That is what I was going to comment. This might be ok in the US where people are more "transactional" at work and go directly to the point. In other countries t

That is what I was going to comment. This might be ok in the US where people are more "transactional" at work and go directly to the point. In other countries the "social dance" is sometimes expected and by going directly to the point you will start getting a bad rep (as a rude/cold person). So you need to have some personal interactions ("How's your son?" "Did you have nice vacations", etc...) before asking the "serious stuff". Of course, you can keep things faster by putting the social dance right at the first message "Hello, how are you? Great game by your team last night congrats!", but it is still expected to lose some time on that... Another great example is the "Thank you" email after someone does something for you. I know many countries where this is frown upon (because is an unnecessary email), but there are many where the inverse is true, people expect you to acknowledge gratitude (with the risk of being known as a rude/cold person if not). To sum it up, be aware of the culture you're working with