed with you I will do X with the following tasks A, B & C.

That way no answer from that person will imply acknowledgment.

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