---
id: KB-CF-005
url: https://app.codecontract.io/help/use-cases-by-capability/how-to-stop-chasing-people
idioma: en
categoria: casos-por-funcionalidad
audiencia: usuario
nivel: intermedio
actualizado: 2026-08-13
tambienEn: [es]
relacionados: [KB-TL-008, KB-CR-007, KB-CF-020]
citadoPor: [KB-TL-012, KB-TD-003, KB-CL-002, KB-CF-013, KB-TD-016, KB-CC-009, KB-CF-006]
---

# How to stop chasing people

_What makes a third party deliver without you phoning three times._

**Responde a:** how do i get people to send documentation · suppliers do not respond · automate follow-up on requests · stop sending reminder emails

Chasing is expensive and does not scale: each person chased is two emails, a phone call, and remembering again next week. What works is not chasing better, it is asking better.

**En corto**

- Asking for little and clearly delivers more than asking for everything well explained.
- The system can do the nagging; the difficult conversation, it cannot.
- If three people fail on the same item, the problem is the request.

## The four things that most raise delivery

| Change | Effect |
| --- | --- |
| Split the request into small blocks | The largest, by some distance |
| Write the document's full name | People stop delivering the wrong thing |
| Show a visible deadline | Gives a reason to do it today |
| Automatic reminders at 3, 7 and 12 days | Closes most of them with no effort from you |

## What automation does not fix

If someone is not delivering because they disagree, because they do not have the document, or because the right contact is someone else, no reminder will solve it. That needs a phone call — but it will be one call, not ten.

> [!IMPORTANT]
> When a third party has gone a month without delivering and has opened every notice, stop reminding and phone them. Continuing in writing only gets you filtered.

> [!NOTE]
> The reasonable target is not 100% automatic: it is that 85% closes itself and you spend your time on the 15% that needs a person.

**How much does splitting the request raise delivery?**

It varies, but it is the highest-impact change of the four.

**Are automatic reminders annoying?**

Three well spaced, no. Six in a row, yes, and you end up in spam.

**Can I stop chasing entirely?**

No, and you should not want to: some conversations are worth having precisely because a person has them.

## Ejemplos

**A manager spends six hours a week chasing documentation.**

- Splits requests into three blocks
- Renames documents with their official titles
- Turns on reminders at 3, 7 and 12 days

→ Drops to one hour a week, spent phoning the four cases that genuinely need it.

**One person spends an hour every morning emailing the suppliers who are missing.**

- Configures the automatic reminder with its cadence
- Changes channel after the second unanswered reminder
- Keeps the phone call for those still not replying

→ The daily hour is recovered and deliveries arrive as fast or faster.

**Somebody who already delivered another way keeps being chased.**

- Checks the file before the reminder goes out

→ Nobody receives an unfair chase.

**Reminders go out daily and the supplier stops reading them.**

- Spaces out the cadence

→ The nudge works again.

**The reminder does not say exactly what is missing.**

- Includes the outstanding list in the notice itself

→ The supplier delivers without writing to ask.

**After five reminders nobody decides what to do.**

- Sets a closing or escalation criterion

→ The file does not stay open forever.