NRN – a light-hearted RFC for “non-binding closure”

Recently I found myself in an e-mail exchange with a person I hadn’t previously known. The exchange related to corporate information, not a personal exchange. The odd thing about the whole exchange was that the last few e-mails sent were basically each of us thanking the other and trying to close the conversation. No new information was being exchanged but neither of us knew if the other expected one more e-mail.

This has probably happened to you as often as it’s happened to me.

So, I have a solution….

When a new internet protocol is being adapted, the person designing it writes an “RFC” (Request for comment) in which they lay out the structure, use and technology needed.

This is my RFC for those embarrassingly long e-mail exchanges.

We all understand smiley faces and tons of other silly ways of communicating fluff to each other (LOL, LMAO, etc.), but it’s time for a useful acronym – NRN. No Reply Needed.

Simply add this three letter acronym to the bottom of any e-mail once you think that all useful information has been exchanged.

NRN would be a non-binding way of telling the other person that they don’t have to reply, but could if they had more to add.

Think about it.