# Set up communication windows for email, Teams, and Slack

Designs set times to check and answer messages, an urgent-request path, and a short note telling colleagues how to reach you.

- Topic: Productivity & Planning
- Framework: Few-Shot
- Level: Standard
- Tags: Communication, Email, Plan, Fill-in Template
- Source: https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/prompts/set-up-communication-windows-for-email-teams-and-slack

## Prompt

```text
Help me stop living in my inbox by setting fixed communication windows.

**Channels I use:** [e.g. Outlook, Teams, Slack, WhatsApp, phone]
**Typical volume:** [rough messages per day in each]
**Response times people expect from me:** [e.g. "clients within 4 hours", "my manager same day"]
**Truly urgent situations in my job:** [e.g. "production outage", "client escalation"]
**My work hours and time zones of key colleagues:** [DETAILS]

Return:
1. **Window schedule:** how many check-ins per day, at what times, and how long each one lasts - matched to the response times people actually need.
2. **What happens in a window:** a triage routine (reply, delegate, schedule, archive) in the order I should run it.
3. **Urgent path:** how someone reaches me for a real emergency outside a window, and what qualifies.
4. **Settings to change:** notification, status, and focus-mode settings for each channel.
5. **Message to my team:** a short, friendly note (under 120 words) explaining when I respond and how to flag urgent items.
6. **Exceptions:** periods (launches, month-end, travel) when the windows should loosen, and how.

If my role genuinely needs near-real-time replies, say so and design shorter, more frequent windows instead of pretending I can go dark for hours.
```

## What to fill in

- e.g. Outlook, Teams, Slack, WhatsApp, phone
- rough messages per day in each
- e.g. "clients within 4 hours", "my manager same day"
- e.g. "production outage", "client escalation"
- DETAILS

Free to copy and use. From ThinkWithPrompt (https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/), a library of 2,663 curated AI prompts.