@ mind your mentions
Mind your mentions.
A mention is a task, not an FYI. Before you @ someone, ask: do they actually need to do something?
An @ is a tap on the shoulder. @everyone stands up and shouts across the office, to reach the one person who'd have answered a tap.
Tag only the one or two people who'd actually know.
Every @mention buzzes a phone and breaks a focus block. One is nothing; the trouble is it's never one - it's a hundred a day, across the whole team.
Mentions are interruptions. Spend them like they cost something.
@everyone is the obvious one. These are the quieter habits that add up the same way:
Comments
Comments
One person owns this. @ them directly - don't make a whole team triage your question.
Set the timing in the first ping. A bare “?” twenty minutes later adds pressure, not information.
You're naming him as context, not handing him a task. Plain text reads the same - without the buzz.
✓ When the @ is right
- They need to act on it.
- They own the thing being discussed.
- It's genuinely time-sensitive for them specifically.