Suppose that I have a coworker, Bob, who is a manager. I am a new hire, still low on the totem-pole. But if said manager, who isn't my manager, emails me about some work that he'd like me to do, how do I handle it?
Assume that it is not work my boss assigned to me, or even suggested. (i.e. maybe it's Bob's own pet-project) Should I just ignore the message?
Or should I say "Yes great idea! I'll do my best" and leave it at that?
Assuming it is not trivial (if it's 5 minutes of work, it's likely easier to just do it as a courtesy), there should be a process in your company for assigning and prioritizing work. And that process almost certainly does not involve random managers picking a random employee and assigning work to that employee.
If there isn't a project management system in place to give employees a queue of tasks to work on, the easiest option is to forward the email to your manager and ask your manager how he or she would like you to handle it. Something along the lines of
Manager's Name,
Bob just sent me a request to work on X. I estimate that it will take me 2 days to do X. As you know, I'm currently working on Y and Z. Would you like me to jump on X and delay the delivery of Y and Z by 2 days? Would you like me to work on X after Y and Z are complete? Or should I have Bob talk with you about prioritizing X.
Thanks,
Adel
This makes your manager aware of the request and lets him or her handle the important managerial task of prioritizing work.
Or should I have Bob talk with you about prioritizing X? as it might come off wrong. While it seems innocent, email (well text in general) make it difficult to tell whether this is a genuine question, or if it is just being sarcastic. If the boss doesn't want you to work on the task, he will reply telling you so. If he wants to talk to Bob about going through him, he will do that and it will not look like you instigated it. Otherwise great answer though.
– Jacob Schoen
Jul 30 '12 at 0:12
Should I just ignore the message?
Absolutely not! It is unprofessional to ignore the message. Overall, I agree with Justin's advice.
Rule #1: Don't lie!
Please don't lie to a coworker (or another manager, etc):
"Yes great idea! I'll do my best"
This doesn't build trust between you and others, and it will actually make you look bad when others learn not to trust you or take you for your word. If you told me you'd take care of something, I feel I should reasonably trust that the work will either get done, or you would come back to me and explain that you're not able to help. This applies whether or not I'm your manager or your peer.
Depends on Corporate Culture:
What you should say and do really depends on your corporate culture. In some environments, where departments are completely separate, it would be bad form for Bob to assign work to another department's employee, but since you didn't say what kind of environment you work in, let's assume that you're part of a somewhat flatter structure (but might not know it yet), and "Bob" is just doing what's considered normal.
Where I work, our structure is relatively flat, and most people work within self-directed teams in order to accomplish specific goals. Thus, it's not surprising to see a sales manager ask a developer if she can jump in on a sales call to explain a technical concept to a client, or for that same developer to look into a bug that the sales manager reported. Likewise, it's not out of the ordinary for a client services technician to step away for an hour to help with an in-house promotional video for another department.
What you could say:
The key is that our own work comes first. We have deadlines, and if there's time, we help in other areas for the greater good of the company. If we don't have time due to a deadline, we might say something like this:
Hi Bob, I can maybe look into that for you, but Larry needs me to get that project charter completed and ready for review by tomorrow afternoon. Is this something that can wait until then? If not, why don't you ask Sally? She has experience with that and might be able to help.
In short, don't be afraid to say no, but be sure you don't drop the ball. Instead, pass it back to "Bob" with some suggestions on who to turn to. However, if "Bob" pushes back, then you could try this:
Okay Bob, let me talk to Larry and explain the situation. I'll see if we can either push back the project charter deadline or see if Frank is available. I know Frank can handle this if necessary.
This works really well in our organization, and it should also work in structures that aren't so flat as well. The key is to be honest, be respectful, and if there really is a problem, contact your direct supervisor for clarification.
Lastly, before applying these techniques (or any other techniques from other answers here) I strongly advise you to discuss the proper behavior with your manager. Corporate cultural norms can vary widely from organization to organization, and this is just meant as a guideline or a means of getting started. For instance, in the US Army, an Army Private telling a Sergeant that he/she is busy may not be acceptable, whereas it may be more acceptable for a developer at a medium sized business as part of a Scrum team to tell a marketing manager that he is working on a critical deadline that's behind schedule.
Either way, in most organizations, it doesn't hurt to be honest and ask for clarifications. If in doubt, ask your manager. Good luck!
I would reply to it saying that youre currently working on something for :insert your manager's name here: and that if Bob wants you to work on this, he'll need to go through :insert your manager's name here:
This way, you're putting the request out into a non-private medium, and keeping your actual boss informed. It's possible that neither your boss or yourself will want you working on Bob's projects, but the difference is that your boss has the authority to refuse the request without risk.
Obvious exceptions exist, such as if the CEO/CTO asks you to do something, you send an email to/call your manager and let them know, as you start the work.
Mail is not 100% reliable, and even mail that is received is not necessarily read. As a general prinicple, all legitimate email that requires some action on your part should be answered.
You should acknowledge receipt of the email, when doing so Cc your manager. Your acknowledgement should not indicate that you will do whatever is wanted, but that you will be checking with your manager to see what you should be doing.
This establishes that you received it, that you read and understand it, that you aren't ignoring the issue, and most importantly, it gets it into the hands of the person that should be deciding whether or not you do some particular task.
