How to “Pick the Brains" of Busy People Without Them Even Knowing It | Hacker News Reader

How to “Pick the Brains" of Busy People Without Them Even Knowing It

wadefoster.net

67 pointsmikeknoop17 comments

Another thing that works great:

Just email one specific question.

Then a week or so later, email another specific question. Repeat.

I've been saying no to all "pick your brain" requests, and even interview requests, but if someone emails a specific question, I answer it. (I'm at derek@sivers.org if you want to test this.)

One guy wanted an interview, I said no (just too busy), so he emailed just one question, then did it again, and a month or so later he posted our interview: http://onepercentcollective.org/derek-sivers-generosity-talk...

I thought that was a pretty clever hack. Clever enough that I then met with him later, and he's an impressive dude.

Can confirm and second this. I've emailed Mr.Sivers and lots of other awesome people with one simple question loads of times.

I ask the question in one line and ask for a one line response. its upto then if they want to provide more information.

As a non-native English speaker, I have quite some trouble writing an email with proper etiquette. I'm not quite sure HOW to write a one-liner email question (shouldn't I introduce myself, provide context, isn't it rude to ask in a one-liner etc). Do you mind giving a specific example on how such an email should be?

This comment is actually a great example of a one-line email question. Just do this and you'll likely get good response.

State your name, disclose any relevant bits (I am a journalist; I am a government official; I may publish your response; etc.), and ask your question. You might have a signature that gives more disclosure, like a phone number.

Providing context is, as a rule of thumb, a bad idea. It takes time to read it, and that's the exact opposite of the point of a one-liner. If it's necessary for answering the question, then chances are the question is too broad or poorly targeted: your recipient ought to already have the necessary context. That's what makes them useful for asking your question.

That said, it's just a guideline, which means break it when you feel like breaking it.

Everyone is going to have a different threshold for what seems rude, what seems worth answering, and so on; you kinda have to go with hit or miss. Only this past week, I actually got a response back from an author I emailed over a month ago. I had stopped expecting a response two days after I sent it off and moved on, so it was a very pleasant surprise.

Commenter above has very valid points. I think that with busy people, they're happy to forego etiquette somewhat.

My last email went something like this

Subject: One line response needed only Body: Hi X,

Could you please tell me what you consider a healthy user activation rate?

Thank you

Regards

---

That's it. Of course, that's not how I would email everyone.

Another approach you can use, but very sparingly, is to take a position on something that you know is on the opposite side of what you know Super Busy/ super smart Person A takes. For this to work, you must do your homework and present reasonably good contra arguments. Often times, these type A people cannot resist showing off and will stay up all night putting together awesome research "proving you wrong". Thank them politely for helping you and use all the information they just graciously provided. Again, sparingly, and you must do your homework, you have to be careful, be sure to acknowledge their contribution.

This reminds me of the strategy for getting Linux help. Just wander around near the cubicles with penguins on them and say, "It's too bad Linux doesn't support foo." You'll have energetic Linux hackers proving you wrong instantly.

Wrote for a photocopied zine in college which allowed me to talk to some of my favorite bands.

Some quick advice, interviews should document a conversation lists of questions with answers reads like crap. Prepare questions but use them to lead a conversation (ask follow ups to dig deeper), record this in person or on the phone and type up the best parts that you want publish.

Two things:

1. Spelling errors in the title of a blog post are a strong signal to me of how much effort an author put into a post. I realize its petty: Wade typed out tens of thousands of characters, why focus on one? But, still.

2. The disadvantage of this approach is that John Doe wearing a spokesman hat is going to give very different answers to questions than John Doe wearing a mentor hat. Often, the strongest insights are gleaned from the things people are most cautious about talking about.

What's spelled wrong?

"Brains".

How is it supposed to be spelled..?

When I posted my comment, it was Brain's.

A spelling error in the title is actually very easy to miss. You might read the main article an extra time before publishing, but the title is probably in a separate textfield which is not checked. It's always a bit painful to have a spelling error in the title, but don't make the assumption that the author just doesn't care enough.

Its a blog post... typically they are not proofed by an editor.

I think interviews can often be a dicey proposition since ultimately an interview should be explicitly focused on the person. So if you just want general advice from them, an interview works well. But if you want to find out what the think about Thing X that you're making, an interview isn't really appropriate.

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