You explained the discount rule on Monday. On Thursday someone asks about it again. It is easy to read this as people not listening. In most small teams, that is not what is happening.
Reason 1: the answer lives only in your head
If the only place the answer exists is your memory, the only way to get it is to ask you. People are not being lazy. They are using the only source there is.
Reason 2: they do not trust what is written
Many teams have a document somewhere. If it has no date and has been wrong before, people stop using it. Asking you is slower for you but safer for them, because you are always right about your own decisions.
Reason 3: the answer changed and nobody said so
Decisions in a young company move fast. Prices, priorities and promises change. When a team member is unsure whether last month's answer still holds, the sensible thing is to check with the person who decides.
Reason 4: asking you is friendly and easy
A quick message to the founder feels collaborative. Searching a folder feels like hard work. If one path is easy and the other is not, people take the easy one.
What to change
- Write the ten most repeated answers once, in plain words.
- Put a date on every answer and say who owns it, so people know it is current.
- Tell the team: if the answer is not written down, ask, and the answer will be added.
- Make the written answer easier to reach than you are, for example one place everyone already uses.
The part a document cannot solve
Even with good documents, people ask in conversation, because conversation is natural. That is the gap an AI clone of the founder is built for: it answers in a chat, from facts you approved, and when it does not know it tells the person and asks you. AskMyStartup is in private beta, and you can join the waitlist with your email.