[itsboring]

All of those things are better done in writing so that:

- There’s a record of decisions and the thought process behind them

- When asked for input I can take time to consider a response and therefore give a higher quality reply

- I can refer back to conversations or search them when I inevitably forget some detail

- I don’t miss key information because I was out sick or had to take a bathroom break

- There’s a paper trail you can copy/paste when there’s a disagreement in understanding

- In meetings it can be frustrating to try to get a word in: there are often too many people or just one really chatty bastard who won’t stop

- It’s easier to scroll past chatter about weekend plans and sports than it is to sit through it in a meeting

The problem with meeting notes is they only reflect one person’s understanding, and often the person taking notes only has half an understanding anyway. Meeting notes are like JPEG compression set to the lowest possible quality.

I work with a team that spans +9h and +16h from me and it’s great because there are few meetings and lots of written communication. It’s very easy to search past communications to find old materials or decisions, and that’s not just hypothetical: I do it ALL the time.

We’ll use meetings, but for more tactical purposes: troubleshooting a specific problem, or doing a demo of some feature (although even then I would suggest demos are better as a recorded video).

Most objections are really something like “wah, I don’t want to read or write, it’s too haaaard.” Reading and writing were some of the earliest inventions in human civilization and everyone learns them starting in pre-school. It’s a low bar for a grown professional.

[j4yav]

Now this is what I would call a professional approach to work.